Last year, the Catholic Conference dominated the Massachusetts high school boys hockey landscape.
All six teams qualified for the state tournament and all won at least one playoff game last season. Five of the six squads won at least two games, qualifying for the state quarterfinals.
At the very end of the year, two teams from the conference dueled for the Division I state title, with Catholic Memorial beating Saint John’s Shrewsbury 4-3 to win it all.
This year, the conference expects much of the same success and will provide some of the best matchups in the state throughout the regular season.
Heading into this winter, here are how the team’s stack up against one another.
1. St. John’s Prep
After falling in double overtime in the Division I quarterfinals last year, the Eagles are sure to be hungry coming into this season.
Though they lost plenty of top talent like forwards Sam Croke and Ryan DeLucia, and goaltender AJ Farese, Prep still has one of the best returning rosters in the state.
“I will say this team has some pretty good senior leadership,” Eagles coach Kristian Hanson said. “Partly because we have a lot of kids back but a lot of these boys played together on the freshman team at the school. So there’s maybe a little bit of a benefit over some of the other years with more of these kids having played together.”
The Eagles are bringing back conference All-Stars J.R. Goldstein and Brandon Ward, as well as fellow captain Kevin Correa. Last season Goldstein anchored one of the best defenses in the state while also adding 21 assists.
“They’ll probably be paired together as our first group,” Hanson said of Correa and Goldstein. “They’re both big, and strong, a little bit different styles. Kevin’s more of a stay at home, physical defender. J.R. has more of an offensive side to his game, but they both complement each other pretty well and they’ve been around now for three, four years, so they understand what it takes.”
Ward brought plenty of scoring for Prep last year, tallying 15 goals as well as 18 assists as a junior. Beside him, the Eagles will need help from skaters like Sefton Paradis and Christian Coleman if they want to win a third straight conference crown.
“He’s a very crafty skilled forward, I expect more of the same,” Hanson said of Ward. “He was focused on by a lot of our opponents last year, I expect that again this year. So we try to match him up with some good wings that complement him and can get him the puck.
“He’s just one of those guys that has kind of a natural scoring ability that coaches can’t teach.”
With Farese gone, the team will have to rely on sophomore Jesse Bernardinelli and senior Nathan Michaud to hold things down in net.
So far in the preseason, Hanson has seen solid growth from both of his returning goaltenders.
“They both got a lot bigger, stronger, both got taller and obviously that’s the type of position where size does matter,” Hanson said. “They’re both skilled goalies that have played on high end fall, half season teams for this upcoming year and it’s a healthy competition.
“They get along great which from a coach’s standpoint is wonderful to see because we want them to compete with each other, but we also understand that it’s tough when one’s in and one isn’t. So it’s good that they have the support from the other one.”
The Eagles will begin the regular season on Wednesday, Dec. 17 by hosting the Hingham Harbormen at 6:40 p.m.
2. Catholic Memorial
After making it to and winning the Division I state championship for the first time as a coach, Larry Rooney knows that last year’s run will pay great dividends for not just his returning players but those that watched from the stands.
“It’s invaluable, there’s no other way you could recreate that experience in those games,” Rooney said of last year’s postseason. “We’ve been as far as the third round, we’ve never made it to the semifinals, and last year we got to the finals and win. So for these 13 players and those that watched, those kids that made the team this year out of freshmen and JV, the experience is invaluable.”
One of the returners leading the charge to start the preseason is junior defenseman and captain Liam McKinney.
“Liam’s been great, he’s been one of the players that has impressed me with his offseason training and his mental focus here at the start of the season,” Rooney said.
Beside McKinney, the Knights will need senior James Baker to keep up his All-Star ways from last year.
Catholic Memorial is also hoping to get a boost from some of its younger players this season.
“We have some good, young, new players that are gonna really help us and get a lot of ice time and play big roles,” Rooney said. “We got two really good freshmen defensemen in Kellan Murphy and Sean Farrell. Those two, new to the team and Liam as a returning players have been some of the bright spots for us.”
In net, the Knights will also be relying on youth. Last season, as an eighth grader, Jaxson Fleming took the starting job and earned a conference All-Star selection in the process.
“He looks solid, he looks very good,” Rooney said of Fleming. “But he’s going to be challenged in net. We have two other good goalies in Colin MacDougall and Eamon Kelleher and they look good as well. In my opinion they’d be starting goalies on 80 percent of the other MIAA Division I schools.
“I have a really good problem but it’s a problem. I can only put one guy in the net, and I know Jaxson had a really good year last year but I’m very confident in my other goalies as well.”
CM will start the season on the road against Belmont on Thursday, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m.
3. Saint John’s Shrewsbury
While Catholic Memorial won the Division I trophy last, Saint John’s was on the losing end.
“It’s a great learning tool,” Pioneers coach Mike Mead said. “It’s a tough lesson to learn when you lose but it hopefully motivates you. We have seven forwards and four D returning that played in that game. So that experience alone hopefully prepares you well for the season.
“But as the cliche says, you still got to play the game. But they’re a motivated group that’s for sure.”
Players returning from last year’s team include senior captains Brady Chenevert, Conor Secrist, and Ashton Smith.
“Brady and Conor have played for me for four years,” Mead said. “Just all around good leaders, respectful, play the game the right way. Ashton’s played for me the last two years. Just a solid teammate, tough as nails kid.
“Conor’s the quiet one, Brady is the emotional one, and Ashton is the level kid in between.”
Secrist and Smith will lead the way on a very solid group of returning defensemen. Behind them are Kevin and Ryder Bisson.
“We’re fortunate to have four defensemen who are steady,” Mead said. “Ryder is probably the most offensive defenseman out of the four. They’ll be a good solid group defensively.”
Behind those defensemen, Colin McCarthy will be the one between the pipes to start the season. The junior surged onto the scene late last year, getting his first varsity start in the playoffs and going 4-1 in the tournament.
“Colin will get the first look in the net obviously and then we have another junior Brayden Bodio who will be keeping pressure on him, which is a good thing,” Mead said. “You need to have competition, especially in that position, you can’t have your goalie getting too complacent.”
The first game for Saint John’s will be on Saturday, Dec. 13 at Duxbury at 7:40 p.m.
4. Xaverian
Last year ended abruptly for Xaverian hockey. After scraping by in the first two rounds of the tournament, the Hawks felt they were playing their best hockey in the quarterfinals against Pope Francis.
The pucks however just didn’t bounce their way in the contest, and their season was cut short as they lost 4-1.
“I think they did a really good job of letting the season end last year, taking a bit of a break, but then really jumping in with both feet I’d say in April, and getting back into the gym and putting the work in,” Hawks coach Dave Spinale said of his team. “I think we have 10 seniors that are going to play this year and that’s a lot for us. It’s normally between five and seven.
“We’re excited, I think we have depth. I don’t think we have the high end goal sorer, Devin Gosciak, Jackson Morse guys we’ve had in the past but that’s okay, we have more depth.”
Though they lost skaters like Gosciak and Morse, the Hawks are bringing back one of their best playmakers in Joe Von Handorf.
“I think he’ll be a great distributor, I don’t know that he’s a goal scorer,” Spinale said of Von Handorf. “But I think he’ll continue to be kind of the heartbeat of the team, which is what he has kind of been the last couple of years.
“The way he kills penalties, he’ll play power play, he’ll play five on five, but I look at him as more of an energy guy. If he can put up 18, 20 points, awesome. If that’s seven or eight goals and another 15 assists, that would be awesome.”
When it comes to the scoring, Spinale will look to other returners like Ryan Bello.
“I’m hoping Bello can find his scoring touch again, it took him a while to get going last year but he’s good around the net,” Spinale said. “Max LaRosa can score goals, he’s a junior and he looks good. I’m hoping he can be a big contributor offensively.”
In net, Xaverian lost one of the best goaltenders in the conference in Michael Bulkin. This year, the team will look to his former backup, Connor Kotwicki for support between the pipes.
“Connor Kotwicki is a good goalie but he only started a few games last year,” Spinale said. “A lot will depend on him, and not to put all the pressure on him, but he’s going to have to be our guy and play well.
“He looks good, he’s matured. He’s put the work in and we need to keep him healthy and focused.”
The Hawks will start the regular season by hosting the Duxbury Dragons on Wednesday, Dec. 17 at 5:10 p.m.
“We did that by design so that we could get looks at a lot of different guys if that’s what’s going to need to happen, we don’t know yet,” Spinale said. “That’s our preference, to start later than sooner.”
5. Boston College High School
For the last two years, BC High has stayed competitive in the Catholic Conference and the Division I postseason, often due to stellar performances from goaltender Drew Karlovitz. As a sophomore last season he was one of the best players in the state, stopping shots at a rate well over 90 percent and allowing less than two goals a game.
Unfortunately, Karlovitz will not be finishing out his career with BC High and is playing at Dexter Southfield this season.
His loss, and the departures of senior forwards Chris Brennick, Sonny Christian, and Mike McClory, leave the Eagles with plenty of spots to fill.
In net, they are returning Dominic Conte who made some starts last year but will have a much larger load to carry this season.
For skaters, much will be expected of Nolan O’Sullivan, perhaps the team’s best returners. Others that will need to step up include Mike Lynch, Sam Johnson, and Max Ryan.
BC High will start the season by playing Pope Francis at Sacred Heart University on Saturday, Dec. 20 at 5 p.m.
6. Malden Catholic
Last year, despite winning just three games in the regular season, the Lancers earned the No. 12 seed in the Division II tournament and won two games before falling to No. 4 Tewksbury in the quarterfinals.
“I think it gave our kids a sense of belief and hopefully we ride that high right into the season,” Malden Catholic coach Brendan Collier said. “We’ve been starting slow I feel like the last two seasons. So hopefully we get off on the right foot, especially being back up in Division I.
“I wanted to go back up, so I requested to go back up, and so we’re back up.”
Much of last year’s team that made it to the state quarterfinals is returning. With that large group back, Collier feels confident in his team’s ability entering the year.
“We graduated some big keys to our team last year but our returners are going to be big impact players like Brody MacMaster, Michael Doe, Dante Kader, Zach Woods, Michael Moschella, Joey DeBernardo, Josh Hubert, so it’s exciting for us for sure,” Collier said. “Kyle Rushton and Patrick Leahy we get back who is one of the best goalies in the state I think and he’s back, he missed all last year with a broken collarbone.”
Captaining the team will be seniors Doe and Woods, and MacMaster, a junior.
“They’re not the loudest guys but their actions and the way they push the pace speaks for itself,” Collier said of Doe, MacMaster, and Woods. “They’ve been around for the last two years, so they understand and expect how hard I want to practice so it translates seamlessly into the game.
“I put our top six, our top four, and our goalies up against any team in the league… I’m expecting a lot from Mike Doe and Brody MacMaster specifically. I’m expecting them to hopefully be anywhere in the 30 to 50 point range.”
Malden Catholic’s first game will be at home on Saturday, Dec. 20 against Marshfield at 6:40 p.m.
