Last season, Bryce Dolan was a senior captain at Kimball Union Academy. Fast forward a year and the 19-year-old is one of the youngest skaters at Holy Cross, as he’s playing with seniors five years older.
A lot has changed in a season, but Dolan is getting up to speed with the Crusaders after spending three seasons with Kimball Union, one of New England’s most prestigious prep schools.
“I was telling my parents the other day, I don’t even feel like I’m young anymore,” Dolan said. “I just disregard the age; it’s been good.”
Most hockey prospects spend a couple of years with a junior team after high school to prepare for the transition to the collegiate game. Division 1 hockey is bigger and faster than Dolan is use to, but Holy Cross head coach David Berard wanted the 6-foot-1, 190-pound defenseman on his roster immediately.
“Our original plan was to have him play a year of junior after Kimball Union,” Berard (West Warwick, R.I.) said. “We accelerated that because from a physical perspective and a mental perspective, he was ready to make that jump.”
Dolan grew up in Barrington, R.I., with his parents and two older sisters. The athletic gene seems to run in the Dolan family; his father, Michael, played football at Wesleyan University and was a two-time ECAC first-team member.
His sister Kelly played lacrosse at Barrington High School, where she was a two-time U.S. Lacrosse first-team member and won two state titles. She went on to play four years at Dartmouth, graduating in 2017.
Sister Libby recently finished her senior season with the Williams College field hockey team. Her 36 goals in 49 games are sixth-most in the program’s history. She was selected to the All-New England Small College Athletic Conference team this fall.
With two sisters who were dual-sport All-Americans in high school, it’s no surprise Bryce turned out to be a fantastic athlete himself. Dolan credits his father for knowing his place when helping his children be their best possible selves.
“He never put any pressure on the three of us, which was super helpful,” Dolan said. “He’d work with us and try to make us better, but he never would yell at us, he would never lay into us. It was really helpful to have him as a guide and let us do our thing.”
Dolan played two seasons at Bishop Hendricken High School, guiding the team to a pair of trips to the state finals. He left to join Kimball Union and play under Tim Whitehead, a former Division 1 coach for UMass Lowell and Maine.
Whitehead led the Black Bears to four Frozen Fours and two national championship appearances from 2005 to 2012. Having a mentor with so much collegiate experience was perfect for Dolan.
“He’s just so overqualified to be a prep school coach. We were so lucky to have him,” Dolan said. “I always told people he ran Kimball Union like a college program. It’s pretty cool.”
Berard added, “Playing for Tim Whitehead was an amazing opportunity for (Bryce). He understands college hockey, he understands what it takes to be successful at the Division 1 level as a team and also as an athlete. To be able to impart that wisdom on 15- to 18-year olds is a pretty incredible experience.”
Dolan spent three seasons with KUA and his blueline partner was Jordan Harris (Haverhill, Mass.) for all three years. The two were a lethal combination, guiding the Wildcats to two NEPSAC championships.
The pair talked about playing juniors together for a year, but Harris also skipped the junior level, joining Northeastern as a true freshman. Being able to play alongside D-1 commits and develop a winning attitude were huge for Dolan.
“Being one of the top prep school teams in New England, playing in important games and winning championships are all lessons Bryce had the opportunity to learn,” Berard said. “To see him have the experience of winning a championship and going through the ups and downs and the adversity every season presents itself, to find a way to get his team to the top, is pretty impressive to see from him.”
Berard and his staff started aggressively recruiting Dolan in 2017, after the defensemen’s second season at Kimball Union. The coach went to Bishop Hendricken as well, and his son played for the hockey team at the same time as Dolan. The two knew each other pretty well.
After Dolan won his first NEPSAC title as a junior, Holy Cross reached out and got him to commit that spring. Dolan liked that the campus was less than an hour from his home in Barrington. He also connected with Berard, a fellow Rhode Islander.
“Coach Berard is a huge hockey figure in Rhode Island,” Dolan said. “Holy Cross felt close to home and Coach Berard made me feel I still had some local prejudice in my hockey experience. There’s just a lot of similarities. It was easy to recruit me.”
Berard is truly excited to have the former KUA captain join the Crusaders. In his senior year, Dolan totaled eight goals and 23 assists. He finished his Wildcat career with 18 goals and 51 assists while often matching up against the other team’s top line.
Dolan’s numbers proved he was versatile as a skater and can contribute to a hockey program in different ways.
“At the prep school level, he played in every situation,” Berard said. “He was power play, penalty kill, late-game situations. He pretty much did it all for them. He might not be the smoothest skating guy, he might not be the biggest guy, but he does everything well.”
Dolan excelled at the prep school level, but leapfrogging juniors for Division 1 hockey is uncommon among recruits. Playing with grown men while you’re still a teenager definitely requires some adjustment.
“It’s a bigger jump than people think it is,” Berard said. “It was a lot for him to absorb, the structure, the way we play, the things we teach. It’s a lot for a defenseman. Things were a little overwhelming for him at first.”
That’s why Berard has eased Dolan into the lineup in the first month or so of the season. Dolan sat out the first five games before taking the ice against Providence, one of the top teams in the country.
Dolan skated the following weekend in a 3-3 tie at Niagara. The 19-year-old worked hard in the preseason to get acclimated with his new teammates, and he’s getting more comfortable with the college game every day.
“The biggest thing is just the speed and the size,” Dolan said. “It’s a lot faster, but I pride myself on my footwork and my skating. I just had to get use to it, but I feel great.”
Every beginner has a learning curve, and Dolan is getting through his right away. Berard says the true freshman should be a regular fixture in the Crusaders’ lineup soon enough.
“In the last three weeks he’s started to settle down, he’s got more confidence in himself and what we’re trying to do,” Berard said. “He played pretty well against Providence; he played even better on Saturday night. It’s going to be tough to keep him out of the lineup as we move forward based on what he brings to the table.”
A winning pedigree. A former captain at Kimball Union. Undeniable physical attributes. Dolan checks all the boxes as a hockey player. It was a no-brainer for Berard to get the defenseman with Holy Cross as soon as he could, despite Dolan’s age.
“If you get to know him as a person, you immediately know that’s the type of player you want in your program,” Berard said. “He brings the intangible things, and that’s what we were really attracted to. Now having the chance to coach him everyday, it’s shown me that what we saw is what we got.”
