Ed Bourget is a lifer at BB&N.
After Bourget (Shrewsbury, Mass.) was a standout at Shrewsbury High, he played prep school hockey at BB&N, graduating in 1996. He played a season of Division 3 hockey at St. Anselm before three years of Division 1 at Sacred Heart.
After some professional stops, including time in France, Bourget returned to BB&N to embark on his coaching career.
He was an assistant coach with the boys program from 2005-06 to 2012-13. In 2013-14, he took over as head coach of the girls program, leading the Knights to a 184-118-22 record, two Large School titles and three Elite 8 appearances in 11 seasons.
After the 2024-25 season, Bourget, who also coaches mites with the Bay State Breakers, took on a new role as director of hockey operations at BB&N.
Bourget joined New England Hockey Journal editor Evan Marinofsky and writer Patrick Donnelly to discuss an array of topics, including his thoughts on player development and college recruiting.
RinkWise podcast: BB&N's Ed Bourget on development and recruiting
How do you balance development with winning during the prep season?
Bourget:Â "When you look at the prep schedule, it reads as three months long, but what happens in those three months is you try to play at that elevated, peak game every single game. It grinds on you, and it wears on you. My first five years, I was pedal to the metal. ... I would be focused on having the best game, performance-wise. Really, what you need to do is kind of read the room a little bit. If you're kids are tired, maybe give them a day off. Send them to the training room or the strength trainer instead of the ice. Hockey-wise, it's tough in that small stretch. ... Take care of your body. If you have a nagging injury, go to the trainer. If our game is on a Friday, and we're on Monday, we're gonna do our best to get them playing Friday. If that recovery means they're on the bike or something until Wednesday, then we do a light skate Thursday, that's what we do."
What are some tips for the college recruiting process?
Bourget:Â "I told the freshmen, it's more about development this summer. You don't need to go chase those camps yet. What you really need to chase is development. We'd come up with a plan of what to work on from my point of view. Then when you kind of switch gears to sophomore or junior year, I would say go to college visits without the hockey coach first to see what college you like and kind of pinpoint what you want to do. So, then if you get invited to a camp at say Dartmouth, Brown or Middlebury, if you know you don't want to do to one of those schools, there's no need to go to that camp. That automatically will take that off your plate. I think doing a lot of prep work before the recruiting process hits for these kids goes a long way, and I think that gets missed."
The RinkWise podcast can be streamed here and on major platforms, such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
