Around the Rinks

The Founders is once again a top-heavy Division, but some new challengers will be making strides this season. Last year saw four teams make the playoffs, but this year a lot will hinge on a youth movement. Big senior classes have graduated and some committed players have moved to the USHL, but the path to success may be paved by which incoming class can make the quickest impact. We expect Avon Old Farms, Loomis Chaffee and Salisbury to be the odds on favorites to secure playoff berths. Here are our capsules for all 10 teams in the upcoming season, ranked in order of predicted finish.

Avon Old Farms Last season was a successful one record-wise (21-2-4) for the Winged Beavers, but ended in a tough semifinal loss to eventual Elite 8 Champion Gunnery. Many of last year’s big names have moved on: F Patrick Harper (BU freshman), D Adam Karashik (UCONN commit), F Jamie Armstrong (Northeastern) and D Ben Mirageas (Providence). To be successful, Avon will need to see players like F Tyler Madden (Northeastern) and F Matt Allen (Providence) step up as offensive kingpins. They will also have many, many young weapons to mentor including: 99 F Nick Wildgoose (St. Lawrence), 99 D Ben Pirko (Union), 00 F Drew Elser (UCONN), 00 D Mac Wiseman (UCONN) plus 4.25 star BU recruit 01 F Trevor Zegras. They also welcome smooth skating defenseman Jack Babbage from the Don Mills Flyers in the GTMMHL who had a strong summer at the National Development Camp in Buffalo, NY. Oh and let’s not forget one of the best goalie prospects in the country: 4.5 star 01 Spencer Knight (BC). While this next kid might not get the press of some other blue chips listed above him, don’t count out Will Christensen, a speed/energy forward who may not dazzle on the stat sheet but he’s a high motor, no-quit type that skilled teams need. The future is very bright for Avon Old Farms and Coach John Gardner but the present isn’t to be taken lightly.

NZ’s Take: No team in prep school lost the talent Avon did this past year and that might be an understatement. Patrick Harper has been one of prep’s finest players over the past two years and Armstrong and Karashik gave the typically skilled team a physical presence. Mirageas was arguably the best pro prospect in the league and was key to their blue line in every situation. With that being said, they have a highly talented group coming in including six division one commits; led by BC recruit Spencer Knight and BU recruit Trevor Zegras. Both are ‘01s and could take some time to adjust, but they are likely the no.1 and no.2 prospects in all of prep school. Returners Matt Allen and Tyler Madden are coming off strong years and look to take their games to the next level. With a healthy mix or returning and incoming talent, Avon could be the team to beat, not only in the founders league, but in all of New England prep. Time will tell but talent is certainly on Avon’s side. Avon should return to the Elite 8 again this season despite taking on the heavy loses to departures, but with the talent more spread out it could actually benefit the Winged Beavers instead of being a one-line dominated team.

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The story remains much the same for the Lakes Region schools in 2016-17. Having produced three playoff teams last season (Kimball Union, Proctor, New Hampton), those three are the odds on favorites to represent the division in this year’s playoffs. Here are our capsules for all 7 teams in the upcoming season, ranked in order of predicted finish.

Kimball Union The Wildcats finished last season as the #2 seed in the Elite 8 Tournament, eventually succumbing to the 6 seeded Milton Academy. Two big pieces have gone straight to the NCAA in Ben Finkelstein (St. Lawrence) and Patrick Shea (Maine), which leaves a bigger role for the top remaining scorers. In net they graduate both goalies in Elijah Harris who is now with the Boston Jr. Bruins (USPHL) and Payton Porter who is now with the Notre Dame Hounds (SJHL).  They also graduated skilled speedster George Sennott (57 points) who is now in the BCHL; Nic Hamre (41 points) who is now in the AJHL and Jack Doherty (32 points) who is now playing soccer at UNH.  Rising junior Roope Hirvonen is back to pace the Wildcat offense but he will need help from senior Michael Lombardi, who made a big jump in production last season. More help is on the way from north of the border as well. Coach Whitehead brings in three heralded forwards from Nova Scotia (00 F Logan Cash, 00 F Kyle Penney and 01 F Arlo Merritt) who will join the squad to make up for a big graduating senior class.  They will also bring in immediate impact forward in PG Paul McAulliffe from St. Sebastian’s. On D, 4-star prospect Jordan Harris, who earned a spot on NTDP Evaluation Camp after last season, will be asked to step lead the defense after departure of Army commit Dennis Cesana (and of course Finkelstein).

NZ’s Take: Not sure if any team in prep got gutted more than KUA to graduation, as they lose their top line of forwards, their top defensive pair and both goalies. With that being said, the Wildcats had a deep roster last season with some talented sophomores who were waiting in the wings for their opportunity. Roope Hirvonen is their leading returning scorer but behind him are three USA Hockey National Development Camp invites in Thomas Samuelsen (F), Bryce Dolan (D) and Andranik Armstrong (F). Not to mention emerging versatile prospect Chris Konin who is coming off a strong summer and fall season. A Tim Whitehead led team will likely reload instead of re-build, but they will need a lot of new faces to make immediate impacts, especially between the pipes. We wouldn’t expect last year’s success, but they are still a cut above the rest of the division.

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