Over a year after being named head coach, Bobby Jay is entering his first official season behind the bench at Middlesex.
The former pro defenseman came aboard at the start of the 2020-21 season, stepping in for longtime Zebras head coach, Joe Mallen, who spent 18 seasons at the Concord, Mass., prep school after a decade-plus career in the NCAA.
For Jay, who has held various positions at all different levels of the game, it’s been a long time coming to get behind an Independent School League bench.
“I’ve always been a proponent of the prep school model," Jay, 55, told New England Hockey Journal. "I just think it's great for these kids hockey-wise and the ISL is fantastic.
“When the opportunity at Middlesex came up -- I knew the school, I knew the reputation and I knew the history of it -- so that was super intriguing to me. I have a ton of respect for this league, the schools, and obviously, Middlesex. I felt like we could have a really competitive team and I was excited for the challenge.”
As a player, Jay was a Middlesex League All-Star at his native Burlington High School, before taking a post-grad year at Canterbury and then matriculating to Merrimack College. He arrived on the North Andover campus as a walk-on and left as team captain, twice winning the ECAC championship.
He went on to play nine seasons in the International Hockey League, winning two Turner Cups, and enjoyed a brief stint in the NHL with the Los Angeles Kings. At the end of his playing career in 1999, Jay got into coaching and held positions in the IHL and AHL, before landing at Harvard where he served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for five years between 2004-11.
Now, in addition to his role at Middlesex, Jay serves as a pro scout for the Carolina Hurricanes and Director of Hockey Operations for the East Coast Wizards.
Hired by the Concord prep school last September, things didn’t go as planned in his first season at the helm. But, that didn’t stop Jay and the Zebras from laying the groundwork for the season to come.
“I got to know some of the kids and we got into a little bit of a rhythm but I really wasn’t on campus because of Covid,” he said. "We only played one game but we practiced a lot, so that part was great."
Now, with a season of normalcy on the horizon, things are slowly starting to take shape for 2021-22.
“It’s still a little hectic, still scrambling, but definitely excited," Jay said. "We’ve got 36 kids trying out, a good recruiting class and some really good senior leadership, so I’m pumped up."
The Zebras will look to a trio of seniors to lead the way in the early going: defensive captains Jayden Mullens (Oakland, Maine/Colby College commit) and Rex Mabbs (Concord, Mass.), and goalie AJ Finta (Branford, Conn.). Mullens plays for the EC Wizards 18-U fall team, while Finta plays split season with the GBL Bruins.
“We’ll lean on those guys a lot for leadership and experience,” Jay said.
Outside of those seniors, Middlesex will look to a heavy cast of underclassmen to step in and make positive contributions.
“Those older guys are good players in this league, so that will help us tremendously, but we're going to be young,” Jay said.
“We're going to have a lot of freshmen and sophomores playing a lot of minutes, but they're good players and they're hungry and they work. So, I think our goal is to just improve every day, be competitive and I think we'll grow throughout the season with the more experience that some of our younger guys get.”
Regardless of wins or losses at the start, Jay is excited to see what the future of the program holds.
“Joe (Mallen) has always been someone I've looked up to and had a lot of respect for, and the tradition and history of the program have always been there, but I felt like when I got hired there was a good pump of energy around the program and people seemed excited that I got the opportunity," he said.
“I think it was a commitment from the school, too, saying, ‘Hey, we’re serious about hockey,' and they want the kids coming here to know that. It's an exciting time for Middlesex hockey.”
(Previously in NEHJ's prep school preview series: Brunswick, Gunnery, New Hampton, St. Mark’s, Tabor, Loomis Chaffee, Berkshire, St. George’s, Cushing, Belmont Hill)
@_LiamFlaherty
liam.flaherty@hockeyjournal.com
