Kent had high expectations last season. After winning the Large School title to end the 2023-24 season, head coach Dale Reinhardt was more than hopeful last November.
"I haven't been as excited about a group from a talent perspective in a long time," he said before last season.
The Lions' No. 10 ranking in our preseason top 10 quickly faded. Lopsided losses to Kimball Union and Brunswick moved them out of our weekly rankings and started a trend of inconsistency.
Starting with a 7-0 loss to Avon Old Farms on Jan. 18, Kent went 5-6-1 down the stretch, squeaking into the Large School Tournament as the No. 8 seed and falling to Belmont Hill in the quarterfinals.
"We had some really good hype around the team," Reinhardt said of last season. "And I don't think we lived up to expectations, and there's certainly a variety of reasons around that. I think we've made some really good strides, and it's not entirely unusual for kids to have to make that transition to prep."
Kent had several new prep players last season and, as Reinhardt said, it took time for them to adjust.
Many of those players are back this season. They're hungry to make up for last season.
Who is scoring?
Kent is fortunate. No matter who they play, the Lions have three forwards who can match up with anyone in prep hockey: Jack Broderick, Will Schlechtweg and Lucas Husted-Edwards.
Broderick is committed to Cornell and was tied for the team lead in goals last season with 17. The late '07 from Rye, N.Y., has high-end offensive abilities.
2026 NHL DRAFT:Â How two prospects fared in high-end fall hockey matchup
"I think he's going to explode this year," Reinhardt said.
Schlechtweg was impactful last season with eight goals and 17 points in 26 games as a sophomore. He's coming off a very strong showing for the New York District at USA Hockey's Select 17 Camp with five points in six games. He has interest from several Division 1 programs, including Maine, Vermont, Dartmouth and Brown.
"He's a name that I've been hearing a lot of from college coaches," Reinhardt said.
And then there's Husted-Edwards, who had a strong junior year last season with nine goals and 26 points. The 6-foot-1, 170-pound wing is physically imposing and makes intelligent plays to create offense.
"I loved him last year," Reinhardt said. "He's just such a really good 200-foot player. Definitely started to find his offense in the second half of last year, which I know he's super capable of. So I'm expecting a big year from him."
After those three, Kent has strong depth. Names like seniors Aiden Grinshpun, Richard Shin, Keegan Sears, Noah Fitzsimons and Maddox Boyle will be key in winning matchups against other teams. Grinshpun led that group with 17 points last season and should be due for an even bigger step forward.
"It's a really good core of guys that are coming back that were really impact players for us last year, too," Reinhardt said. "So they know what the expectations are, and I think they'll be able to hit the ground running."
Making up for some losses on defense and in net
Reinhardt and Co. were able to put out defensemen Nathan DiChiara (Fairfield, Conn.) and Ryan Poirier (Salem, N.H.) in any situation last season. They won't have that luxury this season. DiChiara graduated, while Poirier skipped town before his senior year to play with the USHL's Sioux City Musketeers.
That leaves the No. 1 and 2 defensemen spots up for grabs. One of the players likely to lead the blue line: Cal Gustafson. The Montpelier, Vt., native is 6-foot-3 and 185 pounds.
"He's a kid that I think the world of," Reinhardt said. "He's big and he skates, and he's got really good skills. Just trying to make sure that he is consistently making the right decisions."
Another player Reinhardt is excited about is junior Dylan Mallgrave. Mallgrave's older brother Teddy played at Kent and will begin as a freshman at St. Lawrence this season. It was between his sophomore and junior years when he made the jump into becoming a Division 1 prospect.
FALL PREP SHOWCASE: 16 uncommitted standout forwards | 13 uncommitted standout defenders
"I think Dylan's got that same kind of potential in him," Reinhardt said. "So I'm excited about his year and where it takes him."
Jason Segal, an '09, is another defender Reinhardt expects to make an impact. He had a very strong summer at Select 16 Camp with two goals and five points in five games. He was the youngest player on Kent's squad last season.
"I'm expecting a really good year from him," Reinhardt said.
Kent brought in Jacob Ward. The early '08 is 6-foot-1, 165 pounds and from Fort Myers, Fla. He has been to all three Select Camps, most recently notching three assists at Select 17s. He was with the North Jersey Avalanche 16Us last season.
"I think he'll be a really good replacement for some of the things that we will lose with Ryan [Poirier]," Reinhardt said.
Two seniors who will hold things down are Martyn Ogorodnikov and Chase Jelenic.
Kent also lost its starting goalie for this coming season in Harvard commit Jacoby Weiner (Riverside, Conn.), who left for the QMJHL's Moncton Wildcats before his senior year. The Lions also graduated Keegan Waldo and Tyler Bhalla in net. The crease is open this year.
Reinhardt brought in two new goalies. The first is Donovan Dunlay, who played for the Chicago Mission's 16U team last year. The 6-foot, 170-pound netminder is from Illinois, is an '08 and had a .925 save percentage last winter. The other is Cooper Ranawat, who was with Delbarton and the New Jersey Colonials last season.
"They're both very competitive from all the feedback that I've been able to get," Reinhardt said.
Meeting expectations
At the end of last season, Reinhardt delivered a message to the returners: The current team gave him the vibes of his team from 2022-23.
That 2022-23 team had high-end talent on it, but most of the top players were juniors. They missed expectations and went 12-12-2.
The next year? Kent won the Large School Tournament championship.
"They gave me the vibes of that team where we weren't happy with the outcome," Reinhardt said. "We didn't feel like we lived up to our expectations, but we had a lot coming back."
The expectations were high last season and weren't met. Reinhardt wants to take a different approach this season.
"I still have that confidence in this group," Reinhardt said. "But I want to be a lore more process-focused this year because I feel like maybe that was part of the issue last year. So I don't know if we have any expectations other than they're going to come and work hard every day."
READ MORE: What the Bruins think about college hockey recruiting and prep hockey
Reinhardt met with the returning players many times throughout the spring to discuss the importance of culture and being bought in.
"I think at times, that was a little bit of an issue last year with guys that maybe had more selfish focus and motivation," he said. "But I really feel like the team's in a great place from that perspective right now. I've been spending a ton of focus on the more here and now than the long-term perspective. We'll see where it takes us."
