Following the completion of the 2021 River Rats Jamboree and Eastern Alliance Kickoff, fall hockey is well underway, which means prep hockey is not far off.
Although 2.5 months still remain before the official start of the winter campaign, we are ramping up our coverage for the upcoming season with a series of prep school previews.
We kicked off with a look at Mike Kennedy’s program in Brunswick, Conn. Now we turn our attention to Craig Badger and the Highlanders in Washington, Conn.
Below is a list of key players and storylines to watch out for at The Frederick Gunn School in the months leading up to and during the 2021-22 campaign.
A look back
After a 16-12-3 regular season, the Highlanders earned the No. 6 seed in the 2020 NEPSAC Piatelli/Simmons (Small) Tournament. They upset New Hampton in the quarterfinals and downed Rivers in the semifinals, before overpowering Pomfret in the title game.
While most prep schools managed to play at least a few games during the following, unofficial season, Gunnery wasn't so lucky. The school went remote for the winter term, so the team didn’t play a single game. Kids played for their local split-season teams, but that was really it.
“No use dwelling on last year at this point,” said Badger, a former D-3 college player at Wesleyan who’s entering his seventh season at the helm and 17th with the program. “Certainly the guys were bummed, but we've all got it pretty good in the grand scheme of things so we’re just looking forward to having the opportunity to play this year.”
Team overview
The Highlanders won the 2020 Small School title with the help of Division 1-bound talent such as David Andreychuk (St. Lawrence) and Alex Jefferies (Lunenburg, Mass./Merrimack). After they and several other pieces of the core group were lost to graduation, Gunnery brought in a whole new cast of players for the 2020-21 campaign.
Of course, that season never happened so they never saw the ice. Now, 18 months and counting since they played their last game, the new-look Highlanders are eager to hit the ground running with even more newcomers coming aboard for 2021-22.
Granted, they will be young. With only two 2003 birth-year players on the roster, they will mostly be made up of ‘04s and ‘05s – players who have yet to repeat a year, as a lot of prep schoolers do, so their class year makes them seem old but their birth year does not. Boosted by a strong contingent of incoming New Yorkers, however, the team is shaping up to be a solid one.
Key returning forwards
A trio of ‘04 forwards, Julian Facchinelli, Ryan Novo and Michael Murtagh, will be the leaders up front. All three were supposed to play for the team last season but joined the Kyle Quick-coached Rochester Coalition 16-U instead when it became clear the prep season wasn't happening.
Facchinelli, a Woodbridge, Ontario, native, put up 28 points in 31 games with the Coalition, while Novo, a product of the Buffalo Junior Sabres from Tonawanda, N.Y., recorded 43 points in 41 games. Murtagh, a UConn commit from East Greenbush, N.Y., totaled 19 points in 18 games.
In addition to their time at Gunnery, all three forwards skate split-season with the Buffalo Regals 18-U where they are again under the guidance of Quick, a Salisbury and Brown alum.
Key returners on defense
In the back end, the Highlanders will be led by a pair of ‘04s, Kiernan Gateley and Gus Hinckley, both of whom joined the trio of forwards with the Coalition last season.
Gately, from Rochester, N.Y., is committed to St. Lawrence. He, too, plays split-season with the Regals 18-U. An efficient D-man who continues to grow physically and improve his two-way game, Gately stuck out in NEHJ’s recent viewings at the River Rats Jamboree.
Hinckley, a 6-foot-3, 201-pound native of Pittsburgh, Pa., was a member of HoneyBaked 15-U when it was the top-ranked Tier 1 Midget team in the country in 2019-20. He and Gately will be the leaders in the defensive zone.
Incoming young talent
Jason Fritz (West Seneca, N.Y.) is the key newcomer on the blue line, in addition to incoming ‘04 Christian Wood (Shelton, Conn.) and ‘05 Luke Calabria (Huntington, N.Y.).
Fritz, highly regarded in the 2005 birth year, arrives at Gunnery from the Junior Sabres. Wood is a product of Bishop Kearney Selects. Calabria, who plays split-season with Fritz on the Regals 16-U team, most recently played for the Long Island Royals.
Behind Fritz and the other key members in the back end, incoming ‘04 goalie Joey Lovullo (Amherst, N.Y./Regals 18-U) also joins the team from the Junior Sabres. He will hold the net alongside junior goalie Ryan Crowshaw (West Hartford, Conn.), who saw limited action as a freshman on the championship team in 2019-20. At forward, ‘04 Nate Stachowiak (Cheektowaga, N.Y./Regals 18-U) is one of the many newcomers poised to make a noticeable impact out of the gate.
They will be young, but the Badger-led Highlanders have proven themselves as contenders in years past with similar roster makeups. After a no-games outcome in 2021, they're ready to set their sights on 2022.
“We’re looking forward to it a lot,” Badger said. “We’re young, but I think we’ve got a really good group of kids – a lot of guys who were (supposed to be) here last year. They seem like really good kids, they’re fun kids to work with, they’re very talented, and the large, large, majority of them returned. They didn’t bail out and go somewhere else, they’re coming back, so they’re really excited about finally being able to play here.”
Liam Flaherty can be reached at liam.flaherty@hockeyjournal.com and on Twitter @_LiamFlaherty.
