The NZ Eastern US scouting staff has hit the ground hard in the opening week of the season watching 16 teams thus far and getting a sense for the lay of the land this upcoming season. It is far too early to have a realistic sense of where everyone stands at this point as the first poll of any real importance comes after the Holiday Tournaments, but this is a start. Defending the #1 spot is Avon Old Farms who is coming off a New England Prep Championship and remains unbeaten after week #1. While the scouts were impressed by several one-loss teams like Kent, Kimball Union, St. George’s and several others, we decided that there were too many undefeated teams to put in a team with a loss in the Week #1 poll.
NZ Prep Poll: Week #1
1. Avon Old Farms (2-0-0): The reigning New England Prep Champions lost some major pieces this past season to gradution but returns a strong nucleus with talented additions like netminder Anthony Palmer. The Winged Beavers have outscored opponents 13-2 through their first two contests and have no noticeable holes in their lineup at this point.
2. Salisbury School (1-0-0): The Knights are similar to Avon in that they lost a few key pieces but return a lot of their core and added some immediate impact players like Ryan Hedley and Oliver Morris (to name a few). They won out in Ontario in the pre-season and headed back to the states to open up against Taft earning a 3-2 victory in a rematch game of last season’s Large School final game where Taft won in overtime off impressive performance by NHL Draft selection goaltender Rudy Guimond. An older, experienced squad that has good size and strength and should be tough to handle.
3. Cushing Academy (3-0-0): The Penguins were last years runner-up in the Elite 8 to Avon Old Farms and while they graduated the top line in prep school last season led by Resendes and Gardula – they return a lot of firepower and added a talented goalie in Marko Bilic as well as Luke Goukler (Nashville Jr. Preds) and Josh Iby (Pope Francis HS). One of the better skating teams who might not have the headline talent they had last season but are deeper and more balanced overall.
4. Frederick Gunn School (3-0-0): We just saw this squad roll through the Exeter Invitational with 5-2 wins over both Exeter and New Hampton pushing their record to 3-0-0 on the season. This is a balanced team; no superstar but a lot of depth and through three games so far thus season they have 14 different players finding the stat sheet all while starting goalie Mitchell McCusker is rocking a .950 SV%. Impressive start for the Highlanders.
5. St. Sebastian’s (2-0-0): The Arrows lost last season in the first round of the Large School playoffs but they return an impressive 9/10 leading scorers from last season including all their top 5 to make for an experienced, proven club. They opened up the season with two quality wins against Rivers School and Milton Academy and could prove to be the best team in the ISL this season.
6. Holderness School (2-0-0): The Bulls have not quite been tested yet but scoring 21 goals in their first two matchups is a statement regardless of the opponents. The Lakes Region runner ups last season have kept their core together and brought in the two leading scorers for Berwick last season in Tanner Petalas and Eli Chilicki as well as PG out of Hopkinton HS (MA) in Pavat Mehra who combined have provided nearly half the teams scoring thus far.
7. Loomis Chaffee (2-0-0): Opening the season with a 7-4 win over a talented Brunswick team and then took care of business against Trinity Pawling to start the season off 2-0-0. The Pelicans return four of their leading five scorers last season and look to have a healthy blend of talent from last years squad as well as a few key incoming recruits who should help elevate this team.
8. Noble & Greenough (2-0-0): Nobles is off to a hot start, especially offensively scoring 12 goals in the past two games, including ISL rival Belmont Hill who is coming off back-to-back Elite 8 berths. A lot of their top performers last season (MacAusland brothers, Cox, Davidson, etc) return and should have a potent offensive attack. They add talented young defender Kris Soja and returning goalie Tyler Bloomfield has been stellar thus far taking over the starting job.
9. Lawrence Academy (2-0-0): The Spartans had a slow start to the season last year but a strong finish that ended winning the Small School Prep Championship in overtime. They bring back their top two defenders (MacIsaac & Leary) and a host of skilled forward in Wood, Hirsch and Leahy as well a few immediate impact recruits who could make this team even better than last year’s teams. Their new netminder, Kolin Belliveau, has only let in one goal on 68 shots this season.
10. Westminster School (1-0-0): The Martlets were one of five remaining undefeated programs after Week #1 but got the nod for the final spot because they have the highest quality win of those teams with a 3-0 victory over Northfield Mount Hermon (4-1-0). One of the few teams in our top 10 who return their starting goalie from last seaon. They are a hard-working team who doesn’t have a pure first line but has three second-lines who can wear opponents down.
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images
