When Kimball Union students arrived on campus for the 2023-24 school year, some of the veteran hockey players on the team organized a workout among themselves at 5 a.m. before the second day.
They told the rest of the team they were hitting the gym early, but that there was no pressure. The season was far away and players, especially the first-year students, were just getting moved in, some of them arriving from Canada.
Every rookie on the team showed up for that 5 a.m. workout.
“From that moment, I knew that we were going to have a special team,” Kimball Union senior defenseman and assistant captain Jack McMinn said.
Kimball Union was able to put that work to use in the fall. For the first time, all Wildcats players played together on one team — the NEFPHL (New England Fall Prep Hockey League) Wildcats. In past years, some players played on their usual fall teams like the Boston Junior Eagles.
This fall, they were all together.
“It’s just better for us. It’s more fun,” KUA head coach Tim Whitehead said. “And it’s better for our student-athletes because they’re on campus more. …We provide the transportation so it’s safer, too.”
Along with playing games on the weekends, KUA spent every weekday in the gym and on the ice on campus.
“That was huge,” KUA senior forward Jack Sadowski (Arlington, Mass.) said.
It gave Kimball Union an advantage come the start of the season, especially considering it had lost Jackson Kyrkostas, its leading scorer from the previous season, and Dan Heroux, the starting netminder, to graduation.
In 2022-23, Kyrkostas centered Sam LeDrew and Sadowski. With Kyrkostas gone, Whitehead inserted junior Corwith Simmers between the two senior Division 1 commits. Saying the move paid off would be an understatement.
Sadowski finished the season with 41 goals and 87 points, which was the highest point total since Josh Robertson (Whitman, Mass.) notched 93 with Thayer in 2003-04. LeDrew wasn’t far behind with 38 goals and 75 points.
Simmers quietly posted 25 goals and 54 points. The ’06 birth-year player was an underrated member of the best line in prep.
“Corwith was kind of what kept me and Sam together,” Sadowski said. “Corwith was awesome offensively, defensively. He bailed me and Sam out in the defensive end all the time. Especially on the power play, he’d sit in the bumper, and I’ve never seen a bumper as good as him.”
The line played a vital role in KUA’s sparkling 32-5-0 record and eventual Elite 8 title.
Sadowski and LeDrew both posted five-point performances to take down Salisbury, 5-2, for the Flood-Marr championship in December.
At the GameSheet Prep Cup in early January, the Wildcats faced off with St. Andrew’s College — a team stocked full of Division 1 recruits and potential NHL draft picks. Simmers finished with a hat trick and an assist, while Sadowski potted the game-winner in OT to snag a 6-5 victory. LeDrew scored a goal and added an assist.
CHAMP RECAPS AND TAKEAWAYS: KUA wins Elite 8 | Kent wins Large School | Canterbury wins Small School
“Every time you’re on the ice with them, you have a chance of getting an assist or a secondary assist,” McMinn said. “It definitely makes it easier offensively. But at the same time, I think because they put up the points they do, they don’t get credit for some of the defense they play.”
It was only fitting that in the Elite 8 championship game, Sadowski scored two goals and added an assist, Simmers also scored two goals and LeDrew tallied three helpers.
Another vital piece for KUA shined in the Elite 8 title game, too.
Last season, Whitehead and assistant coach Matt Underhill spent a lot of time watching Blake McMeniman, then an ’07 goalie playing with the 16-U Islanders Hockey Club. The Revere, Mass., native had one big thing going against him: he was 5-foot-8.
“Typically, you’re finding kids that are over 6 feet even at this age, and that’s an advantage,” Whitehead said. “But he’s just such a calm competitor. He moves well, he’s quick as a cat, but he’s also very calm and patient in the net. Our hope was that he’d develop as this season progressed.”
McMeniman did more than just that. After spending some time sharing the net with senior goalie Colby Boyce (White River Junction, Vt.), McMeniman led Kimball Union to a Flood-Marr Tournament win and never seemed to look back.
His best came in the Elite 8 run. He made 49 saves to beat St. George’s, 5-4, in overtime in the quarterfinals. He took down Salisbury (again), making 28 saves to win, 4-3, in overtime.
And then in the Elite 8 title game against Cushing, on the biggest stage, McMeniman was nearly perfect, making 31 saves and leading his team to a 4-1 win.
“He came out and immediately was a brick wall for us the entire year and won some big games for us,” McMinn said. “There were some games where we may have outshot the other team, but he was in net and (the other team) would have a 2-on-0 or something like that and he’d calmly make the save.”
McMeniman also was fortunate to have a strong cast of defensemen in front of him.
The top pairing of Andrew O’Sullivan (Boston, Mass.) and McMinn provided the perfect balance of offense and defense. The duo began playing together last season but came into their own this year.
O’Sullivan led all defensemen in New England in scoring with 55 points and committed to Colgate midseason. McMinn scored five goals and added 35 points while emphasizing a strong two-way game and turning into a strong Division 1 prospect.
Luke Clarner (East Burke, Vt.) was another key piece on the back end. The senior captain might not have had the points, but his role was vital in KUA’s Elite 8 win.
“He’s such a great, mobile defenseman,” Whitehead said. “The pride that he took in defending and shutting down the opponent’s top players really inspired our defensive core to concentrate on defense in addition to contributing on offense. He and his partner, Caden Barnard (Falmouth, Maine), really grew as a great, shutdown pair.”
Six-foot-five senior Ian Ramsay and junior Nick Evans (Malden, Mass.) were key on the Wildcats’ third-pairing, too.
Throughout the season, Kimball Union also got big contributions from senior center Malcolm Baar and junior Merrimack commit CJ Watroba (West Springfield, Mass.) on the second line.
Baar served as an inspiration down the stretch. After breaking his jaw against Tilton on Jan. 27, he returned for the playoffs. He came up huge in the win over Salisbury, scoring the game-tying goal late to force overtime.
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“He doubled his production at over a point a game (30 points in 26 games) and was that go-to 200-foot guy for us,” Whitehead said.
This Elite 8 championship was Kimball Union’s first since winning three straight from 2016-19. Kimball Union has matured into a prep powerhouse, sending numerous players to junior and college programs.
It’s been the perfect blend for Whitehead, who took over at KUA in 2013.
“Our objective is every year to be contenders for that New England championship,” he said. “And we’ve been fortunate to do that.”
