Connor Hasley’s prep school education began with a phone call.
These days, New England knows Hasley as the standout senior goalie at Northfield Mount Hermon, who backstopped his team into last year’s Stuart/Corkery (elite) tournament and eventually will take his talents to Bentley University.
But go back two winters and the prep route wasn’t even on his radar. He was wrapping up a four-year stint with the Buffalo Junior Sabres organization and was preparing to make the jump to the Ontario Hockey League after being drafted by the Kitchener Rangers.
A call from NMH coach Kevin Czepiel changed that.
“I really didn’t even know what prep school was,” said Hasley. “I knew Avon (Old Farms) because a couple guys I knew from Buffalo, that’s where they went. When Northfield Mount Hermon called … I’d never heard of Northfield Mount Hermon.”
Ah, but NMH had heard of Hasley. Then-goalie coach Jared Waimon was familiar with him and his game, and that led to Czepiel reaching out.
“He’s a kid that we targeted,” said Czepiel (Holyoke, Mass.). “He was our top goalie prospect. … It was definitely a long, drawn-out process trying to educate him about going the NCAA route.”
“I really wasn’t looking at prep,” said Hasley. “I had to ask myself, did I want to move away from home? I wasn’t against it, but I wasn’t looking for it.”
He said his father encouraged him to look into the opportunity instead of dismissing it. He visited the campus outside of Greenfield, Mass., liked it and the coaches, and made the decision to alter his career path.
Under Czepiel, who played at UMass, the Hoggers are enjoying an enviable string of great goaltending. His first two years as coach at NHM, he had Eric Green, who was recruited by UMass Lowell.
Taking over for Green last season, Hasley recorded a 1.57 goals-against average and .938 save percentage, one of the best in New England. He led a veteran NMH team to a 22-6-2 record and No. 6 seed in the Stuart/Corkery tournament, where their season ended with a 2-1 overtime loss to explosive Lawrence Academy in the quarterfinals.
“He was so consistent,” said Czepiel. “Eric Green was Goalie of the Year his senior year, rightfully. But Connor had no off nights. He played 95 percent of our games and I can’t think of one where he wasn’t on or where I was thinking, ‘I wish he’d played better.’ ”
At 6-foot-2 and a right-handed glove, Hasley fills the net well and plays the position with an economy of movement, keeping his body in position, controlling rebounds and handling the puck well.
“He’s very quiet in his movements, very solid in his movements,” said Czepiel. “He has very quick legs.”
It took him, he said, just one game to feel comfortable in the prep atmosphere. Last year’s opener was at Westminster, a team that would also be good enough to merit selection to the Stuart/Corkery. In front of a raucous crowd, Hasley backstopped his team to a quality 3-2 win.
“I’d never played in front of a student fan section before,” he said. “The building was so loud. And I was nervous, my first game in prep, not knowing what to expect. But we won and after that I felt, yeah, I could do well here.”
The biggest difference, after four years playing largely against fellow 2001 birth years with the Junior Sabres, was the gap in age, experience and physical maturity among the players bearing down on him.
“I’m playing against kids two years older than me,” he said. “It was definitely an adjustment; you have to realize who’s on the ice at times. Some lines, you really had to watch out for.”
After graduating 13 players off last year’s Elite 8 team, the Hoggers (6-6-1) are a much younger team, with several freshmen and sophomores in the lineup. But they’ve already earned wins against Westminster and Deerfield.
“It’s a lot different,” said Hasley. “Last year we had a lot of older guys, seniors and PGs, and we lost that experience. But Kevin’s great at recruiting and we have a lot of good younger kids. I just know I’m going to be relied on a little more.”
Hasley is the only Division 1-committed player on the team, though junior forward Grady Friedman is attracting interest. Senior forward Reese Farrell, the team’s top returning scorer, and senior defensemen Chris Throndson and Jeb Dee are the other leaders.
“The goal in the end is still the same exact thing,” said Hasley. “Let’s make that Elite 8 tournament. Let’s do the best we can.”
Hasley is planning on a year of juniors next year before heading to Bentley. The prep-to-D-1 jump can be a tough one. Witness Green, who in his second year at Lowell still hasn’t played a game and recently made the decision to finish out the season with the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks to stay in form.
Avoiding the numbers game, said Hasley, was a big reason he chose Bentley.
“You go to these other schools, and a lot of times they have a lot of goalies,” he said. “Bentley doesn’t over-recruit. I’m looking for a place where I can become the starter and play as much as I can. I know it’s not going to be given to me; I want to go in and show them what I can do.”
Just like he’s done at Northfield Mount Hermon.
“We knew Connor was going to be a good goalie,” said Czepiel, “but we didn’t know he was going to be this good.”
@MikeZhe603
