Kent School finished on a roll in the 2021-2022 season, grabbing the No. 2 seed with a 20-8 record out of The Founders League, and then winning the championship in the Martin/Earl Large School NEPSAC bracket. It was the second championship win since 2019.
“We are excited for the year for sure,” said coach Dale Reinhardt, a Livingston, N.J., native and former Holy Cross assistant captain entering his 10th season at Kent. “We are transitioning from a team that relied on a senior-heavy, mature talented group upfront that will now rely on our defense and goalies, with offense coming out of the defensemen. So an interesting transition for sure.”
Kent lost its top six forwards and nine players overall from last year's championship squad.
“We have our top five defensemen returning, and both our goalies, and we feel that will be the strength of our team this year. There are some pretty spectacular kids back there this year, and their progression this year, after a great year last year. Should be exciting,” said Reinhardt.
Leading the way on defense will be Alex Bales, who has been elected assistant captain as a junior. Bales had a great summer playing on the USA Hockey Select 17 team in the Five Nations tournament and had two goals and an assist helping the U.S. to a second-place finish. Bales was also selected 56th overall by the Tri-City Storm in the fourth round of the USHL Phase 1 Draft. He capped off his summer by committing to Providence College. Joining Bales is highly-regarded Jacob Ingstrup, who was selected 227th by the London Knights in the 2022 OHL Draft this summer. Teddy Mallgrave, Denver Damphousse, and Braden Pohlman round out the returning talented defense.
In goal will be captain Harrison Fogel, who had a 2.70 GAA and .907 save percentage last year in 11 games, and Aiden Hopewell with a 2.10 GAA and .923 save percentage in 17 games.
“We played almost a full split in games with the two goalies until Aiden took over down the stretch and was our playoff goalie,” said Reinhardt. The competition for the net will be even going into practice though. “Our philosophy is one of meritocracy, and it fits everything we do,” said Reinhardt. “We come to practice every day ready to compete. We definitely hold open competition at every position and the kids know that and it pushes them. In the end, it makes them better players and people.”
Reinhardt does have questions up front after graduating his top six forwards and will look for some kids to step up from last year’s team to fill the void starting with Gio DiGiulian (South Burlington, Vt.). DiGiulian is having a good split season with the Junior Bulldogs and is drawing interest from multiple Hockey East programs. Patrick Walsh “is expected to make a pretty big jump for us this year,” Reinhardt said. Captain Chris Bugliosi is “a solid player and leader for us,” Reinhardt said.
Coming to the Kent campus in Connecticut looking to step right in will be transfer Jack Roberts from St. Paul School. He “has played in the league and has good hockey sense and knows the style already. He should have an impact for us,” said Reinhardt. Another transfer the coach is high on is Michael Fiedorczuk from Culver Military Academy. Owen Mahar comes to Kent from the Rochester Coalition. “Mahar is a guy we are very excited about,” Reinhardt said. Stefano Pietrantonio, a right-shot forward from Mont-Royal, Quebec, “is a player with a ton of upside. He will have a lot to learn, but just so much potential,” said Reinhardt.
“We look forward to defending the championship. We usually play a top-five strength of schedule, and we like it that way and we want our kids to be challenged,” said Reinhardt. “We tell the kids right in the admissions process that they are going to be challenged on and off the ice at Kent. I think we are prepared for it and have really good leadership in the locker room from guys who have found success and played a challenging schedule in the past. We really relish it.”
