Sat. 11/23/13
Exeter Edges Dexter on White OT Strike
Brookline, Mass. – A goal by postgrad David White at 1:28 of overtime lifted Exeter to a 3-2 win over host Dexter here today.
White, who was the Connecticut Player of the Year last season, scoring over 50 points for state champs Fairfield Prep, took a pass from Henry Hart and fired it – he has a shot -- from the slot past Dexter senior goalie Pat Fraser. Hart, a PG from the St. Thomas Academy (Minn.) team that has won the last three Class A titles in Minnesota had, seconds earlier, sprung senior center Kevin Neiley on a breakaway that Neiley couldn’t finish off. His next pass did the trick, though.
A key point in the game came with 19 seconds left in the second period, as two Exeter players were penalized on the same play. Dexter, holding a 2-1 lead at the time, had a chance to perhaps put the game squarely in the win column, but failed to convert throughout the remaining seconds of the second as well as the 1:41 of a 5x3 power play to start the third. Exeter played the same three penalty killers – White, and sophomore d-men Peter Christie and Spenser Young -- for the entire duration. There was no scrambling around, either: Dexter was unable to muster a Grade A chance on that PP.
The big gun for Exeter today was 6’3”, 198 lb. senior tri-captain Cody Rorick who scored two goals. After Kevin Hock, a new sophomore out of Catholic Memorial, put Dexter up 1-0 in the first, Rorick evened things up for Exeter midway through the second, as senior Patrick Besse hit him in front with a pass out from behind the goal line.
At 13:01 of the second Dexter junior star center Ryan Donato scored a beautiful goal to give his team the lead back at 2-1, breaking down the right side and firing a high shot at Exeter senior goalie Jack Parsons. Parsons stopped the initial shot but the rebound hung in the air long enough for Donato, as he was cutting outside the post, to tap the puck out of mid-air, waist high, past Parsons. 6’2” senior D Liam Feeney picked up an assist -- his second of the day -- on the play.
That goal was beginning to look like it would hold up for Dexter, but Dexter took a penalty late in the third, and, with 2:27 left in regulation, Rorick, off a pass from White, struck again, wristing a shot from the slot past Fraser.
Before the game, Exeter coach Dana Barbin worried that his team, which would be facing their third game in three days, and just had exams in the morning, might be ripe for the picking.
He was right, to a point. Dexter, which outshot Exeter 27-24, could have won it – especially if they had cashed in on that 5x3, which will no doubt haunt them for awhile.
“I could see we were gassed, but we hung in there,” said Barbin afterward. “I have to give a lot of credit to White and Spenser Young and Peter Christie for that penalty kill on the 5-on-3. If Dexter scores there, we lose. All our d-men played well in this game.”
For Exeter, White and Henry Hart are key additions up front. Both are PGs who have won state titles at the high school level, have a high skill level, and are dangerous every time they are on the ice. They will be getting a lot of college interest as the season goes along. Barbin had White playing with Henry Hart on the top line, which was centered by Neiley. On the second and third lines, Exeter has depth with junior Teddy Hart, sophomore Devin Moore, Rorick et al.
Exeter, until after the New Year’s break, will have to do without 6’1” PG tri-captain and defenseman Matt Foley. The former Springfield Cathedral standout broke his collarbone a few weeks ago. 6’3” senior forward Patrick Quinn, the team’s leading returning scorer and also a tri-captain, suffered a knee injury last week.
Dexter has some interesting players. We don’t have to tell you about Donato, as we’ve written about him extensively. He looks to be the first New England prep school player – or New Englander of any stripe -- to hear his name called at June’s NHL Draft.
6’2” senior defenseman Liam Feeney is Dexter’s mainstay on defense, and critical to the team’s success.
Extremely intriguing is 5’10”, 165 lb. Dexter RD Sean Keohan, a ’99 from Milton, Mass. Keohan, for a 14-year-old, looked like a veteran out there. Very smooth. Very poised. We had heard about Keohan when he played four or five games in the Top Gun Summer League down in Foxboro – a league loaded with older guys, college players and pros like Charlie Coyle. Keohan, we were told, held his own. Dexter coach Dan Donato doesn’t much like playing freshman, but with Keohan there doesn’t seem to be a sane reason not to play him. His is a name you may be hearing a lot of in years to come.
Sophomore RW Hock, who scored the above-mentioned goal, is an 11/96 birthdate who colleges will want to keep an eye on.
Ditto for new 6’2”, 195 lb. new junior RW Sam D’Antuono, who comes to Dexter from Hingham High School. D’Antuono has a good stride and plays a power forward game. We didn’t get a good read on his puck skills, but he looks like the kind of guy who needs to have a good playmaker to get him the puck. That didn’t really happen for him today, but might well in time.
Mon. 11/18/13
Prep Girls Schedule, Week of Nov. 18th
Mon. Nov. 18
Northern Lights @ Pomfret, 7:00 pm (S)
Wed. Nov. 20
St. Paul's @ Holderness, 3:00 pm
Stanstead College @ Northfield - Mt. Hermon, 3:00 pm
Vermont Academy @ New Hampton School, 3:30 pm
Islanders Hockey Club @ Exeter, 5:45 pm (S)
Connecticut Polar Bears @ Pomfret, 6:30 pm (S)
Thurs. Nov. 21
Jr. Eagles @ Southfield, 5:15 pm (S)
Fri. Nov. 22
New Hampton School @ Noble & Greenough, 3:45 pm
NEWHL @ Holderness, 6:00 pm (S)
Sat. Nov. 23
New England Pride U19 @ Worcester Academy, 11:45 am (S)
Cushing @ Milton, 12:00 pm (S)
Stanstead College @ Kimball Union, 12:00 pm
Pomfret @ St. Mark's, 1:00 pm
LaSalle Academy @ Tabor, 1:00 pm (S)
Kents Hill (neutral site) Millbrook, 4:30 pm
Mon. Nov. 25
Greenwich @ Portledge, 5:30 pm (S)
Wed. 11/13/13
This Week's Girls' Schedule
It's not exactly a heavy schedule, but it's a start. The U.S. Hockey Report wishes the best of luck to all the girls’ prep teams in the upcoming season. It should be a good one.
Fri. Nov 15
Northfield - Mt. Hermon @ Winchendon, 5:00 pm (S)
Sat. Nov 16
NJ Rockets @ Northfield - Mt. Hermon, 10:30 am (S)
Kent @ Canterbury, 1:15 pm (S)
TBA @ Lawrence Academy, 2:00 pm (S)
Worcester Academy @ Lawrence Academy, 4:00 pm (S)
Quakers @ Millbrook, 5:00 pm (S)
Fri. 3/8/13
New England Prep All-Star Teams 2012-2013
Division I
Player of the Year:
Phoebe Staenz, F, Choate, Sr. (Zurich, Switzerland)
First Team
Forwards:
Lexi Laing, Nobles, Jr. (Marblehead, Mass.)
Caitrin Lonergan, St. Paul’s School, Fr. (Roslindale, Mass.)
Briana Mastel, Choate Rosemary Hall, Sr. (Wallingford, Conn.)
Defensemen:
Natasha Rachlin, Nobles, Sr. (Brookline Mass.)
Eleni Tebano, Westminster, Sr. (Glastonbury, Conn.)
Goaltender:
Katie Burt, BB&N, Soph. (Lynn, Mass.)
Second Team
Forwards:
Tori DeAngelis, Westminster, Jr. (Sounderstown, RI)
Haley Mullins, Nobles, Jr. (East Greenwich, RI)
Makenna Newkirk, Pomfret, Soph. (Scottsdale, AZ)
Defensemen:
Bella Sinsigalli, Berkshire, Sr. (Redding, Conn.)
Jane Pagano, Tabor Academy, Sr. (Erie, PA)
Goaltender:
Brittany Bugalski, Loomis Chaffee, Soph. (Lake Worth, FL)
Division II
Player of the Year:
Kelcey Crawford, G, Proctor Academy, Sr. (Amherst, NH)
First Team
Forwards:
Annemarie Ng, Southfield, Sr. (Milton, Mass.)
Alison Quinn, Southfield, Sr. (Canton, Mass.)
Pam Schulman, Greenwich Academy, Sr. (Greenwich Conn.)
Defensemen:
Ashley Arnold, Middlesex, Sr. (Boxborough, Mass.)
Erin Hall, Southfield, Sr. (Pembroke, Mass.)
Kate Haslett, Brooks, Sr.. (Rothesay, NB, Canada)
Goaltender:
Lan Crofton, Worcester Academy, Sr. (Milton, Mass.)
Second Team
Forwards:
Maeve McMahon, Groton, Sr. (Duxbury, Mass)
Melinda Prevost, Vermont, Jr. (Pierrefonds, Que., Canada)
Melissa Sheeran, Millbrook, Jr. (Schaghticoke, NY)
Defensemen:
Isabela Bagi, The Gunnery, Sr. (Branford, Conn.)
Emily Even, Millbrook, Sr. (Montreal West, Que., Canada)
Goaltender:
Jessica Thulin, Southfield, Sr. (Reading, Mass.)
New England Prep Hockey News
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