For New Hampshire prep school titan Kimball Union Academy, the bar is higher than most.
Aside from Salisbury, no other prep school really even comes close to touching KUA’s recent accolades. Dating back to 2014, the Wildcats have appeared in the NEPSAC Elite 8 tournament each of the past six years, and out of those six appearances, they’ve come out on top as champions three times, winning the prestigious New England crown three consecutive years from 2017 to 2019.
At the forefront of the nationally recognized power in Meriden, N.H., is head coach and Trenton, N.J., native, Tim Whitehead. Prior to his career at KUA, which began in 2013, Whitehead held the reins at the University of Maine from 2001-13, leading the Black Bears to seven NCAA tournament appearances, four Frozen Fours and two national championship games.
In 2002, he won the Spencer Penrose Trophy as Division 1 Coach of the Year after leading Maine to the national title game as a first-year interim head coach. Prior to his stint in Orono, he spent nine years as an assistant coach with UMass Lowell and played professionally in Europe.
Since moving to Meriden in 2013, it’s been much of the same for Whitehead in the win column.
In his first campaign coaching at the prep level, he led the program to its second-ever New England championship, and the legendary bench boss hasn’t looked back since.
Seven years later, he chalks up his program’s success to treating the prep level similarly to college.
“Kids can get a great education in a small-school environment and at the same time play elite-level hockey and be on the ice with other high-end players every day,” Whitehead said. “We do video with the players twice a week, we’re in the weight room every day in the fall and then twice during the winter and back in there every day in the spring.”
“We really make a point to make sure they enjoy the ride, because it’s not just the end result. … We’re not embarrassed to say we love to win but at the same time we love to practice and train.”
Along with Whitehead, the stable coaching staff of Bryant Harris and Matt Underhill, who have spent the past four years together as assistants at Kimball Union, help bring that message to life.
“Two of the best assistant coaches you could imagine,” Whitehead said. “And that makes a big difference. When you have three coaches on the ice for every practice and training session and every game, the players are well taken care of. It takes pressure off of me to be the only voice they hear — at KUA, they hear three of us. Bryant was a defenseman, I was a forward and Matt was a goalie, so you hit all the positions and they’re just fantastic educators. I’m just really fortunate to have them. Without them there’s no way we’d be as successful as we’ve been.”
Some recent alumni to go through Whitehead’s system include Northeastern defenseman Jordan Harris (Haverhill, Mass./Montreal Canadiens draftee); Boston College defenseman Ben Finkelstein (South Burlington, Vt./Florida Panthers draftee); and Maine forward Patrick Shea (Marshfield, Mass./Florida Panthers draftee).
A look back: 2019-20: Chasing the four-peat
KUA’s hopes of a fourth straight New England championship were dashed in early March.
After amassing a 25-7-2 regular-season record en route to their sixth straight appearance in the Elite 8, the Wildcats were doused in the quarterfinals by eventual 2020 NEPSAC champion Salisbury, the team’s top rival which it had beaten in consecutive title games the two years prior.
Leading 3-0 in the second period, KUA was unable to maintain its early edge, as the Crimson Knights came storming back to tie it three-all, kickstarting their eventual title run. Stunned by Salisbury’s relentless attack, which erased another deficit in the second period, the Wildcats fell, 7-4.
“It’s always tough when you don’t win your last game, and it had been a while for us, so it was a different feeling,” Whitehead said of the loss. “Heartbreaking for our seniors who have brought so much to the program. And they had a lot of success, so it’s not like that was win or nothing, but it was such a great opponent. If you’re going to lose to anybody, they would be the one.”
The fact that the Wildcats even returned to the Elite 8 for a sixth straight season and had a shot at capturing that historic four-peat was impressive in itself. Marred by injuries that bookended the regular season, KUA displayed a hobbled core as it limped its way into the playoff tournament.
“It was tough but at the same time we were very proud of last year’s team,” Whitehead said. “We fought through an unusual number of injuries throughout the year, particularly to our forwards.
“We felt we had found ways to compensate but, in the end, Salisbury was just the better team.”
Prior to its first pre-semifinal dismissal from the Elite 8 since 2014, KUA caught fire toward the middle of the 2019-20 season, led by the one-two punch of senior captains Tomas Mazura (Providence College/Edmonton Oilers draftee) and Sullivan Mack (Cornell commit).
Mazura led the playmaking charge with 73 points on 60 assists, while Mack came up with the finishers, trailing just behind his offensive counterpart with 70 points on a whopping 44 goals.
Additionally, the Fantilli brothers, defenseman Luca (Michigan commit) and center Adam, who hail from Toronto, helped carry the load in the scoring department last season. Senior left wing Paul Doré and forward Zach Whitehead (Meriden, N.H.) pitched in as well.
A look ahead: Recharge, reboot
With a nine-player senior class, including six of the top eight scorers from last season, exiting, there was going to be substantial offensive dropoff for KUA. But couple that large, expected migration with the less-expected departure of the Fantilli brothers to the Chicago Steel of the USHL and all eight of 2019-20’s top scorers are leaving the program.
Along with the Fantilli duo, the Wildcats are losing goaltender Zakari Brice to the USHL.
While Whitehead highlighted the return of his returners, he also pointed to the importance of this year’s incoming recruits to help fill the void left behind by the impactful departures.
Due to its close proximity to the Canadian border in central New Hampshire, KUA regularly attracts a sizable cast of north-of-the-border recruits. This year, it’s no different — it just has taken more effort. After a few players decided to undo their commitments due to the global crisis, KUA has five Canadian players coming in for the 2020-21 season, along with two returners.
Getting Canadian kids to stick to their plans hasn’t even been the hardest part, Whitehead said. With so many unknowns, just getting them to the campus has presented enough trouble itself.
On Tuesday, Whitehead made the 100-mile trip to the border to pick up a few of those players.
Later this week, he’ll be headed back to make the dropoff with five more players.
“They won’t allow parents to bring kids across from Canada without a 14-day quarantine when they get back, and these parents all are working,” Whitehead said, “so I said that I’ll pick them up, it’s no big deal. So, the parents drive up on the Canadian side of the border and drop them off with the bags, we put them in the van, then we all drive through the border to get into the U.S.”
The good for thing for the Wildcats, and all prep schools in New England for that matter, is that NEPSAC is altering its preseason practice guidelines with the unprecedented situation this year.
Instead of the usual captains-only-led practices in the fall, teams will be able to host practice with their coaches on the ice right way to make up for lost time. According to Whitehead, KUA will be setting up the ice surface on Sept. 1, then kicking off practices two weeks later on Sept. 14.
Transformation time: Roster moves for 2020-21
Although KUA is losing its top three defensemen in Fantilli, Andy Noel and Teddy Griffin, plus Brice (Arizona State commit) in net, the back end is returning several key names to hold it down.
Most notably, the Wildcats will see the return of rising seniors Nick Bernardo (Brown University commit) and Lucas Constantine, as well as Conor Chalmers (Windham, N.H.) and Bobby May to fill out the back end.
“Bernardo, he’ll quarterback the power play,” Whitehead said. “He’s a real speedy, smart defenseman with a good edge to his game. Last year by the end of the season he had really emerged, even by then, as a guy that can quarterback the power play.”
For defensive support, KUA has brought in Montrealer Adam Cardona and Nova Scotia native Duncan Ramsey, Whitehead said. In net, KUA is bringing in ’04 netminder Charlie Schenkel (Ottawa) to replace Brice.
While the defensive core remains somewhat intact, the Wildcats are focusing their attention at forward.
“Up front is the real tough spot for us,” Whitehead said. “We’ve got some big holes to fill, but we have some kids coming back that are on the fringe of emerging as legitimate college players.”
Liam Walsh, Grant Eastwood and Jaiden Moriello (Saugus, Mass.) make up half the cast of returning forwards and will look to take another step up in the fall alongside the influx of incoming scorers. Moriello was one of KUA’s numerous injuries last year, sustaining a broken ankle in December.
For newcomers, Whitehead noted the additions of one-year senior forward ’03 Thomas Pichette (Maine commit) and 11th-graders ’04 Matthew Maltais (Nebraska-Omaha commit) and ’03 William Blackburn.
“We’re going to make the most of this year and have a lot of fun with it,” Whitehead said. “We’re excited.”
Liam Flaherty can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @_LiamFlaherty.
