PEABODY — Last year’s senior-laden Bishop Fenwick boys hockey team achieved a number of its goals, including winning the annual Carlin Cup, beating rival St. Mary’s for the first time in decades and winning the Catholic Central League Large division title for the first time since joining (they shared the title with Austin Prep). But now, after nine seniors have departed the program via graduation, the Crusaders are faced with the task of building things back up.
“We obviously lost a lot of players from last year’s team, but the guys we have coming back have been around those guys for a few years,” said coach Jim Quinlan, who is entering his fifth season behind the bench at Fenwick. “We had a really strong year last season and we’re hoping the guys who are coming back can continue on the traditions that the seniors established.”
Among the nine seniors gone from the Crusaders’ roster are top scorers Tom Estella, Ian Worthley, Nick Muzi, Diego Alvarez-Segee, Jake Murphy and John Bernbaum along with defensemen Aedan Grenham, Alec Michelic and Matt Roscoe. Losing such a group is hard for any high school team.
“It’s a huge loss,” said Quinlan. “Those guys were my first class when I came in four years ago and they did a lot to build this program up. But this kind of stuff happens in high school hockey, so now we’re going to have to build things back up again.”
Luckily for Fenwick, there’s still a host of experienced players back for 2020-2021 — especially on the back end. With Dillon Bloom and Item All-Star Jack Vieira back in net and experienced defensemen Aidan Anthony and Gavin Belt installed as captains, the strength of Fenwick’s game will be their work in their own end. On the offensive side, forwards Cameron Martin, Nick Sasso, Liam Hill, Max Vieira and Mark Wilson return with some playing experience while newcomers like Matt O’Connor and Dan Reddick will be looked to for a spark as well.
“Our strength this year will definitely be on defense and in goal,” Quinlan said. “Obviously losing six forwards is tough on your offense, but we feel that we have plenty of talented guys who can step up for us.”
The Crusaders were able to get back onto the ice last week, but they’ve only gotten three practices in so far. Considering the first game of their 2020 season is set for Saturday night, Quinlan has been giving his team a lot of information in the opening days.
“I’ve thrown a lot at them the first few days, but that’s how it has to be with the schedule so tight,” said Quinlan. “All the guys have been really upbeat and they’re a bunch of hard workers, so the practices have been great to start off.”
That season opener is set for Saturday night (7:20) against rival St. Mary’s at Connery Rink. After beating the Spartans for the first time in decades last year, and beating them twice overall, Fenwick knows that the target will be on their back from the opening faceoff.
“We beat them twice last year and those were some big wins for us, especially the second one which gave us a share of the league title,” said Quinlan. “We know that St. Mary’s is going to want to win this one, and we’re going to have to be on our game if we want to take home the win.”
