<p>FIF-John's been coaching the hockey team for 37 years! He must have learned something worthwhile at Salisbury!</p>
<p>Loomis Hockey has recently been rebuilding and has recently seen a turn around for the better. The team has a new head coach and an improving record. We have many kids joining our program because of its great potential in the next couple years. The boys team usually holds about three goals, five defensemen, and three lines of forwards. In addition, the girls team has been incredibly competitive for the last couple years and is currently sending two girls to Division 1 hockey college programs. We have practice every day with the exception of Sunday, as well as games on Wed and Sat. If you are interested I would definitely recommend you to visit the Loomis website or even come visit the school. Both hockey seasons are still underway and if you make it to Windsor, CT within the next month and a half you most definitely can come watch a hockey game.</p>
<p>Hockey will be changing next year, no more D2, all D1.
I have no idea if this is good or bad.
Maybe some of the D2 schools will attract better players because they will be tech. d1?
it will be interesting.
As far as repeating for hockey players, i think it has something to do with Jr's.
Hockey players going to college now could be 20 years old as a freshman, coaches will look at those guys before a 17 to 18 year old.
Personally I dont think its right, hockey is the only sport that does this.
Sorry for the rant....</p>
<p>Hockey is the only sport that does what? Please clarify.</p>
<p>Sorry, what I meant was that the hockey is the only sport kids can take up to a few years off from continuing school to play Jrs, then go to on to college.
You dont have JR soccer or bball or any other sport.
So my point was that prep school kids who play hockey who graduate and go off to college compete with kids who have been playing Jrs for a few years.
So I think the culture of hockey is to have kids repeat so they can compete with older kids who are just entering college at 19-20.</p>
<p>New</a> England Prep School Ice Hockey Rankings</p>
<p>One certain BS (name begins with an S) seems to be creeping up in the Men's Hockey rankings.</p>
<p>I think with soccer you could do that...I don't know how often it's done, but you could be off a year to play club another year if it was necessary. The grade repeating seems to be common in all sports in prep school. What is "Jrs" in hockey?</p>
<p>Junior hockey.
Im not too familiar with the logistics of jr hockey but I think you can play until you are 20. You dont get paid so you are eligible to play in college.
In New England, there are 2 ways to go if you want to play in college, prep or jrs.
its very rare for a kid to make it to even a D3 college from public HS.
Jrs are another way for coaches to see kids play.</p>
<p>If you can, see the Hotchkiss rinks. Both were very nice(Indoor), and the Hockey team seemed to know what they were doing; in respect to playing AFTER Hotchkiss. I see alot of HS teams "doing what works". Sort of like running a spread offense in college. It works in college, but in the NFL it completely fails. If you are a great spread QB you may stink in the NFL.</p>
<p>Hotchkiss impressed me. (Heard alot of praise from Deerfield kids)</p>
<p>SPS is also very strong in hockey, but I think that alot of the fame is from SPS's heritage... Not sure though. Supposedly they have been doing "okay", but I don't really know what that means.</p>
<p>I checked the ranking site; SPS is ranked 29th, right above NMH (30th). NMH (yes I am partial to the school), is a school on the move in all areas, hockey included. Visit the website and read about the head and assistant coach, and the program. They are really starting to turn things around.</p>
<p>hockeymom....so you don't have to play after hs? Can you play jrs while you are in hs or is it just the trend that the majority of kids continue to play a year of jrs (or prep) after hs? I know in soccer it is highly unlikely to play anything but lower end DIII if you aren't playing club, and if you want to play DI or higher end DIII, you'd better be playing year-round at a regional club level, at least. I guess baseball is similar in that even though what you hear about is the athlete's high school performance, it is their participation year-round in AAU and Legion leagues that really gets them somewhere.</p>
<p>Don't discount SPS. It has a stellar hockey history which is certain to continue. </p>
<p>In the 2007-08 season, SPS had a wonderful year last year, losing to Avon Old Farms in overtime in a heart-wrenching but exciting game in the New England Prep School Division 1 finals.</p>
<p>This year, the results are more mixed. Losing many strong players who graduated, it has been a bit of a rebuilding year with some of the strongest players being Juniors and Sophomores. Additionally, some injuries have kept some key players off the ice. </p>
<p>Never look at one year's rankings to judge an athletic program. Avon Old Farms is a perennial powerhouse and they are only ranked 22nd on that list this year.</p>
<p>Keylyme,
You can play Jrs while in HS. From what I hear, the better players switch to Jrs in soph. year of HS. Some kids even move away from home and are billitted( thats when they stay with a guest family and attend the local HS where their JR team is located)
PG(post grad) year is an extra year of HS in prep school. Some preps have PGs some dont.</p>
<p>You guys should google Junior Hockey, its huge here in New England.
Lots of teams post on line college acceptances of former players too.</p>
<p>Thanks for that explanation hockeymom! No hockey players in our household; I was just curious how the system works. I know about PG; I have a son at a bs that offers a PG year.</p>
<p>No problem, it has been a learning experience for DH and myself.
We decided for our S to go the prep school route, academics first, then sports.</p>
<p>SPS lost to AOF in last years NE championship game by a goal. Not as strong this year.</p>
<p>We are with you, hockeymomofthree~academics first! My son has several friends who are now playing juniors, the reviews are pretty mixed. There are so many teams now and only a handful here in New England are really good. I will never say never, but I honestly don't see my son going to juniors. After his postgraduate year he is hoping to play D3, if that does not come to fruition, there are some really great college club hockey teams out there!</p>
<p>St. Mark's School has moved to Division 1 for next year. For those of you who understand more than I do, what do you think of this?</p>
<p>Dreamer, they all end up in the "old mans League" anyway.
Can I ask where your son is doing his PG year?
My son has all his apps in, cant wait to see where he lands.</p>
<p>Flygirl, all schools are going D1. Not sure how this will pan out, I have heard they will do some shuffling around as far as parity when the seasons start.</p>