The 2016-17 high school hockey season was a banner year — literally. Lowell Catholic captured the Division 2 state title in dramatic fashion, beating Scituate 5-4.
The Crusaders return the Central Catholic League Player of the Year in defenseman Andrius Kulbis-Marino, as well as the CCL Offensive Player of the Year, sniper Connor Doherty, who pumped in 25 goals last year.
Besides Lowell Catholic, Lowell High captured the Division 3 North sectional title before losing in the state semifinal game to Old Rochester. The Red Raiders are again loaded up front with Thomas Hassett and Ben Asselin, who last year combined for 80 points. Goalie Patrick Cote also returns after his solid 2.38 GAA campaign.
Five other local teams are coming off state tournament appearances including Tewksbury, Shawsheen Tech, North Middlesex, Groton-Dunstable and Littleton/ Bromfield.
PREVIEW CAPSULES:
ALVIRNE
League: N.H. Division 2
Last year’s record: 5-13
Captains: Oliver Thomas, sr., forward; Shane Pimentel, sr., goalie; Jake Natola, jr., forward; Jacob Letendre, jr., defense.
Promising Newcomers: Dylan Jillson, fr., forward.
Coach Matthew Simpson: “The kids have bought into everything I’ve asked them to do. It is a long season ahead but I would not want any other group of kids to coach my first season.”
AYER-SHIRLEY
League: CMass Coughlin
Last year’s record: 13-4-4 (co-op with Lunenburg)
Key player lost to graduation: Jim Driscoll
Captains: Declan Fitzpatrick, jr., defense; Nathan Bourdelais, sr., goalie; Max Simmons, sr., defense; Brett Holman, sr., forward
Other returning letterwinners: Matt Albert, soph., forward; Sean Simpson, jr., forward; Noah Razzatti, soph., forward; Connor Viviano, jr., forward; Luke Dufresne, jr., defense; Jared Simmons, sr., forward; Robby Carpenter, sr., defense; Joey Robinson, soph., forward; Jared Albert, jr., forward; Anthony Firmani, jr., goalie.
Promising Newcomers: Russel Thompson, soph., forward; Aaron O’Connor, fr., forward; Nathan Handy, fr., forward.
Coach Eric Short: “We will have a strong team this year with depth at all positions. This talented group led by the current junior class should be competitive with everyone on our schedule.”
BILLERICA
League: MVC/DCL 1
Last year’s record: 1-17-3
Captains: Joe Chasse, sr., defense; Ryan Jackson, sr., forward.
Returning letterwinners: Ethan Hadley, sr., goalie; Sean Climo, sr., defense; Tommy Cronin, sr., forward; Ryan Broulliette, jr., forward; DJ Fantasia, jr., forward; Joe Lamarca, jr., forward; Ben Stone, jr., forward; Anthony Viscione, soph., forward; Matt Covino, jr., defense; Cameron Collin, jr., defense; Matt Livingston, soph., defense; Garrett Murphy, soph., defense.
Promising Newcomers: PJ Cummiskey, jr.; Vinnie Ferarro, jr.; Garrett Climo, soph.; John Jenkins, soph.; Connor Feeney, soph.; Matt Grimes, fr.; Jakob Oliver, fr.
Coach Jim Egan: “As always, the MVC/DCL 1 will be a competitive league in the state this year. Billerica is coming off a rebuilding season and we know that we have our work cut out for us. We have a young, talented group this year with a lot more experience. Every player on the team is focusing on competing at a higher level.”
CHELMSFORD
League: MVC/DCL 1
Last Year’s Record: 4-13-4
Key players lost to graduation: Jake Green and Jimi Beaton
Captains: Jared Connelly, sr., defense; Chris Bungard, sr., forward.
Other Returning Letterwinners: Liam Bowser, sr., forward; Jack Adamson, jr., forward; Jack Regan, sr., forward; Brendan Lally, sr., forward; Ben Pitts, soph., forward; Mike Connor, jr., de-fense; Ben Gastonguay, jr., forward; Chris Ervin, sr., forward; Mike Untracht, sr., goalie; Jake Getsick, sr., goalie; Drew Blodgett, jr., goalie.
Promising Newcomers: Chad Lizine, jr., forward; Jake Harrison, jr., defense; Bobby Turner, soph., forward; Christian Gastonguay, soph., forward; Brett Nolan, jr., defense; Matt Miner, fr., forward; Tommy Hopkins, soph., defense.
Coach Kevin Leonard: “We’re a year older after having all but two new players last year and that will be a tremendous help going into the season. We have a great group of returning players led by eight hardworking seniors with seven new players who are capable of jumping right into playing big minutes for us. We’ll need a full on team effort each and every day in order to be successful with our schedule and I think our guys are ready to put in the work necessary to do so.”
DRACUT/TYNGSBORO
League: MVC/DCL 3
Last year’s record: 6-11-3
Key players lost to graduation: Troy Thirkell, Eric Dunn, Kyle Diaz, Fred Kazalski, Tyler Roberge, Alex Fagan
Captains: Adam Berger, sr., forward; RJ Patterson, sr., forward.
Returning Letterwinners: Alex Bogohossian, sr., defense; Ryan Hardy, sr., goalie; Brandon Le, sr., forward; Jake Callery, jr., forward; Andrew Dickson, jr., forward; Joe Gagnon, jr., forward; Armen Kazanjian, jr., forward; Kyle McManus, jr., defense; Alec Vella, jr., defense; Dan Warner, jr., defense; Cole Bolduc, soph., forwardl Brian Cebula, soph., forward; Austin Ciszek, soph., forward; Patrick Crowley, soph., forward.
Promising Newcomers: Preston Wilson, fr., goalie; Caulin Martel, fr., goalie; Mike Collett, fr., forward; Tanner Marshall, fr., forward; Ben Warner, fr., defense; Jared Debruin, fr., forward; Trevor Freelove, fr., defense.
Coach Jeff DuRoss: “Strong leadership and team chemistry will be vital to our team success. The MVC/DCL will be a strong division and expectations are we will be in the mix for the division.”
GROTON-DUNSTABLE
League: CMass Quinn
Last year’s record: 10-10-1
Key players lost to graduation: Ben McEvoy, Chris Lattini, Jack Rivet, Charlie Sebastyn and Keegan Penney
Captains: Liam McDonough, sr., defense; Matt Carroll, sr., defense; Blake Lacombe, sr., forward; Andrew Berube, sr., forward.
Other Returning Letterwinners: Michael Lawton, jr., forward; Deaglan Garside, soph., defense; Ian Maguire, soph., defense; Yianni McSweeney, sr., forward; Tim Glencross, sr., forward; Alex Cianci, soph., forward; Jared Breton, sr., forward.
Promising Newcomers: Nate Glencross, fr., forward; Will Kenny, fr., forward; Brendan Ferrari, soph., forward; Tyler Dodge, jr., forward; Harrison Southwick, jr., forward; Evan Leonard, sr., forward; Cory Hannemann, soph., defense; Ben Rivet, jr., defense; Will Zinkann, jr., defense; Derek Breton, jr., defense; Max Buhler, sr., goalie; Ryan Mosscrop, fr., goalie.
Coach Brendan McCann: “With realignment of the conferences in CMass, making the postseason will be a tougher task. We have a lot of speed up front and some talented newcomers that should help us produce more on the offensive side. Defensively we return the majority of our unit, which will be very tough on the opposition. In net, we have three talented goalies who are all battling to replace Ben McEvoy who started all 21 games for us last year.”
LITTLETON/BROMFIELD
League: CMass Coughlin
Last year’s record: 12-5-4
Key players lost to graduation: Ricky Gilpatrick, Nick Evans, Joe Mitchell, Brendan Bassett, Sean Kitain
Captains: Jacob Montepeluso, sr., forward; Dmitri Dutkewych, sr., forward.
Other Returning Letterwinners: Danny Angell, jr., forward; James Peterson, jr., forward; Justin Montepeluso, jr., forward; Chris Berger, jr., def.; Alex Magan, jr., def.; Sean Keefe, jr., def..
Promising Newcomers: Ben Canfield, soph., goalie; Shane Picariello, sr., forward; Dan Paxton, jr., forward; Ted Justicz, soph., forward; Sean Mizzoni, soph., defense; Nick Brown, soph., forward; Ben Hays, soph., forward.
Coach Howie Schneider: “We are very young with only three seniors and we lost some key players from last year. However, we do return some of our top scorers from last year and our defense, although young, gained some very valuable experience. Ben Canfield is expected to take the starting goaltending role. We did get moved up to the Coughlin Conference which is very competitive and returns state champion Grafton.”
LOWELL
League: MVC/DCL 3
Last year’s record: 15-10
Key players lost to graduation: Casey Sheehy, Connor Barter, Will Bazemore, Tyler Docuette, Tyler Kotsifas, Sam Perry, Cole Conlon, Marc Beland, Austin Savard and Lillian Patrylo
Captain: Brendan Broderick, sr., defense
Other Returning Letterwinners: Thomas Hassett, jr., forward; Ben Asselin, jr., forward; Brendan DeMarco, soph., forward; Matt Asselin, soph., forward; Andrew Kotsifas, jr., forward; Cam Trull, soph., forward; Hunter Neville, sr., forward; Ryan Kaye, sr., forward; Nicholas Mandeviile, soph., defense; Shawn Spring, fr., defense; Zachary Zdon, sr., defense; Patrick Cote, jr., goalie; Andrew Carrabis, jr., goalie.
Promising Newcomers: Owen Goulette, soph., forward; Kevin Conley, fr., forward; Michael Pickett, 8th, defense; Jacob Heartquist, fr., defense; Kyle Frechette, 8th, defense; Ben Kotsifas, 8th, defense; Nick McCabe, fr., forward; Brandon Grace, fr., forward; Nathaniel Haley, 8th, forward; Keegan Cote, fr., defense; Jake Viera, fr., goalie; Shawn Martell, fr., goalie.
Coach Brian Akashian: “Our strength is with a solid forward group. All-Conference junior Thomas Hassett (48 points last season) and all-stars Ben Asselin (32 points), Brendan DeMarco (28 points) and Matt Asselin (21 points) return to lead the way. Hard work and solid goaltending with all-star Patrick Cote and Andrew Carrabis will allow us to compete on most nights. We are looking to continue to improve and contend for the league title.”
LOWELL CATHOLIC
League: Catholic Central 2
Last year’s record: 20-2-2, Division 2 state champions
Key players lost to graduation: Cam Pereira, Steve D’Urso, Mike Talbot, Chad Hult and Trevor Hult
Captains: Andrius Kulbis-Marino, sr., defense; Mikas Kulbis-Marino, sr., forward.
Other Returning Letterwinners: Nathan Donaldson, sr., forward; Mitch Andrea, sr., forward; Mike Andrea, sr., defense; Alex Graves, jr., foward; Connor Doherty, jr., forward; Dawon Taylor, jr., forward; Matt Pescatore, sr., defense; Mike Brogdan, jr., forward; Shane McCarthy, jr., defense; Nick Pereira, soph., forward; Nathan Silvia, jr., defense; David Morey, soph., forward; Mike DiBacco, soph., defense; Declan Drew, soph., forward; Colin Gleason, jr., goalie; Gavin MacEachern, sr., goalie.
Promising Newcomers: James Giblin, jr., forward; Noah Mills, soph., forward; Dom Carlson, soph., goalie; Liam Fisher, soph., forward; Dom Valente, fr., for/defense; Chris Mucci, fr., defense; Mike Devita, fr., defense.
Coach Tom Curran: “We have a solid group of returning players. The schedule is challenging early in the season with six of the first seven against D1 teams including Xaverian, St Mary’s, Austin and Archbishop Williams.”
NORTH MIDDLESEX
League: CMass Roy
Captains: Cam Stairs, sr., forward; Declan Delaney, sr., forward; Matthew Devito, sr., forward
Other returning letterwinners: Michael Amari, soph., forward; Trent Costa, jr., forward; Kyle Templeton, sr., forward; Nick White, sr., defense; Matt Metras, sr., defense; Sean Lynch, sr., defense; Joe Murphy, sr., defense.
Promising Newcomers: Sean Kelly, jr., defense; Luke Junek, sr., for/defense; Ryan Riel, soph., forward; Nick Miller, soph., forward; Ethan Freeman, soph., guard; Thomas Kelly, fr., goalie; Tyler Melanson, jr., goalie.
Coach Mike McCarthy: “We expect to battle every night in a very competitive CMass league.”
SHAWSHEEN TECH
League: CAC
Last year’s record: 14-8-0
Key players lost to graduation: Jason Colletti, Griffin Blanch, Aaron Bennett, Chris Mills and Jon Murray
Captains: Matt Irwin, sr., center; Jack Duggan, sr., forward; Story Michaud, sr., defense
Other Returning Letterwinners: Andrew Tsoukalas, sr., forward; Nick Nardella, sr., forward; Ron Page, sr., forward; Kyle Preble, sr., defense; Beau Ramsey, jr., defense; Jason Thibert, soph., forward; Brady McFadden, soph., forward; Ryan Kelly, sr., defense; Bobby Mitza, sr., goalie; Carter O’Rourke, sr., goalie; DJ DeRose, jr., forward.
Promising Newcomers: Dan McGaffigan, soph., center; Owen Sullivan, jr., forward; Drew Theodos, soph., forward; Nathan Silva, soph., forward; Nick Farrell, soph., defense; Kevin Chase, jr., defense; Dave Williams, soph., defense; Calvin Stafford, sr., defense; Jared LeGrand, fr., defense; Jack Shreenan, fr., defense; Sean Murphy, fr., defense; Kameron Neault, soph., goalie; Matt Nikonchuk, sr., goalie.
Coach Chuck Baker: ” We have a great mix of upperclassmen and underclassmen. There is a great ‘team’ attitude. They are working hard to get better as a team each time they step on the ice. I am excited to see how much this team can accomplish.”
TEWKSBURY
League: MVC/DCL 2
Last year’s record: 13-6-2
Key players lost to graduation: Jonathan Fowler and Ryan Morris
Captains: Stephen Johnson, sr., forward and Colby Pierce, sr., forward
Other Returning Letterwinners: Trevor Harris, jr., goalie; James Cash, sr., forward; Michael Arsenault, jr., defense; Johnny Spinelli, sr., forward; Campbell Pierce, soph., forward; Kyle Morris, soph., forward; Aaron Scott, jr., forward; Jack Sutherland, sr., defense; William Giasullo, sr., forward; Thomas Craig, sr., forward; Kyle Lombardo, jr., forward; Patrick Letourneau, soph., goalie.
Promising Newcomers: Robert Casey, jr., defense; Shane Mercuri, jr., defense; Ben Bieren, jr., defense; Asa DeRoche, fr., forward; Will O’Keefe, fr., forward; Michael Dell’Orfano, soph., forward; Shane Murphy, sr., defense; Justin Petti, jr., forward and Kyle Grant, jr., defense.
Coach Derek Doherty: “We’re young and inexperienced, especially on defense with just one player with varsity experience. The MVC/DCL Division 2 is always very competitive. We’ll see how things go.”
WESTFORD ACADEMY
League: MVC/DCL 1
Last year’s record: 9-10-2
Captains: Sean Egan, sr., defense; Tim Kapetanakis, sr., forward; Ryan Blackwell, sr., forward; Chris Blouin, sr., defense.
Other Returning Letterwinners: Joe Kenney, sr., forward; Tyler Guillemette, jr., forward; Kevin Bruskiewitz, jr., forward; Max Spear, jr., forward; Alex Sepe, jr., forward; Dylan Breen, soph., forward; Jason Bunyon, soph., forward; Kyle Wizst, soph., forward; Mike Mucci, jr., defense; Jack Sepe, jr., defense; Kevin Egen, soph., defense; Roger Carter, sr., goalie.
Promising Newcomers: Steve Okuhara, sr., goalie; Matt Cielakie, fr., forward
Coach Bob Carpenter: “We are optimistic that we can be very competitive within a historically tough league. We return a great group of guys that have gained valuable experience over the past two years and are looking forward to the season.”
WILMINGTON
League: Middlesex Freedom
Last year’s record: 5-11-4
Key players lost to graduation: Josh Buske and Kyle Collins
Captains: AJ McKearney, sr., defense; Tom Worob, sr., forward
Other Returning Letterwinners: Jared Aucoin, sr., defense; Ryan St. Jean, sr., goalie; Joe Mirabella, sr., forward; Tommy Robarge, sr., defense; Dylan Bresnahan, sr., defense; Stephen Bowker, sr., goalie; Bobby Lord, sr., forward; Nate DiMeco, sr., forward; Mike DuCharme, sr., forward; Dan Woods, jr., forward; Ryan Barrett, jr., forward; Andrew Sullivan, jr., forward; Conlin Duffy, jr., defense and Joe Hill, soph., forward.
Promising Newcomers: Mike Fiorenza, jr., defense; Chris Spinazola, jr., forward; Jared Venezia, soph., forward and Anthony Cuozzo, soph., goalie.
Coach Steve Scanlon: “We are a veteran club, but a veteran club that won just five games last year. We need to get some scoring punch. The Middlesex League is the best public school hockey league in the state, so you need to come to play every night, if not it’s going to be a long season.”
