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It’s a brand new beginning for the Woodstock Academy boys’ ice hockey program.
Just two years removed from winning a state championship, the Centaurs open the 2018-19 campaign with a new coach.
Kevin Bisson takes over for Mike Starr at the helm of the Centaurs.
The Centaurs get their first taste of competition under their new coach when they host Tri-Town at the Jahn Ice Rink at Pomfret School at 6 p.m. Dec. 15.
The former assistant coach at Assumption College in Worcester walked into the new situation for the first time a couple of weeks ago.
Although he is now a physical education teacher at The Academy, Bisson knew nothing of the team he had in front of him on the first day of practice on Nov. 26.
“I didn’t have the luxury of knowing a whole bunch of people and their abilities beforehand. I didn’t get to go in and evaluate just the freshmen, I had to evaluate every single player from top-to-bottom - goalies, forwards, defense,” Bisson said. “The first few days were a lot of work. Sorting them out, making sure I was seeing the right things and making the right decisions on these kids with their hockey futures at stake.”
To make matters a little worse, assistant coach Bob Donahue, who returns to the post this season, was waylaid in Chicago, one of the victims of some bad weather in the Midwest.
“He couldn’t even be here for all of tryouts,” Bisson said. “It made the first week especially challenging.”
The Centaurs do have 13 players back who saw varsity time last season including seven seniors.
Owen Borski, Liam McDermott, Dylan Shea, Ethan Thorpe, Tom Catsam, Connor Starr and Matt Odom are all back for their final season with the Centaurs.
“I’ve leaned on those upperclassmen to communicate out to the entire squad information that I want to have out there; my message and mindset that I want the team to embrace. There is also the comfort factor for the kids who have someone to go to that isn’t necessarily the new guy being their head coach. It’s been good that those voices exist,” Bisson said.
Not only their voices, but also their experience.
The seniors and juniors on the squad remember the joy of 2017 when the Centaurs posted a 7-3 win over Hall-Southington to bring home the Division III state title.
The Centaurs slipped back to reality last year.
The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference bumped Woodstock Academy up to Division II last season. That, and the loss of several key players to graduation, saw the Centaurs finish 8-13 and lose in the first round of the Division II tournament.
Some key members from that team have also departed the program.
Jake Black, who led the team with 17 goals and tied for team best with 11 assists, transferred out as did wing Avery Riva who finished with six goals and eight assists.
Other graduation losses include Ryan Wojciechowski (one goal, three assists), Michael Scott, Pat Delaney, Aidan Boisvert and Carson Hadley.
It leaves Odom (9 goals, 8 assists), juniors Jake Starr (9 goals and 8 assists) and Doug Newton (3 goals, 9 assists) and sophomore Guerin Favreau (8 goals, 4 assists) as the top offensive threats. Other forwards will include senior Owen Borski; juniors Sean McCusker, who moves up from behind the blue line, and Austen LeDonne and sophomore Nick Chubbuck.
“From everything I’ve seen in practice, I’m very happy with what we still have,” Bisson said. “The biggest thing that I’ve embraced as a coach is that I don’t care about having superstars. I don’t need one guy to score all the goals, because frankly, as a coach, if you have one guy scoring, teams can game plan for that and shut that one player down – that’s reality. If you have a team with depth with scoring coming from different and, sometimes, unexpected guys, that’s the stuff you can’t plan for.”
Following that philosophy, Bisson said one of the biggest things he has emphasized in practice is the movement of the puck. Bisson said he preaches a puck possession game, but in a team, not individual sense.
Bisson was a defenseman when he played and prides himself on having teams that are proficient behind the blue line.
“Your defense produces your offense. If you’re strong in your defensive zone and support the team down low, you will be able to get the puck up-and-out and attack with speed and numbers,” Bisson said.
Thorpe, Connor Starr, and Liam McDermott are the veterans with Chris Thibault and Brendan Hill, teammates on the Rhode Island Saints, coming in as freshmen.
Dylan Shea was the starter in the net last season.
Sophomore Colin Liscomb has his eyes on the prize.
Liscomb returned to Woodstock Academy this year and is battling Shea for minutes.
“Colin is the new face in the program and is really challenging for that spot. We’re hoping we see some good results out of that competition. That they ultimately can embrace being teammates, embrace each other’s success, but at the same time, push each other competitively,” Bisson said. The goal is pretty simple. Win the last game of the season.
Generally, that means good things.
“I was fortunate that my high school career ended on that note with a state championship win. I remember what that felt like vividly and my college career ended with a loss so I know both sides of that emotion. I know that they are looking to me to direct them to that end result, and believe that I will get them to that end result so the work ethic is showing itself to this point as well,” Bisson said.
Boys' Hockey schedule:
Saturday, Dec. 15 vs. Tri-Town (at Pomfret) 6 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 19 at East Haven (DiLungo Rink) 7
Saturday, Dec. 22 vs. Northeastern (at Pomfret) 6 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 26 vs. Redhawks (at Norwich) 5 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 29 vs. Hall-Southington (at Pomfret) 3 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 5 vs. Housatonic (at Pomfret) 8 p.m.
Monday, Jan. 7 at Eastern CT (at Conn College) 6 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 9 at Suffield (at Enfield Twin Rinks) 3:50 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 11 at Tri-Town (at Enfield Twin Rinks) 8:20 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 19 at Burrillville, R.I. TBA
Monday, Jan. 21 vs. E.O. Smith (at Pomfret) 11 a.m.
Saturday, Jan. 26 vs. Redhawks (at Pomfret) 8 p.m.
Monday, Jan. 28 at Hall-Southington (at Veteran’s) 7:40 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 31 at Northeastern (at Bolton) 3:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 2 vs. Burrillville (R.I.) (at Pomfret) 8 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 4 vs. Suffield (at Pomfret) 8 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 9 vs. East Haven (at Pomfret) 8 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 16 vs. Eastern CT (at Pomfret) 8 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 18 at Housatonic (at Hotchkiss) 8:15 p.m.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy
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