Veteran Hockey Team Finishes Strong, 22-4-3 Record

Boys’ varsity hockey continued an impressive run of recent years, reaching the NEPSAC semifinals—for the third year in a row—this winter. Matched up against number one seed and reigning champion Salisbury School, however, the talented Big Red team could not manage to bring its finals drought to an end.

“Our hope was always to bring home the school's second championship,” senior co-captain Cody Rorick said. “That was a realistic goal and we fell short of reaching the final by one game.” 

Exeter got off to its strongest start in the last several years, beating its first six opponents by an average of more than three goals per game. The team’s first two losses came in December at the hands of Gunnery School and Cushing Academy, but the squad confidently headed into winter break with a record of 11-2. 

“Our strength was definitely our offense,” Rorick said. “We knew that we would get our chances. We had confidence in our defense and knew that if we limited them to two or fewer goals, we would win the game.”

Coming out of Christmas, the team continued to play strong hockey, pounding Andover in a 7-1 rout. Though the boys would lose just two more games in the regular season, both came against league teams in Cushing and Northfield, the latter of which they had defeated in a 1-0 nail biter just four days prior to the loss.

Heading into an Exeter/Andover weekend layered with playoff implications, Big Red hoped to repeat its decisive victory from earlier on in the season. Andover came out of the gates strong, however, and Exeter found itself in need of a comeback just to force overtime. Big Red played well in the extra period and nearly netted a winning goal, but in the end finished the game with a tie and a final score of 3-3. Though not the result Exeter was expecting or hoping for, preventing Andover from taking the win also prevented Big Blue from making the Elite Eight Tournament, with Cushing grabbing the number eight spot. 

Even though Exeter finished with a stellar record of 22-4-3, a highly competitive league prevented the team from cinching one of the highest spots, but it did manage to earn a fourth seed and a home game in the opening round. In this contest, the boys took on #5 Nobles, a team they had not faced in the regular season. The game quickly turned into a challenge for Exeter, who fell behind early on in the match. 

An Exeter team that was used to taking early leads for a good amount of the season conjured resilience, however, and scored two second period goals in quick succession to give itself a 3-2 lead. Though Nobles would tie the game later on, Big Red had the final word, scoring two more to finish off a 5-3 win and continue its winning streak in the quarterfinals. Across the board, it was the most impressive performance for the team over the course of its long season. 

“I think it was our best game of the season,” Rorick said. “Because we were so talented, we hardly ever had to battle back. However, we proved that we were one of the top teams in the league by battling back from a deficit and coming out on top. We really bought into the team mentality for playoffs.”

Senior Kyle Alexander agreed. “I thought our playoff game against Nobles was our best game of the year, and one of our biggest,” he said. “We got down in the game early but we kept fighting back and everyone contributed. It was our best team win, everyone showed up to play that day.”

Unfortunately for PEA, its next game came against Salisbury School, one of the most consistently dominant programs in the league. While Exeter remained optimistic about its chances, the team could not overpower Salisbury, falling 6-0 to the eventual 2014 New England Champions, who defeated Gunnery with an OT win in the finals. 

Though Big Red fell short of its overall goal, the boys were still proud of the team. “We had arguably one of the most talented lines in prep school hockey of David White ‘14, Henry Hart ’14 and Kevin Neiley ’14,” Rorick said. “But, we were not just defined by them. Other key guys stepped up in key times.”

Alexander also lauded several members of the squad. “We had great leadership from our captains Matt Foley ‘14, Patrick Quinn ’14 and Cody Rorick, and our new PG's stepped up this year and produced,” he said. “Neiley, White, H. Hart and [Pat] Besse really bought into the system and were amongst our best players. We also got great goaltending from Jack Parsons ‘14. Kevin Neiley in particular stood out to me. People see him as a grinder and a scorer, but he was also the best passer on the ice this year, which I think went unnoticed.”

With so many talented players, certain teams can have tendency for individual performances to overshadow the play of the team. Senior Griffin Py recognized this issue, but believed this year’s team remained focused on the main prize. 

“The toughest part with so many great players is just everyone accepting their roles and doing what's best for the team as a whole, and over the course of the season everyone did a great job of playing selfless hockey for the team,” he said.

Exeter used its abundance of individual talent, capitalizing on the team’s remarkable depth. “We battled even when we didn't have our best game,” Alexander said. “We were so deep that when someone wasn't playing hot, the rest of the team would pick up the slack and produce. We were 16 forwards and six defenseman deep, and that's not something you see on most high school hockey rosters.”

With such a deep roster, PEA will have its fair share of returners, with 12 underclassmen due to return to the squad next season. Alexander also believes the entire program should lead Big Red to future success. 

“The team should be great again next year,” he said. “We did lose 13 guys, but there are plenty of new guys coming in and plenty of younger guys looking to step up. This year, we had one of the better JV teams Exeter has ever seen and a lot of those guys will be moving their way up the stairs into the varsity locker room.”

As with every long 30+ game hockey season, it wasn’t hard to see the team grow to be one of the tightest-knit teams on campus. For everyone, and four-year seniors especially, this season was one to remember. 

“Overall, this past year was my most memorable here at Exeter,” Rorick said. “We had a great season despite not reaching our end goal of a New England championship. The guys on the team made it a fun ride and Coach Barbin was a joy to play for over the past four years.”