Hilltop Happenings

- Written by Procter Smith, Director of Sports Information

Monday, March 2, marks the official start of spring sports on the Hilltop. Squash rackets are relegated to the back of the closet, and out come tennis rackets. Skis are stowed wherever skis are stowed – or perhaps made ready for a family ski trip over the upcoming March break – while golfers start comparing the latest re-tooling of their swing. Wrestling headgear and split-soles are replaced by batting helmets and cleats. And lacrosse gear suddenly sprouts crocus-like in every corner of the Salisbury campus. Ah, the rites of spring!

Two teams, however, have an opportunity to extend their winter season for at least one more game; three games would be ideal. Both the basketball and hockey teams received tournament bids this weekend and will begin their “second season” on Wednesday, March 4, when the NEPSAC Class A Basketball Tournament and the NEPSIHA Elite Eight/Stuart-Corkery Hockey Tournament stage quarterfinal rounds. This marks the first time since 2013 that both Salisbury teams will appear in the post-season.

After finishing their season with a sterling 13-4 record in Class A competition (and 18-6 overall), the basketball team is ranked #4 in New England. Salisbury will host #5 Trinity Pawling (10-6 in Class A; 13-11 overall) in the Flood Center at 3:00. The occasion will mark the third meeting this season between the longtime rivals. The Knights won both of the previous meetings, a 59-51 verdict at home in December and a 66-58 outcome in Pawling, New York, on January 11. Salisbury is on a roll, having won four of their final five games, including a 67-62 upset of previously unbeaten Loomis Chaffee on February 26. The Blazers are coming off arguably their strongest performance of the season, racking up a season-high in points while defeating Suffield, 93-73.

In other first-round action Wednesday, #1 Loomis Chaffee faces #8 Noble and Greenough, #2 Hotchkiss goes up against #7 Taft, and #3 Phillips Exeter hosts #6 Phillips Andover. Followers of New England prep sports will note that three of these games involve match-ups between traditional rivals – Hotchkiss/Taft, Exeter/Andover, and Salisbury/T-P – adding to the drama of the playoff season. The winner of the Salisbury-Trinity Pawling game will face the winner of the Loomis-Nobles game in Saturday’s semi-final round.

At least twenty-six rinks around New England will be keeping their ice surfaces chilled for another two days, as teams prepare not only for the Elite Eight Tournament but also for the Large School/Martin-Earl Tournament and the Small School/Piatelli-Simmons Tournament. [Ed. note: Two legendary figures closely associated with Salisbury hockey, both now retired, were instrumental in launching the first prep-school playoffs in the late 1970s. Matt Corkery and Sam Simmons could little have supposed four decades ago that the post-season field would one day expand to 24 teams across three tournaments or that their names would end up – and deservedly so – on the marquees for two of those events. But, hey, they were just kids back then, only a few years removed from their own playing days at St. George’s and South Kent. What did they know?]

In arguably the most dramatic confrontation of the Elite Eight’s opening round, #3 Salisbury (21-3-1) faces three-time defending champion Kimball Union Academy (25-7-2), seeded #6. Although, as the higher seed, Salisbury earned the right to host the game, in the gentlemen’s – and, now, ladies’ – world of prep hockey, travel time preempts ranking. If a team is required to travel more than two hours and forty-five minutes, the tournament organizers decided that was hardship enough. Skating onto a higher-seeded opponent’s home ice was deemed too much of a disadvantage. Thus, such circumstances dictate that the games involved be moved to neutral sites. Meriden, New Hampshire, where KUA is located, is well outside the two-hour-and-forty-five-minute border. Ergo, at 4:00 Wednesday, Westminster School, in Simsbury, will host Salisbury’s rendezvous with the team that has beaten them in the Championship Game the past two years. The two teams met in December during opening-round group-play at the Flood-Marr Holiday Classic. There, the Knights bested the Wildcats, 4-2, en route to advancing to the title game, where they defeated Hotchkiss to hoist their second straight Flood-Marr trophy.

And the fan-force that is Knight Nation, instead of being able to divide its support between Court One in the Flood Center and Rudd Rink a few steps across the hall, will now have to decide whether to board the fan bus to Westy to support the blades brothers or stay on campus to cheer on their hoops heroes. Hilltop English students will recognize the unsettling parallel to Odysseus’ dilemma in passing Scylla or Charybdis. They may take solace, though, in knowing that their support will be appreciated wherever they take a seat on Wednesday. Fans unable to attend the games should check the Salisbury website Wednesday morning for information about livestream availability.

Other Elite Eight action Wednesday will find #8 Berkshire traveling to #1 Lawrence Academy, #7 Noble and Greenough facing off at #2 Avon Old Farms, and #5 Dexter meeting #4 Hotchkiss.