The Neutral Zone New England scouts came together to make a New England Prep School playoff preview. We break down the teams, their strengths and weaknesses and list their top prospects. The games will take place today and the final four and championships will take place over the weekend.
#1 Andover vs. #8 St. Sebastian’s
Andover: Andover is coming into the playoffs in great form as they are 5-1-1 in their last 7 games with a tie against #3 ranked KUA and a win over #6 ranked Exeter. Andover is an older team, they play a smart, direct game and have depth at every position. They don’t really have a go-to-guy which can make them hard to defend and their best player many nights is their goalie.
Players to Watch: F Christian Powers, G Kyle Martin, F Alec Robitaille (Hobart), F Brendan Ryan, D Carter Giampietro, D Jack Leger, F Cole Quinsberry, F Quinn Doyle, D Michael McGreal
St. Sebastians: St. Sebastian is a young squad but they are loaded with young talent. The team has struggled scoring goals and finished the season with a 12-11-3 record and under a +1 average scoring margin. Their strength is in the depth up front and their goaltending, which they have two high quality starters. The weakness for them would be their youth and the depth on their blue line. They also walk into the playoffs in poor form finishing the season 2-4-0 in their last six games.
Players to Watch: F RJ Murphy (Harvard), F Liam Devlin, F Liam Gorman, F Riley Hughes, F Liam Connors, F Wyatt Schlaht, D James Davenport, D Eric Jeremiah (Middlebury), F Tommy Lyons, G Drew Commesso (UNH), G Alex Zafonte (Bowdoin)
Matchup: In many ways, these two teams couldn’t be any different. Andover is a veteran team who plays a low risk, responsible game but lacks a high talent dimension and St. Sebastian’s has an abundance of highly skilled players but they are young and play like it. The teams faced off against one another in mid-January at St. Seb’s where the Arrows got the win 5-3. Andover, however, is also playing its best hockey of the year while St. Sebastian’s has only won 2 of their last 6 games. However, three of those four losses were against Elite 8 teams and one of their two wins was against top ranked Lawrence Academy. We think Andover, with their senior leadership, balanced attack and playing at home after a big win against Exeter last week has the edge. With that being said, St. Sebastians is the better team and if they come to play the way they can, they not only could steal this game, but they could run the table in the tournament.
#2 Brunswick vs. #7 Milton
Brunswick: The Bruins just barely got knocked out of the Elite 8 after losing to Gunnery and tying Trinity Pawling late in the season, but they have an impressive 15-7-4 record with wins over Salisbury, Kent, Gunnery and a tie to Belmont Hill. They are not overly deep, but they have two solid lines and a quality goaltender that can keep them in games. They are 3-1-1 in their last 5 NEPSHIA games heading into the playoffs.
Players to Watch: Nick VanBelle (Williams), Christian LeSueur (Dartmouth), Charles Shaffer, D Cooper Moore, D Grey Owens, D Ryan Carmicheal, G Strauss Mann
Milton: The Elite 8 runner up champions last year have taken a big step back this season, but still find themselves in the playoff hunt after a 12-9-3 record. The bright spot for Milton is they have the best goalie in their bracket and they are riding a three-game win streak; two of which coming against #6 ranked Thayer. The team has playoff experience from last year, they can roll three lines all game and have the goaltending to steal games.
Players to Watch: F Tyler Campbell, G Ethan Domokos, F Bobby Beniers, F Tiger Zhang, D Buddy Mrowka, F Jack Bliss (Bowdoin), F Quinton Fox, D Velan Nandhakumaran, D Ryan Wilson
Matchup: The key matchup here will be Brunswick’s offense against Milton’s defense. Brunswick has one of the top lines in prep hockey and Milton doesn’t have the talent on the backend to stop them for a full game. The case for Milton is their senior leadership, their experience in the playoffs and their goaltender. We’d expect a tight, hard fought, low scoring game where Brunswick has the advantage.
#3 Avon Old Farms vs. #6 Proctor
Avon: This is a team that came into the season with a young, highly talented roster where a lot of new faces were going to have to play big roles right away. This started out in net where 01’ blue chip goaltender Spencer Knight was thrown into the starting role right away and has relished in it. Other newcomers like ’01 Trevor Zegras and ’01 Ryan Siedem are key players in all situations for the Winged Beavers. They are hot and cold, a good examples was last week where they beat Salisbury and then the next day tie Pomfret. They have excellent team speed and skill, but they lack size and experience which could catch up to them in the playoffs. They seem to be playing their best hockey as of late with a nice 5-1-2 stretch in their last 7 games including wins over Salisbury and Gunnery. They have three talented lines up front, arguably the deepest blue line in prep hockey and one of the top goaltending prospects in the country. When they are playing their best hockey, they are very difficult to match up against.
Players to Watch: G Spencer Knight (BC), F Trevor Zegras (BU), F John Madden (Northeastern), F Matt Allen (Providence), F Matt Kirwin, F Ryan Seidman (BC), D Drew Elser (UConn), D Mac Wiseman (UConn), F Nick Wildgoose (St. Lawrence), D Jack Babbage, D Ben Pirko (Union), D Cullen Young
Proctor: Proctor is a top-heavy team with one of the best players in prep in Reilly Walsh anchoring their blue line. The four-year prep standout just passed the 175-career point mark which is pretty impressive seeing how he’s a defenseman. The team is a bit of a run and gun style averaging an impressive 4.79 goals per game but also allowing over 3 against, which means they score an awful lot but they also give up an awful lot. They have a strong core of seniors and juniors and will be able to roll three lines for much of the game up front, despite being thin on the backend. They have two goalies who split time but neither of them has really taken the job and both have save percentages below .900.
Players to Watch: D Reilly Walsh (Harvard), D Matt Slick, F Tate Singleton, F/D Ronan Walsh, F Jack Swarbrick, F Myles Abbate
Matchup: While anything can happen in the playoffs, we think Proctor might have the toughest test of anyone in the playoff round. First thing, the matchup plays right into Avon’s strengths which is playing an open ice, offensive minded game. Proctor is a bit top heavy so the deeper Avon roster could ware them down in the later stages of the game. Also, Proctor, most nights, is the better skating team and in this matchup they won’t be. The key matchup will be Avon’s offensive attack against Proctor’s defensive core and goaltenders. Proctor could steal the game if Avon doesn’t come to play or has self-inflicted wounds, but if both teams play their best Avon win this one and are our favorite to win the Large School Championship.
#4 Taft School vs. #5 Albany Academy
Taft: The Rhinos enter this game with a 7-2-0 record over their last 9 contests and are playing inspired hockey after the news of their coach leaving for St. Paul’s next fall. On the season they are 15-7-1 with wins over Avon and Brunswick. The strength of Taft is their goaltender Andrew Farrier (Colgate) who has shown time and time again over his four-year prep career that he can steal games. They have nice depth up front where they can roll three lines, they have a healthy combination of senior leadership and young skilled players and play a disciplined brand of hockey. Where they lack is that they don’t have great size or depth on the backend. While they have improved their offensive production over the past 9 games of the season, they have only had one game where they allowed 1 or less goal and the rest were two or more. Despite the ability of Farrier, the team only has one shutout on the season, which is ok if they have a high-powered offense, but they don’t. They have solid, three line, offensive attack but they aren’t built to play run and gun hockey.
Players to Watch: G Andrew Farrier, F Jordan Tonelli, F Nik Allian, F Shea Courtmanche, D Billy Dobensky, F Ryan Colwell, F Finn Walker, F Jeremie Lavallee, F Misha Mrotchek, F Matteo Mangiardi
Albany: Albany Academy had another strong season finishing with an 18-7-4 NEPSHIA record. The down side with Albany is that in their last six games they are only 2-3-1 with only one of those teams (Brunswick) being playoff bound. Albany’s strength is their offense both in ability and depth. They roll three lines, they have good team speed and they play aggressive. Their defensive core is solid, they have a nice mix of puck movers and physical defenders who play hard. Overall, the Cadets have a lot of senior leadership, they play the game the right way, they have a strong power play and just enough offense to take over games. However, they have had inconsistent goaltending and defensive zone play and lack size both offensively and defensively.
Top Prospects: F Zachary Mouzakes, D Justin Geary, D Nicholas Vukota, F Josh Chapman, F David Cohen, F Cooper Norton (Babson), D Tyler Lisieski, F Remy Parker, F Casey Rhodes, F Jericho Petkovich, F JJ Fecteau
Matchup: This is going to be one of the best games of all the playoff rounds because these are evenly matched teams. Albany should be a step faster, older and more aggressive but Taft is better defensively and between the pipes. Taft is also playing its best hockey at the right time of year where Albany seems to be in a funk over the past 6 games. The key matchup in this game will be Albany’s offense against Taft’s defense and goaltender. The winner of that matchup should win the game. We give Taft the slight edge because of their recent success, home ice advantage and goaltending.
