It might have taken a few years, but Loomis Chaffee School has emerged as a major contender in the New England prep scene. Under J.R. Zavisza, who took over the head coaching position in 2011, the Pelicans have appeared in the NEPS playoffs five of the past seven years and won two Martin/Earl Large School titles.
Zavisza, an Avon Old Farms dual-sport athlete and former member of the U.S. NTDP, began his coaching career while still playing hockey at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. As a junior, the Lexington, Mass., native accepted an assistant coaching position at Belchertown High School in Belchertown, Mass., where he spent five years behind the bench, the final two as the head coach.
When the former Minuteman first arrived at the Windsor, Conn., prep school alongside assistant coach Steve Novador, who remains with the team today, the Pelicans and their hockey program were nowhere near where they stand today.
After missing the postseason from 2010-13, Loomis finally made its presence felt in 2014 when it amassed a playoff-worthy campaign that earned it a spot in in the Large School tournament. With a trio of wins in three straight one-goal affairs over the bracket’s top three seeds, the Pelicans won their first-ever New England title.
In the aftermath of that title, the Pelicans reached consecutive Elite 8’s but took a step back when they missed the postseason in 2017. They returned to the Large School tournament in 2018 but were bounced in the first round of play. In 2019, Loomis Chaffee missed out on the playoffs again.
This March, after failing to make the postseason two of the past three years, Loomis Chaffee made a return to prominence, winning the Martin/Earl tournament as the No. 3 seed, defeating top-seeded Cushing Academy for its second title in six years.
Zavisza, 40, points to a holistic approach as a cog in his team’s success.
“I don't want kids to just come in, go to their classes and go to the rink,” Zavisza said. “I want them to participate in clubs and activities, to get involved in leadership opportunities. It comes right down to what we do as a team and the values we uphold. We have pretty tightly defined cultural expectations that speak to that value of character, even before we're about winning games.”
There’s no denying the culture Zavisza and company have built at Loomis. Players can’t go more than a few feet without being reminded of it, as quotes like, “Leaders don’t inflict pain, they bear it,” and “The purpose of power is not to use it, but to share it,” line the walls of the school’s hockey facilities in Windsor.
“The culture piece has always been a part of who we are, but we never really defined it and got it down on paper until the last three years,” Zavisza said. “It’s kind of always been in the background, and not in the background in terms of something we’ve ignored, but it’s been more in the background, and hockey’s kind of my vehicle, my opportunity, to have a positive impact on kids.”
In recent years, Loomis has been the jumping-off point for several Division 1 players, including the West Haven, Conn., native Esposito brothers, Alex (University of Vermont) and Eric (University of New Hampshire), and Jacob Bryson (American Hockey League, Buffalo Sabres, Providence College).
A look back, 2019-20: Back on top, NE champs
Save a healthy player or two, Loomis very well could have been in the Elite 8 last season.
After falling short in 2019, “a terrible season,” as Zavisza put it, the team was eager to make a statement in 2020 and knew it had the veteran core to do so.
With seniors Anthony Cipollone (University of Vermont commit) and Dartmouth commits Alexander Krause and Coby Hoban leading the way, the Pelicans jumped out to a 6-0 start, thanks in part to a preseason trip to Germany that Zavisza led. (Read more on that trip at https://staging.hockeyjournal.com/photos-loomis-chaffees-great-european-adventure/)
Things took a turn for the worse in late January when Hoban, the team’s top goal scorer, sustained an injury that put him out for 10 games in the heart of the season.
It didn’t take long to right the ship, though. With wins in four of their last five, the Pelicans moved into the Large School tournament with a head of steam. They also got Hoban back, which, at the most crucial junction of the year, paid off big time.
After Loomis outshot Deerfield Academy in the quarterfinal round, senior winger Hoban scored a key shorthanded goal to push the team past Brunswick in the semifinal. With time winding down late in the first period of a scoreless title affair two days later, Hoban came up big yet again, scoring what proved to be the game-winner.
“Bringing him back for the playoffs was such a huge morale boost,” rising senior defenseman Jan Olenginski said. “He's our captain, so that was huge for us. All those seniors … that was such a win for them. They all brought me in right away when I came in, so it meant a lot to me to play well and help them win one, too.”
Olenginski, who joined the team after two seasons at LaSalle Prep College High in his native Pennsylvania, said the 2019-20 group was the closest he’s been a part of.
“J.R.’s done a great job from day one making sure that we establish that culture,” he said. “I think that played a huge role in why we won this year. It’s just a really tight group. When one man went down, we really had that next-man-up attitude.”
Both Dartmouth commits, Krause (Calabasas, Calif.) and Hoban (Guilford, Conn.), as well as UMass-Amherst commit Kennedy O’Connor (Springfield, Mass.), are set to play a season in the BCHL before going to college, while starting goalie Kyle Chauvette (Holy Cross commit) and defenseman Ben Ritter (Dartmouth commit) are slated to play in the North American Hockey League.
A look ahead, 2020-21: Mounting the defense
With 13 seniors, Loomis is losing much of what made it so explosive last season, but that isn’t reason to believe it won’t compete for another title come March.
Granted, eight of those seniors made up the Pelicans’ top 10 scorers, so there will be holes to fill in the scoring department, but Zavisza is confident in his returners.
Up front, Loomis has six forwards coming back, including Oliver Flynn (UConn commit), Chris Hibson and Luke Steele, who will look to take a step up and fill the holes left by the departures. On the back end, with only five returning defenseman, Christopher Avallone, Charlie Andriole and Olenginski will be looked at to take charge and lead the sizable cast of newcomers as the veterans entering the fold.
Among others, the Pelicans have brought in ’03 defenseman Cameron Miranda, who played for Selects Academy AAA last season, as well as ’03 netminder Nate Zerrenner, who played for the Long Island Gulls in 2019-20, to replace Chauvette.
“We're bringing a bunch of guys,” Olenginski said. “I'm just looking forward to getting to play the same role as the seniors did last year for me coming in here.”
Although offseason turnover is nothing new in the prep hockey world, one major difference this year, for pandemic-related purposes, is the rule change that allows coaches to host practices in the fall, as opposed to the captains-only-led practices NEPSAC typically mandates in the offseason until the “real” season officially gets under way. For Zavisza, it’s a helpful step preparing for an already-odd campaign.
“I usually get them in November when they have the fall season under their belts,” he said, “so their conditioning is usually in pretty good shape, skills are in not too bad of a shape, but it’s the game sense — just bad habits from fall hockey and not playing in the summer or whatever. Now, I'm starting with them when all of those things — skills are actually in an OK position — but conditioning and game sense are just not there right now, so it's like starting from scratch, which is awesome. I love it that I'm building the habits rather than having to break those habits when they all get to me in November. I think it's much more developmentally sound this way.”
The earlier-than-usual practices also are helpful for camaraderie reasons, Olenginski said, molding the bonds that comes in handy come playoff time.
“It’s huge for us,” Olenginski said. “We've never really had this opportunity before to have J.R. out there with us. I don’t think we started until November 13 last year, so it’s awesome. Our practices are so competitive, too, such a high compete level, and that goes back to our culture, so it takes a bit to get used to. So, if we establish that now, instead of November, we should be swinging by the time the season starts.”
Liam Flaherty can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @_LiamFlaherty.
