November

December

January

February

March

 

* * 🏒  HOLIDAY TOURNAMENT GUIDE  🏒 * *

Fri. 11/17/17

Exeter Hockey Carries on in Post-Dennehy Era

Exeter faced off at home tonight against Kents Hill in the season opener for both teams, a 5-1 decision for Exeter.

Missing, after 46 years behind the Exeter bench, was Bill Dennehy.

Yes, Dennehy, 69, officially retired four years ago, but he stayed on as assistant hockey coach, with every year being "maybe the last." Finally, Bill and his wife Cyndee, a retired teacher, sold their home in Exeter, moving permanently to their longtime summer home in East Chop on Martha's Vineyard, where they'll get to spend more time with their two children and seven grandchildren. But Dennehy's retirement means the end of The Hockey Bar, where, after games, an informal group of hockey people would get together in Dennehy's basement, fitted out with a real bar, TV, and a postgame spread courtesy of Cyndee. The basement's walls were covered with photos that could hold the attention of a sports fan for hours. But the conversation was usually so lively that many, like this typist, would usually get pulled away.

Dennehy started coaching at Exeter shortly after graduating from Springfield College, which he had helped lead to the Div. II College World Series crown. As for hockey, he started with the JV hockey team at Exeter in 1971-72, then became an assistant to George Crowe with the varsity. When Crowe replaced Grant Standbrook as head coach at Dartmouth in the fall of 1975, Dennehy became head coach at Exeter, staying in that position until 1992 when he reversed roles by handing off the position to Dana Barbin, then his assistant. Dennehy continued as Barbin's assistant for 25 years. And in that quarter century, Barbin himself became one of the longest-tenured coaches in prep hockey.

"I've never coached without him," Barbin said. "Twenty-five years. His not being here is going to be strange for me. The greatest thing is I always knew I had Bill's trust and loyalty. He had my back."

In addition to hockey, Dennehy was the head coach of Exeter's boys' soccer and baseball team for years, and is probably best known for baseball, though that might depend on who you were talking to. "He always said," Barbin added, "that he had the best job in North America, being able to coach all three sports, and phys ed, too."

As a coach he was old school -- firm and tough, but in an approachable, avuncular manner. The kids will miss him. We all will. And in case you're wondering, the tradition of the Hockey Bar will continue, just in a new venue.

Dennehy's legacy is carried on by his son, Pat, currently the head hockey coach at Choate.

Thurs. 11/30/17

Taking the Next Step

Thank you to the handful of coaches who took the time to submit their box scores to Wednesday's games. We know who you are and we appreciate it greatly.

We believe the players will appreciate it too, both today and years from now, when they are able to look back to their prep school days and actually see a record of all their games along with rosters and schedules showing everyone they played against. Over the years, I have heard from many former players wishing they had something like this to remember their days in prep school.

Others who enjoy it would be the parents who make financial sacrifices to send their kids to prep school. College coaches have told us they find our site extremely useful, but wish there was more in the way of stats. So we're reaching out to the prep coaches for help.

USHR is the only independently-run girls prep hockey site that focuses on one league. We feel prep hockey deserves coverage that is the equal of the level of play.

We were looking at the Shattuck-St. Mary's Girls Hockey site today. It's pretty impressive, and no doubt cost the school a good deal of money. But hockey is important to them -- they're 27-1-2 -- so they do it.

USHR costs the participating schools absolutely nothing. For the past 13 years, this typist has supported it primarily with proceeds shifted over from the boys site, some ads, and some donations from parents happy with what prep hockey brought to their daughters' lives. We've also had one terrific volunteer -- a true godsend -- who has labored for years, adding missing schedules, rosters, scores, stats, etc.

Within a week we will be charging for the USHR Girls site. It's not much. Our guide was simply charging half of what we charge for the boys' site. For the site to make that quantum leap this year, we need to charge, to pay writers, to pay travel expenses, to pay for the cost of running the site.

If any coaches, potential writers, advertisers, parents or anyone else has questions about the site please drop me a note at cwarner@ushr.com.

Thank you for your support. We aim to repay it in kind.

Chris Warner
U.S. Hockey Report
Cambridge, Mass.

Wed. 11/29/17

Nobles Edges Defending Champs New Hampton, 2-1

Dedham, Mass. -- In a game that lived up to the pre-season hype, senior Katie Tresca, a Harvard commit, scored both goals as Nobles held off defending champion New Hampton, 2-1, to kick off the girls prep season in a thrilling back-and-forth game.

Tresca put the Bulldogs up 1-0 in the first, with the goal coming off a scramble in front of the New Hampton net.

In the second period, New Hampton started to take over the play as their strong first line of Savannah Norcross and McKenzie Haberl both had quality chances with a lot of offensive zone time. Nobles Senior goaltender Kelly Pickreign, a BC recruit, was solid all night.

At the start of the third period, New Hampton defenseman Lauren DeBlois scored a goal from the point that Pickreign never saw, tying the game at 1-1. Both teams traded quality chances until Nobles star freshman Katie Pyne made a terrific play on a 2-on-1 with Tresca to give the Bulldogs the lead for good. New Hampton had chances in the third period, but Nobles’ strong defense was the difference down the stretch.

As for Nobles, many observers felt they would be down a bit this year after losing star forwards Becca Gilmore and Casey O’Brien. That, however, is clearly not the case. The Bulldogs have a lot of young players and impressive newcomers. We were very impressed with the dynamic Pyne as well as Ellie Bayard and Kaley MacDonald. Clearly the strength of Nobles this year will be their defense, which is led by Lily Farden, Rose O’Connor, Nicki Lutschaunig – all Harvard commits – and Steph Nomicos, an Amherst recruit. For now, Nobles is without star defenseman Jenna MacDonald, who is out with an injury. In net, Pickreign has been a trusted presence for the last several years. We expect her to have another strong season. And we expect Nobles will be in the hunt for another NEPSAC Championship.

New Hampton is also as good as advertised. Despite losing the dynamic Cayla Barnes to the Olympic Team, New Hampton is loaded with D-I talent. Lauren DuBlois and Maddie Crowley looked solid on the back end and freshman Courtney Colarullo was very impressive. New Hampton will rely on Norcross and Haberl for point production, but their second line of Anna Sheldon, Kelly Mathews and Lily Humphrey had some good offensive zone time against Nobles’ second line. New Hampton goalie Liv Sollows played very well all night. We expect New Hampton will also be there at the end of the season, defending their title.

This was a great start. Make sure you are plugged in to the USHR girls section all season. We have never seen so many quality teams and we expect the race to come right down to the wire.

Sun. 11/26/17

Girls' Prep Composite, Week of Nov. 27, 2017

Monday, Nov. 27, 2017
East Coast Wizards @ Southfield, 6:00 pm (S)
Lewiston HS @ Hebron, 7:30 pm (S)

Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017
Mid-Fairfield @ Choate, 7:30 pm (S)

Mon. 11/20/17

Girls' Prep Composite, Week of Nov. 20, 2017

Friday, Nov. 24, 2017
Union College Jamboree (Day 1 of 3)
Schenectady, NY
All games at Union's Achilles Rink, except where noted
Note: SCRF is the Schenectady County Recreational Facility
It's 15 minutes north of the Union Campus at 5 Tower Rd.; Scotia, NY 12302

1:00 pm      Union      Brewster v Syracuse
2:30 pm      Union      CP Dynamo v Gunnery
5:15 pm      SCRF      Kents Hill v Hoosac

Saturday, Nov. 25, 2017
Union College Jamboree (Day 2 of 3)

Mon. 11/20/17

Welcome to 2017-18!

The 2017-18 Girls’ Prep Pages are now officially open.

All of last season’s news, rosters, schedules, and stats have been archived, and new material will start going into this season’s pages right shortly.

All schedules have been posted, and we’ll have the first composite schedule up tonight.

We’ve done a lot of work on the back end, mostly behind-the-scenes stuff that you probably won’t notice beyond the fact that the site will be running more smoothly than ever.

One major change this year is that we will have to charge for the service. For the past 13 years the USHR Girls Prep site has been free, and we’ve lost money each season as a result. The problem? We need writers, and writers need to be paid, especially those who know their way around the girls game. We have the writers, and coaches have shown increasing interest in uploading their box scores and rosters, something we're excited about. We believe there are enough fans of girls hockey for us to start building a first class website devoted solely to the girls prep game. As for price, we’re taking a conservative route and will be charging only half of what a USHR boys’ subscription would cost. The site will be free of charge through Sat. Dec. 2nd, in order that readers can get a feel for what we'll be doing this season.

We will also be posting jamboree and holiday tournament schedules. Look for those to start going up shortly. Note to coaches: send 'em along, please! The email address is: cwarner(at)ushr.com

Welcome to the new season. We're glad to be here. We’re glad you’re here. And we thank you for your support.

Chris Warner
Publisher/Editor
US Hockey Report
Cambridge, Mass.