FINAL SKATE: Hun School boys’ hockey player Riley Frost controls the puck in a game this season. Senior star forward and co-captain Frost helped Hun go 9-11 this season and reach the semis of both the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference (APAC) and Mid-Atlantic Hockey League (MAHL) tournaments. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

While the Hun School boys’ hockey team didn’t post a winning record this winter, Ian McNally still views the season in a positive light.

“When you say we were 9-11, it sounds surprising because it seems like we had a successful year and we had a good team,” said Hun head coach McNally. “There hasn’t been too many sub-500 seasons over the years.”

The Raiders did achieve one of the main goals of their season as they played in the semis of both the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference (APAC) and Mid-Atlantic Hockey League (MAHL) tournaments.

“We back-doored into the MAHL playoffs but that is the point of having them,” said McNally, whose team didn’t qualify initially for the tournament but got a berth when the Wyoming Seminary (Pa.) backed out.

“There has to be something on the line to finish your season. For a while, it was the Independence League and then it was the Mercer County Tournament for us. This is the thing you can try to play for at the end.”

While McNally would have liked to see his team post more wins this season, he enjoyed coming to the rink every day to coach the group.

“The chemistry, camaraderie and all of that, the feel good part of doing the hockey season, was there in a big way so that was great,” said McNally. “We had an older group than usual, they were all friends with each other. There was less of the age gap where maybe there are little cliques in the team. It was an enjoyable group to be around.”

One of the least enjoyable moments of the season, though, came when the Raiders fell 9-4 to Holy Ghost (Pa.) in the Atlantic Prep Athletic Conference (APAC) semis in mid-February after having edged the Firebirds 2-1 days earlier in a regular season meeting.

“That was a strange game,” said McNally. “It always is on a Monday. My kryptonite is Monday games, it doesn’t feel right. We had a very spirited game with them on Friday night when we won 2-1. It was their Senior Night so they had a bunch of people there and there was this great energy. It was a tight-checking game. Unfortunately we won the wrong one. On a day where we scored four goals but let up four in five minutes, that is not what I would have pictured.”

Hun went on to fall 6-0 to Hill School (Pa.) in the MAHL semis.

“That second game with Hill, even though we were never in a position to win once it was 3-0, it was a little more closure,” said McNally.

“The Holy Ghost game was so bizarre, it was good for them to get a second chance.”

The season provided closure for a group of seniors who had been with the program for years in Jack Borek, Nick Dimatos, Riley Frost, and Christian Clover.

“There was a core group; Jack, Nick, Riley and Christian were the captains,” said McNally, noting that the program only had three games in the 2020-21 session due to COVID-19 issues. “Those guys were great. You could see that those guys were proud and sad in the Hill game. In the time that they have been here, I feel we have transformed from the more of the day school kids playing local schools to becoming more of a boarding school team.”

Each of the quartet along with a fifth senior, Dan Carney, paid their dues and emerged as a key contributor.

“Jack came when we had a goalie Jackson Cole here so he had to wait his turn,” said McNally. “He put in his time and then he got to be the guy. He got to be the captain. It was the same thing for Dimatos. He was on JV when he started. Christian was there for three years and he started on JV. Riley came in 10th and was in there right away. You feel more of a part of it when you have accomplished that. The other guy in that boat was Dan Carney. He actually played in eighth grade because we let the kids play JV in eighth grade. So he has been here five years. He was one of those guys you give an award to at the end. He is so integral to the team even though he didn’t get that many minutes.”

Hun got some inspired play from some other seniors or post-graduates who joined the program in the last couple of years in Seth Kaplan, Ryan Croddick, Josh Ouellette, Paul Dumas, and Ming Yuan.

“Kaplan led the team in scoring (31 points on 12 goals and 19 assists), it is funny to think if he never came who would have scored,” said McNally.

“Seth was very integral. Croddick is going to Princeton to play lacrosse. He is an athlete, he knows how to turn it on when it is getting heated or there is something needed. Those were both unexpected kids who made a contribution. Ouellette, Dumas, and Yuan were guys who came in 10th, 11th grade. Unfortunately for some of the guys, if they came in 11th grade, that was last year and it was a lost year so maybe they didn’t get to feel as much of it.”

With a group of returners featuring sophomore Brendan Marino, junior Josh Sosner, junior Elian Estulin, junior Mark Gall, and junior Stephen Chen, McNally is looking forward to next year.

“Marino scored a few goals this year (six goals, five assists); Estulin, Gall, and Chen all played as freshmen so it is their turn to lead the guys,” said McNally.

“Elian came on pretty good (10 goals, 10 assists in 2021-22) and so did Stephen. He is going to be really good. We were lucky to have two goalies this year and rotated because we trusted them both. Next year it is Stephen’s turn to play every minute. He will impress a lot of people I think.”

In reflecting on this season, McNally won’t soon forget how his guys came together.

“It was a unique team makeup, they truly liked each other and it was enjoyable,” said McNally. “We didn’t win as much as I thought we would. There have been years where we won and it was not as enjoyable.”