Hilltop Happenings

Knights Defeat Belmont Hill in Final to Earn 7^th Elite 8 Hockey Title

Three Road Wins Pave Way for 2^nd Straight Championship
Written contributions by Procter Smith | Sports Information Director

Three times in the past five days they donned their white road-jerseys, and three times they skated off foreign ice surfaces with wins. After 1,000 miles of driving and match-ups against the #4, #1, and #3 seeded teams in the Stuart-Corkery Elite 8 Prep School Hockey Tournament, the Salisbury School Crimson Knights are the 2022 New England Champions.

On Sunday, #5 Salisbury successfully defended the title they had held since 2020 by defeating Belmont Hill School, 4-1, at the Hillies’ jam-packed Keller Rink in Belmont, Massachusetts. (The COVID pandemic necessitated suspension of post-season play in 2021.) Coming in, host Belmont Hill had not lost a game on its home ice all season. In only one other game, a 5-4 road loss to Dexter-Southfield School in the final week of the regular season, had the Sextants surrendered more than three goals. Belmont Hill, which has won two New England titles, was playing its first Elite 8 championship final in 20 years.

Since 2006, Salisbury has now won seven Elite 8 titles, six of those – 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2020, and 2022 – have been under current head coach Andrew Will, who has built an extraordinary dynasty in what many consider the most competitive cauldron for high-school hockey in the country: the New England Prep School Athletic Conference. Will arrived on the Hilltop after previous head coach Dan Donato brought the Knights their first Elite 8 Championship in 2006. Will and Donato, who now heads the hockey program at Dexter, squared off in the quarterfinal round of this year’s tournament, a 3-1 win for Salisbury.

Will was greeted by another familiar face in Sunday’s final: Belmont Hill is led by former Salisbury assistant coach Brian Phinney, in his first year behind the bench for the Sextants. Phinney’s team held the top spot in New England prep hockey polls for much of the past month and defeated #6 St. Sebastian’s School and #2 Avon Old Farms to reach the showdown with Salisbury. The Knights, on the other hand, faced a long, hard climb back to respectability after starting the season with a dismal 5-4 record, which dropped them as low as #15 in the polls. After the Christmas break, however, there was no hotter team in New England. The Knights went on a blistering 16-1 tear in January and February before adding their three-game run through the tournament field to add another memento to the trophy case in the Flood Athletic Center.

The conclusion of the game was overshadowed by an injury to Salisbury captain Dane Westen. The packed facility went silent, and play was suspended for some fifteen minutes as medical staff tended to the motionless Westen, slumped on the ice in the defensive zone near the Salisbury bench. The two teams both took a knee along their blue lines, all eyes fixed on the Knights’ fallen leader. Initial reports from the hospital about Westen’s condition have been encouraging. Certainly, the New England hockey community, regardless of allegiances, is joined as one in praying for Westen’s complete recovery.

Once Westen had been carried off the ice, to an ovation from players and spectators alike, the referees ran the final 25 seconds off the clock. Salisbury had a muted celebration on the ice. The Belmont Hill team skated over to salute its faithful followers in the stands.

Then players met at center ice for handshakes, followed by the awarding of the runner-up trophy to the Sextants and the champions’ trophy to Salisbury. Legendary Salisbury coach Matt Corkery, who was instrumental in the founding of the NEPSAC tournaments and whose legacy is honored in the Stuart-Corkery Elite 8 Tournament’s official name, was on hand to present the trophies. With their hardware in hand, the Knights allowed themselves a bit more spirited show of excitement over what they had accomplished.

Salisbury came out blazing, scoring two quick goals to take a 2-0 lead before the game was four minutes old. Just 2:03 into the game, Oliver Frontini collected a pass from Trey Deere and stunned the boisterous home crowd by putting the puck past Belmont Hill netminder Sam Scopa. Then, at 14:17, Ryan Walsh found the back of the net on a play set in motion by Lee Parks to open a two-goal lead for the Knights. A minute-and-a-half later, Brock Cummings responded for Belmont Hill, slicing the lead in half and bringing the crowd right back into it.

Despite the scoring frenzy, this was destined to be a defensive battle. After the three-goal outburst in the opening five minutes, there would be only two more goals the rest of the way – a span of 49 minutes.

Salisbury dominated play over the first half of the opening period, but Belmont Hill began to turn up the heat after the midpoint. The Sextants had an opportunity with 7:28 remaining, but a shot from the slot deflected off a Knight defenseman. Moments later, at 6:45, Knight goalie Austin McNicholas fielded a chest-high shot from the right point inside the blueline and held on. A three-on-two rush in the closing seconds looked promising for the Hillies, but Teddy Stiga’sclose-range shot sailed wide as time expired.

The home team came out flying to start the second period. Right off the opening faceoff, McNicholas faced a shot from the slot. The Sextants continued to control in the Salisbury end, finding their way to dangerous spots for quality opportunities, including a pass from behind the net and onto a stick in the slot, but Belmont Hill’s sniper misfired.

At 10:59, Parks carried along the right boards into the Belmont Hill zone and suddenly accelerated around the opposing defender to skate right across the goal mouth, where Scopa made a terrific stop. Three minutes later, it was Parks again eluding a defender on a 2-v-1 rush before putting the puck on Dylan Hryckowian’s blade in the slot. Hryckowian, later named the game’s First Star, wasted no time beating a helpless Scopa to open another two-goal lead at 3-1. Cole Eichler also assisted on the play.

With 5:31 left in the middle frame, Belmont Hill went on the power-play, but the Knight penalty-kill units were up to the challenge, not allowing the Hillies their first shot until just 28 seconds were left on the man-advantage. With just under two minutes left, Belmont Hill threatened from point blank, and McNicholas turned the shot away. Moments later Eichler had a chance at the other end that was thwarted by Scopa. In the closing minute, Belmont Hill snuck an attacker behind the Knights at the far blue line, sending a couple of long passes his way in a bid for a home run, but the attempts resulted in icing calls. The period ended without further threats.

Salisbury came out flying in the third period, with Hryckowian threatening at 17:45 and Scopa making a critical save. Play became more physical, with the Sextants putting a series of clean board-checks on the Knight puck-handlers, but Salisbury could not be intimidated. Belmont Hill would not get many premium chances, but a nice move by one of the Hillies’ defenseman led to a shot from the right circle at 14:26, held to the chest by McNicholas.

A power-play at 9:10 gave Belmont Hill hope. The Hillies best opportunity was a drive from the high slot, targeted for the lower-right corner, which McNicholas got a pad in front of. Ensuing action saw Salisbury’s defense deny routes into the middle, forcing play outside to frustrate the Sextants. With under two minutes, Scopa headed to the bench for the extra skater, and Salisbury took advantage. Ben Poitras blocked a shot near the blue line, retrieved the loose puck in the neutral zone, and outskated pursuit to pocket the insurance goal with 1:14 left to play.

The coveted Stuart-Corkery Elite 8 trophy would soon be in the Crimson Knights’ hands. Parks was recognized with the game’s Second Star, while Deere, who seemed to be in the middle of the action whenever he was on a shift, was awarded the Third Star.

Poitras’s Overtime Goal Sends #5 Salisbury into Elite 8 Finals

Ben Poitras scored at 9:23 of the first overtime period on Saturday night to give #5 Salisbury a dramatic 2-1 victory over #1 Kimball Union Academy in the semifinals of the Elite 8 Prep Hockey Tournament, held in Meriden, New Hampshire. The win avenges a 3-2 loss to KUA in the Flood-Marr Holiday Classic on December 19. More importantly, the win propels the defending New England Champions into Sunday’s Championship Game, where the Knights will face #3 Belmont Hill School. The Sextants – who are coached by Brian Phinney, a former assistant to Salisbury head coach Andrew Will – upset #2 Avon Old Farms, 4-2, in Saturday’s other semifinal pairing.

Poitras, a forward, had rotated out to the blueline to cover for a Knight defenseman who had gone down the boards on the right side to contend for a loose puck. It would be generous to call Poitras’s launch a “shot.” Think slow-pitch softball, and you’ll get a clearer image of the puck’s trajectory. Poitras seemed more intent on landing the puck in the goal area, where a teammate could pounce on it, than on scoring himself. The KUA goalie went down to split his pads – as if anticipating a hard, low shot – and may not have realized until it was too late that the puck had other ideas. At the last moment, he shrugged his right shoulder in a hopeless effort to prevent the inevitable as the puck floated past him and into the upper corner of the net.

It was, to say the least, a disappointing finish to a winter which saw the Wildcats win a New England-best 28 games in the regular season to finish atop the prep polls. Their 165 goals were a whopping 40 more than the next highest scoring team. And despite the home-ice advantage, they were eliminated by the Knights for the second straight tournament. (Salisbury came from three goals down to defeat KUA, 7-4, in the quarterfinals of the 2020 Elite 8 Tournament and, in so doing, snap the Wildcats’ three-year run of Elite 8 Championships; the COVID pandemic forced the cancelation of the 2021 post-season.)

Saturday’s contest showcased the two teams’ speed, discipline, depth, and hard-nosed styles of play. Action was fast-paced from the opening faceoff, with non-stop end-to-end rushes before the game’s first whistle finally blew at 14:21. Both teams had first-period power-play opportunities, with Salisbury gaining a man-advantage at 11:58 and mustering five shots on goal. KUA went on the power-play with 39 seconds left in the period, an advantage that carried over to the second period but that was thwarted by the Knights’ penalty-killers.

After a 27-minute stalemate, Salisbury’s Lee Parks scored the first goal of the night to stake the visitors to a 1-0 lead. Inside the ten-minute mark, the Knights had been pressuring the KUA goal, when the net came off its mooring at 9:45, forcing a stoppage. Salisbury controlled the puck on the ensuing face-off, and at 9:35 it came to Parks, cycling through the right circle. The Wildcat goalie had already gone down on his knees, exposing the upper half of the net. Parks drilled a shot into the open area on the upper right side.

Over the next 1:30, Kimball Union dominated the puck in the Salisbury end but Knight keeper Austin McNicholas was up to every challenge. Eventually, though, Salisbury drew its second penalty of the game, putting the hosts back on the power-play at 8:13. Nothing came of it. With 3:56 left before the second intermission, the Knights had their second chance on a 5-v-4 but also came up empty.

Both teams continued to have opportunities during the third period, and both goalies continued to make clutch saves. With just 3:06 left before Salisbury could punch its ticket to the finals, a Kimball Union player on the end line to McNicholas's left found a narrow opening between the goalpost and the Salisbury netminder and threaded the puck through that opening to tie the game, 1-1, and send the Wildcat faithful in the packed house into a cascade of cheers. And so regulation ended.

Following the horn at the end of the period, the Zamboni came on to resurface the ice for the first, 18-minute, sudden-death overtime period. Players took a much-needed break. When they returned for the extra session, they appeared rejuvenated. Both teams continued to mount surges, showing no evident signs of fatigue. Both goalies looked sharp in keeping the puck out of their nets.

Until, that is, Poitras’s parabola sent the Crimson Knights into an ebullient, on-ice celebration, while the stunned Wildcats looked on.

Facing a higher seed for the third straight game in the post-season, Salisbury will once again hit the road, as they travel to Belmont, Massachusetts, for Sunday’s winner-take-all. The opening face-off is scheduled for 5:00 in the afternoon.

 

Salisbury Advances to Elite 8 Semi’s; #5 Knights Will Face #1 Kimball Union

With a 3-1 win on Wednesday over #4-seed Dexter-Southfield School in the quarterfinal round of the Elite 8 Hockey Tournament, the #5-seed Salisbury Crimson Knights successfully mounted their first defense of the Championship they have held since March 2020.

Despite a nearly three-hour bus trip through the backroads of the Berkshires and from end-to-end of the Massachusetts Turnpike, Salisbury appeared to have the fresher legs during an opening period that the Knights dominated. Midway through the period, Dylan Hryckowian used his trademark legerdemain to give the Knights a 1-0 lead. After collecting an outlet pass in the neutral zone, Hryckowian toe-dragged past an initial defender inside the blue line. A second defender came over to help out, but his attempt to poke-check the puck away from the Knights’ shiftiest forward availed nothing. Now Hryckowian moved the puck onto his backhand as he descended on the Dexter net, before pivoting right, the puck back on his forehand, and curling his shot behind the goalkeeper for the score.

The crowd of 75 gathered in front of the wide-screen in Belin leapt to their feet in acclaim: Michelangelo had painted his latest masterpiece.

With about five minutes left in the period, Salisbury made it a 2-0 game. Artistic, this goal was not. For opportunism, however, it would be tough to top. With Dexter on a power-play, Ryan Walsh cleared the puck out of the Salisbury end and down towards the left corner at the other end. The Dexter goalie skated away from the net to collect the puck and set the attack back in motion. He sent the puck behind the net to a teammate on the opposite side – or, rather, he intended to make that play. Instead, however, the puck took off on a path of its own, caroming off the metal rim at the bottom of the net and out in front to … Ryan Walsh, who had followed the play into the Dexter end to slow down the home team’s breakout. Unexpectedly, there was the puck on his stick and an open net ten feet in front of him. With the goalie making a mad dash back into position, diving across the crease, and a defenseman bearing down on him from behind, Walsh calmly lofted the puck over the goalie’s outstretched stick before the defender could pull him to the ice. Once again, Belin exploded, the improbable goal even eliciting a rousing “Rattled! Rattled! Rattled!” chant from the mass of Knight partisans.

The second and third periods were far more closely contested. Indeed, the two, old rivals essentially played to a 1-1 draw over the final 36 minutes of action. Dexter regrouped after the first intermission and, for the first time in the game, began to sustain pressure in the visitors’ end. If the first period had lulled Knight goalkeeper Austin McNicholas into what was largely a spectator’s role, he certainly appeared ready for Dexter’s surge. In the opening minutes, attackers buzzed around McNicholas, who kept them at bay. Four minutes in, an apparent Salisbury goal was disallowed. Moments later, McNicholas looked sharp in thwarting another foray.

Action continued back and forth, both teams creating chances, both keepers making quality stops. McNicholas was at his best in turning aside two shots from the slot during a Dexter power-play. The defensive stalemate ended when Ben Poitras pounced on the puck in front during a Salisbury power-play to extend the Knights’ lead to 3-0. The goal prompted much discussion among the officials, as play was halted for several minutes. Ultimately, it went up on the scoreboard.

It did not take long for Dexter to respond. A crisp passing play with multiple players descending on McNicholas at the culmination of the play ended with the puck in the Salisbury net, the Knights’ lead cut to 3-1 and the home crowd, who packed the Dexter-Southfield rink, celebrating enthusiastically.

Although there would be not further scoring in the game, it was not for want of opportunities for both sides. Intent on protecting their two-goal lead, the Knights were the more cautious of the two teams in the final period. With eight minutes left, McNicholas went on high-alert as Dexter mounted an intense attack that produced multiple shots-on-net. McNicholas was flawless. On an ensuing power-play for Dexter, the Salisbury penalty-kill was at its best, breaking up play after play in their defensive zone and clearing the puck the other way at least four times, each time eliciting loud approval – or were those sighs of relief? – from the Belin faithful.

Only in the final 30 seconds was Dexter able to pull the keeper and put an extra skater on the ice. Nothing came of it. Time expired, and the Salisbury bench flooded onto the ice to mob McNicholas. As the two teams met for handshakes at center ice, Dexter fans saluted their fallen heroes.

The meeting marked the fourth such Elite 8 encounter in the past decade between the two schools. Dexter has come out on the short end all four times, twice in the title game and twice in the quarterfinals. Dexter head coach Dan Donato, who was behind the bench in Rudd Rink for Salisbury’s 2006 New England Championship, has built a formidable program over the past 15 years. Eventually, his players will secure that elusive win over their coach’s former team. But not this year.

Elite 8 action continues Saturday with the semifinal round. Salisbury will face another longtime rival in #1-seed Kimball Union Academy, 4-2 victors Wednesday over #8 Holderness School, ending the Bulls’ magical run to their first-ever Elite 8 appearance. Salisbury and KUA met previously this season at the Flood-Marr Holiday Tournament in December, where the Wildcats bested the Knights, 3-2. They last met in the postseason in 2020, when the Knights rallied from a three-goal deficit to dispatch the three-time defending New England Champions, 7-4, in the opening round. A year earlier, it was KUA who turned a 3-0 deficit into a 4-3 win over Salisbury in the Elite 8 Championship Game. And, oh, by the way: between them, the two programs have accounted for seven of the past eight Elite 8 Titles. If there is such a thing as gravitas in prep hockey, these two schools bear it, breed it, and bring it.

In Saturday’s other semifinal, #2 Avon Old Farms will face #3 Belmont Hill School. Avon crushed Cushing Academy, 6-0, in Wednesday’s quarterfinals. Belmont Hill, coached by former Salisbury assistant coach Brian Phinney, edged St. Sebastian’s School, 3-2. Locations for both semifinal match-ups have yet to be announced.