Truth be told, this was not a banner year for the local boys’ hockey teams. Eight of the local teams qualified for postseason play, and there was only one first-round playoff win — in which two local teams squared off against one another.
There were still plenty of storylines – including two coaches resigning during the middle of the season — and plenty of thrilling victories and individuals who had banner seasons. Haverhill junior Matt Costa scored 40 goals, Whittier Tech/Amesbury forward Grady Stickney scored 30, and Timberlane/Pelham freshman goalie Simon Hawkes faced 90 shots in one game.
Here’s a recap of each of the ten local teams.
Andover (3-16-1)
It’s no secret that it was a tough year for the Golden Warriors, with three wins and head coach Kevin Drew resigning just a few weeks into the season. However, the team’s leadership was terrific throughout the season, said interim head coach Peter Loring.
The Golden Warriors will be losing a lot of seniors, but will bring back Boden Wood, a talented goalie, who was just three saves shy of 600 this season.
Central Catholic (12-10-0)
A year ago, it seemed like the bottom was falling out for the Red Raiders, finishing with just four wins. This year, the fortunes were reversed. Central Catholic finished the season with a 9-2 league record, enough to capture the MVC/DCL Division 1 league title, before losing in the first round of the state tournament to Archbishop Williams.
Along the way, Jake Morowski, who two years ago had a serious knee injury, was named the MVC/DCL Division 1 Player of the Year, while Andrew Seamans had a terrific season with 17 tallies.
Probably the biggest area of improvement came between the pipes. Cooper Kirchner and Sean Tatten combined for a 2.75 GAA.
“Coming off a tough season last year and with many uncertainties surrounding our returning players, we knew positive results wouldn’t come easily,” said head coach DJ Conte, who was named the MVC/DCL D1 Coach of the Year. “Although our results were very positive within our conference, we fell short of our strong non-league schedule and in the postseason.”
The Raiders will look to Tatten and Kirchner, as well as Robert DeMedeiros and Logan Haley, to lead the way next year.
Haverhill (13-9-0)
Under the direction of first-year head coach Adam Hurrell, the Hillies improved their win total by five, including a preliminary-round state tournament win over Southeastern Regional before losing to Nauset.
Junior Matt Costa erupted for 56 points, including 40 goals. The trio of Rocco Belfiore, Peter Grillo, and Nolan Sheehan combined for 17 goals and 42 assists.
“The future is bright for this program. We are trying to rebuild the program. All in all, I am very happy with the results of the season. We have a young team and are losing four seniors. We can only build on a successful season,” said Hurrell.
The Hillies will bring back almost the entire team, but will need to find a replacement in net.
Methuen (14-6-1)
On the one hand, you could say this season was a disappointment for the Rangers, considering their four-year league title streak ended and they were ousted in the first round of the Division 3 tournament.
But on the flip side, the Rangers won 14 games, giving the program 68 W’s over the last five seasons.
“We will lose six seniors who all have a ton of varsity experience. We will have four or five incoming freshmen who can help us, so hopefully we keep the train rolling,” said head coach Billy Blackwell.
The Rangers will bring back a lot of scoring punch with defenseman Sean Morris (9-16-25), Dylan Anderson (11-9-20), and Jackson Laplante (9-7-16). Goaltender Elias Nakhoul returns with his 1.88 GAA over eight games.
North Andover (8-11-2)
Under first-year head coach Ben Murphy, the Scarlet Knights made a ton of progress, which included winning the Methuen Christmas Tournament and reaching the Division 1 state tournament. Senior Zack Steely was the go-to player, finishing with 17 goals, and he will be sorely missed, as will goalie Ben Woodford.
Murphy will return many players with varsity experience, but will need two or three of them to step up and have monster seasons if the Knights want to return to the playoffs.
Whittier Tech/Amesbury (11-8-2)
A year after reaching the Division 2 quarterfinals, the co-op team outshot Billerica in the first-round tournament game but was defeated soundly.
No question, the team needs to sure up its defensive end, but offensively won’t be a problem again next year with the likes of Grady Stickney (30-23-53), Thomas Pourro (12-17), Lincoln Kime, and Evan Murphy all returning.
New Hampshire
Pinkerton Academy (14-8-0)
It was an up-and-down season for the Astros. It started with the Christmas Tournament title, winning all three games. Then, later in the season, head coach Jon Chabot resigned. Jim Fletcher took over, and the team finished 3-2 down the stretch, including a first-round tournament loss to Windham. Goalie Tanner Moody and the team’s defense were excellent all season, giving up just 2.36 goals per game.
“We will graduate seven seniors, but we return five defensemen and six of our top nine forwards,” said Fletcher.
Among the returners will be Johnny Barbarossa and Davids Hibbard, who combined for 17 goals.
Salem (8-10-0)
Hovering around or below the .500 mark for most of the season, the Blue Devils made some noise late, winning three of their last four games to qualify for the postseason.
While Salem is losing two offensive threats in Gavin Doughty (13-18-31) and Brody Chisholm (5-21-26), there’s a lot of young talent returning with the likes of Hunter Thompson (18-18-36), Logan Tautkus (15-8-23), and goalie Thomas Griffin.
Timberlane/Pelham (2-15-1)
The season started out strong for the co-op team with two wins, but the lack of numbers and lack of depth caught up as the season wore on. However, the building blocks are there behind Arturo Saldarriaga and freshman goalie Simon Hawkes.
Windham (12-8-0)
The Jaguars had two things stand in their way of an incredible season: a lack of numbers/depth and ending up on the wrong side of the playoff bracket, facing eventual state champion Concord in the second round.
Windham had several strong offensive players, including Josh Trudel (20-12-32) and Sam Kramer (20-12-32), and its three-man defensive rotation of Grayson Quaglieta, Josh Martino, and Ethan Peluso was outstanding all in front of Roberto Robles, who had another incredible (2.10 GAA) season in net.
However, most of the players on this year’s team played their final game a few weeks back.”
“We’re graduating nine seniors, so it’ll be another challenging year for us next year,” said head coach Shawn Quaglietta. “We’ll be relatively thin like we were this year, so it’ll be incumbent upon the returners to have solid seasons like we had this year.”