Interview with Kimball Union Coach Tim Whitehead
The Wildcats are looking to close the decade with a fourth New England title in a row
Head coach Tim Whitehead’s Kimball Union Academy Wildcats return for a potentially historic title defense after winning the New England Elite Tournament three years in a row. With a number of key returners (including NHL draft pick Tomas Mazura) and a lot of new talent joining the team, I spoke with Whitehead about the program, expectations and prospects heading into his seventh year in Meriden, New Hampshire.
It feels like just yesterday that you came to KUA, now going into your seventh year in Meriden, how has the transition been from college to prep?
It’s been a great transition, my wife and I love it here, we’re fortunate to have our kids attend school here, both Natalie, who is at McGill now, and Zachary, a senior, it’s been great. The transition as far as the coaching, it’s really not that different. You know, we obviously don’t have the support staff we had in college with equipment guys and all that stuff, but I’m very fortunate to have two amazing assistant coaches who are here full-time. Matt Underhill, All-American goalie at Cornell and Bryant Harris who was a defenseman at Hobart and also played here at KUA, and these two guys are just fantastic. I’ve been fortunate to work with some amazing coaches in the college game but this group is pretty special, they make a huge impact on our student-athletes. I love the development piece at this level, we’ve got kids who are tracking towards college and even pros, so to get them at this age… I thought there were big improvements in college kids from year-to-year, but prep school... it’s really transformational, the importance of the weight room and the video we do with the kids, on-ice, skating and skill development, small games… you can really see kids make huge strides.
Has much changed in your time there? Have you done anything with the rink?
Three years ago we did a structural renovation in the rink so we’ve got new pipes & ice-making equipment, new H-Vac system, scoreboards and benches, And renovated locker rooms, so we did an extensive renovation of the rink. That’s been nice, it’s a fantastic prep school rink, we’ve got full stands on one side, we get a great turn-out from the students so the atmosphere is pretty neat.
It seems like you’ve done a good job with your schedule, I remember ten years or so ago it seems the schedule and in particular the Lakes Region (conference) aspect of it especially was somewhat weaker. Has that been a goal of yours to pump up the schedule? And the Lakes Region seems to have gotten better as well?
Lakes Region has really improved over the last 5-6 years. This past year, six of the eight teams (St. Paul’s recently joined) in our league made the New England tournament. We were committed from the very beginning to playing each team twice to keep everyone strong and develop the league. We also have an affiliate team, Stanstead College, they play us twice and most of the [Lakes Region teams] at least once -- they’re not a part of the playoffs but they help strengthen our league too.
The nice part for us is, with only eight teams in the league, that’s only fourteen games. So it leaves us with a lot of non-league games [where] we can branch out, we play Cushing and Deerfield twice, Salisbury, St. Andrew’s, Exeter, and we’re in a lot of tournaments. We’re in the Stanstead Showcase, the Exeter Invitational, the Flood-Marr, the True Prep Cup, so that’s four in the regular season. Then we have the Lakes Region playoff tournament, in fact we’re the only prep school league that has a playoff. Then [with] the New England tournament, it’s six tournaments total, so that’s exciting, gets the guys a lot of exposure for college and pros, and they’re fun, too. It’s fun to be in those tournaments…
One of the advantages at KUA, our guys play about 65 games a year, 25 in the fall with their split-season team, and another 35-40 games with us. We play more than most preps, but more importantly they’re on the ice every day. We have the ice in the fall, they’re in the weight room, and they can skate at night.
I’m sure it’s exciting seeing the Lakes Region get better and better, great mix of strength in your schedule.
It’s been great to see the league rise up and be very competitive.
You had a couple guys the last few years that never ended a season there with a loss, having won three New England titles in a row… is there a kind of pressure on your group this year carrying that into a potentially historic season?
Every year is unique, we graduated about half our team, ten guys… but that’s similar each year, so every season is unique and we treat it that way. We put enough pressure on ourselves to excel, so we don’t worry about expectations from people outside our locker room.
We’ll have to wait and see how this season develops, but we’re certainly very excited about it. We’re a little younger than we normally are... quite a few ‘03s and even an ‘04 in our line-up… it’s just the way the classes turned over, we’ve got quite a few sophomores but it’s a good crop of sophomores. We hope to compete for a title again, but we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.
You’ve got the big returner in Tomas Mazura, the rare NHL draft pick who comes back to prep hockey, can you speak a bit to what you think he’s going to add this year?
I think Tomas will have a great year, other draft picks who have stayed for their senior year have had a lot of success so I think it’s a smart move. Most importantly for Tomas right now is that he benefits from the extra year of academics, weight training, and hockey development he will get at KUA. Our guys are in the weight room Monday through Friday, they’re on the ice every day, they get video instruction twice a week, and they play over 60 games a year.
I think it makes sense in his case as a guy who missed some time to injury, played JV as a freshman, seems to have curved up as a player very quickly. You don’t want to make the mistake of skipping a level.
Exactly. Tomas will head to Providence next year, so that’s good, plus he’s a leader on campus, a dorm proctor, one of the student leaders, so it’s a great opportunity from a life experience perspective. Staying in school, english is Tomas’ second language, he’s a very good student, so this allows him to prepare for Providence College. And yeah, he’ll probably play some games in the USHL over the break to get his feet wet, but he’ll definitely be ready [for Providence].
Who are some of your other top returners at forward?
Sullivan Mack, Paul Doré and my son Zach are our top scoring returners.
And on defense?
[Teddy] Griffin and Andy Noel will be our top-returning [defensemen], Conner Chalmers is a real good young prospect, he’s an ‘03, and he’s really emerged as a legitimate Division 1 prospect. We’ve got some talented new defensemen too. Luca Fantilli from Toronto... exceptional skater with great skill and vision… we also have a kid from Los Angeles, the Junior Kings [AAA program], Lucas Constantine, big, strong defensive defenseman who can contribute offensively too. And we have Brown commit Nick Bernardo, an offensive-defenseman coming in from the PAL Islanders program. He’ll be a nice addition for sure.
Where are you recruiting from? All over?
I think that’s a unique thing about us, our location, we’ve got kids from Alaska, Finland, Czech Republic, Ontario, Quebec, Halifax, it’s all over. And yes, we have a strong core from New England and we always will, but we definitely have a fun locker room, real interesting mix of kids.
It really seems like prep hockey is filling that niche of if your a good player in, obviously Alaska but also North Carolina or somewhere else…
Yeah, we have two kids from North Carolina, Bobby May and Griffin Hatley. We also have a kid from Brooklyn, Donte Pierre, one of our seniors, he’s come a long way. Donte’s had a great fall season with the Top Gun U19 Selects, he’s really emerged as a legitimate college prospect. He started hockey at age 12 and it’s really an amazing story. Great athlete, great kid, very strong student, we’re really proud of Donte… he’ll be a major contributor as a senior. He’s worked his way up, and he’s really earned it.
How are your incoming forwards?
‘04 Adam Fantilli from Toronto will definitely make the biggest splash among our incoming forwards. Adam’s the top-rated 2004 prospect in Ontario right now, and his stock will only rise as he continues to prove he can excel above his age level in U19 competition. Adam’s a physical presence at 6’2, 175 already, and he just turned 15 in October. He’s got outstanding speed, skill, and hockey sense, and he’s a pure goal scorer. The other new forwards that we think will make an immediate impact are ’02 Liam Walsh from Halifax, ’02 Bryce Bollman from Chicago, ’02 Revy Mack from Anchorage, ‘03 Jayden Moriello from Boston, and ’03 Bobby May from Charlotte, who plays both forward and defense.
Our new goalie, Zak Brice (Arizona State commit), is from Alaska, he’s an ‘03 — he didn’t repeat, so he’s a true-junior, and an excellent prospect. When you look at Zak and our senior goalie Veeti Kohvakka (from Finland) - Veeti led us to a championship last season - we’re confident we have a dynamic duo protecting our net.
Thanks for reading and to Tim for doing this interview.