NEFPHL's Top Prospects

I spoke with a group of scouts familiar with the league to identify the top prospects

With New England Prep hockey about to begin in earnest within the next few weeks, I’ve been paying attention to a lot of the fall action, especially in split-season AAA. Earlier this month I decided to take a look at the New England Fall Prep league, based out of Salem, New Hampshire, which has many players from the northern part of New England and Massachusetts. The NEFPHL has a uniquely modernized model in that they have twenty teams between two divisions (U18 and U19), which accommodates older players such as those that have repeated (or post-grads), while providing a training ground for talented younger players to play ‘up’ against some of the strongest players in the region for the fall season.

The most modern aspect of the league is how, for those players who have distinguished themselves, the NEFPHL puts together a USA Hockey Nationals-eligible ‘Selects’ AAA team (in partnership with the Top Gun AAA program) to play other top club teams from the Northeast. The league, run by Peter Ferriero (who started Top Gun and the Eastern Hockey Federation) alongside his staff with many years of experience at all levels of the game, has done a great job keeping the league relevant while also amenable to the demands of a prep school schedule. The staff includes Brian McGuirk (former BU captain), Peter’s sons Benn, Cody and Nathan who all played for top schools in Hockey East, as well as recent additions Kevin Hart and Nick Roberto, who played prep hockey and also in Hockey East, for Providence and BU respectively. Players are assigned to teams and moved up based on their merit if they distinguish themselves in NEFPHL play. Those that play in the NEFPHL ‘proper’ will get the opportunity to play in 15-16 games while those on the Selects teams will see their fall hockey schedule extended: they’ll have a total of up to 30 games.

This year the Top Gun/NEFPHL Selects team saw some showcase action as well as made a trip up to the Northwood School in Lake Placid to play some high-level competition. For all players, especially those in prep, the NEFPHL serves a function in extending the hockey season in advance through the fall and helping players tune up while also accommodating their school commitments and providing them exposure to NCAA and junior hockey scouts.

The aforementioned Top Gun/NEFPHL Selects team (U16 roster pictured below) will play this weekend for a trip to Nationals. If they don’t make it to the final stages on Sunday, many will be playing in the last weekend of NEFPHL play — a one-day playoff, effectively for bragging rights, to close out the fall before prep hockey starts.

While the league is predominantly stocked with prep hockey talent, some of the area’s better public and catholic school players have also found their way to playing in the league. They’ve also steadily begun to get nearly ‘full team’ participation from certain schools, providing obvious benefits for the hockey season — per the NEFPHL website:

In 2018, the league introduced dedicated Prep School teams and the Top Gun Select program. Dedicated prep school teams allowed schools to submit a full team in to the league at either the U19 or U18 level. We had full team participation from Phillips Andover, Rivers School, Groton, Tilton School, Holderness as well [as] significant participation from Belmont Hill, Kimball Union, Proctor, Berwick, Governor’s, Catholic Memorial, Central Catholic, and Phillips Exeter. The benefits from playing together with classmates in the fall showed in the results as Rivers, Phillips Andover, Tilton, and Holderness carried their play to go a combined 28-10-3 in November and December, while Groton won more games in a season than any prior season in the past twenty years.

Also noteworthy — this year the NEFPHL has put together a team of the top Public/Catholic prospects to extend their fall season by a couple games. They will be playing exhibitions at Exeter this Wednesday, Nov. 13, at 4:30 PM as well as at Governors this coming Friday, November 15th, at 5:00 PM.

While I haven’t watched the league, I know plenty of people who have watched NEFPHL action not only this season but in years past. In an effort to give the players from the circuit some additional exposure to college and junior hockey recruiters, I’ve asked some of these trusted scouts (who have decades of experience between them) to help me identify the top prospects in the league. While I’ve watched a bit of the U18 Top Gun Selects team play this fall, I haven’t watched the NEFPHL proper nor am I particularly familiar with that set of players. These scouts have been watching the age group for years and the NEPFHL over much of the fall. While they will remain anonymous, they graciously worked together to create a list of “A” (serious D1 need-to-know prospects) and “B” (names to track for college hockey in general) tier prospects heading into the playoffs this Sunday at the Icenter in Salem. You can find the schedule and more information on the NEFPHL here, while you can read what I’ve got on the top prospects in the league below.

Top Prospects Playing in the NEFPHL

Many of the league’s best prospects unsurprisingly come from defending champions Kimball Union Academy, who have won the New England title for three years in a row. Coach Tim Whitehead’s Wildcats are well-represented and their participation helps the league in a way that can’t be understated. Edmonton Oilers draft pick Tomas Mazura, a long, skilled Providence recruit at center will be looked at to build on a 54 point (40 assists) season as a junior last winter. He’ll head right into Providence next year. With KUA playing one of the more packed schedules in prep hockey, alongside the NEFPHL season, Mazura will have had plenty of games this season to prepare.

The pure top prospect in the league, however, is a fourteen-year-old who may very well be on Mazura’s line this winter: Ontario native Adam Fantilli. As noted in this week’s prospects column, Fantilli’s potential is already being spoken about in hushed tones. One scout who has been watching players at this level for decades called him a potential first overall pick — not just in the upcoming OHL draft, but in the 2023 NHL draft — continuing on to say he’s the best 14 year old he’s ever seen. These are scouts who have been around the block, having recently seen Jack Eichel and Colin White dominate juniors and prep hockey respectively, at the same age — they have seen all of the elite talent the region has had to offer. I also saw Eichel and White at that age and from what I’ve seen of Adam, he certainly seems to be in that mix. So while things are hardly set in stone, Adam Fantilli is in very good company already. Adam turns 15 this December and I reported in that column that it is possible he will fast-track to become a senior next season to graduate alongside his brother Luca, who is another top prospect in the NEFPHL this winter. While Adam is an offensively-gifted 6’1 forward, Luca is a smooth-skating defender with a nice upside of his own.

Some of the other top prospects in the league include fellow KUA forward Sullivan Mack, who had 28 goals last winter and has attracted the attention of a good number of Division 1 schools. Recent ASU recruit Zakari Brice, who will be a new goaltender for Kimball Union this winter, earned rave reviews, as did puck-moving defenseman Nick Bernardo, a Brown commit. Both are ‘03s coming out of AAA hockey: Little Caesars and PAL Jr. Islanders respectively.

The non-KUA prospects that earned great reviews include defensemen Jagger Benson (‘00, Tilton, Vermont) and Patrick Lawn (‘01, Rivers), both of whom will be seniors this winter. Goaltender Tristan Mecenas, an ‘02 who is at Governors this year, was also highlighted as a stand-out.

For pro scouts, college coaches and junior hockey recruiters, I asked the scouts I spoke with to help me compile a list of “A” prospects (those highlighted as clear Division 1 prospects) as well as a list after that of “B” prospects — those they felt were really worth keeping an eye on over this season and the coming years. There was a good consensus, though it should go without saying, beauty (and talent) is in the eye of the beholder. That said, as noted, these eyes have beheld lots of talent over the years and I doubt they have missed much, though everyone makes mistakes. Scouts can catch many of these players in the last day of NEFPHL action tomorrow or at regionals today (and potentially tomorrow), as well as during the prep hockey season.

‘A’ Prospects - 2000s

F Tomas Mazura (KUA) - Providence

D Jagger Benson (Tilton) - Vermont

F Sullivan Mack (KUA)

‘A’ Prospects - 2001

D Patrick Lawn (Rivers)

‘A’ Prospects - 2002

D Luca Fantilli (KUA)

F Matteo Turrin (Holderness)

F Ronan Walsh (Proctor) - Vermont

D Carter Rose (Holderness)

D Jack Pascucci (Governor’s)

G Tristan Mecenas (Governor’s)

‘A’ Prospects - 2003

D Nick Bernardo (KUA) - Brown

D Conner Chalmers (KUA)

D Nick Peters (Central Catholic)

F Cooper Boulanger (Holderness)

F Drew Blackwell (Belmont Hill)

F Massimo Gentile (Governor’s)

F Ian Olenik (Governor’s)

F Jonathan Surrette (Woburn)

F Nicholas Royster (Phillips Andover)

F Leo Piandes (Arlington)

F Colin Van Stry (Winchester)

G Zakari Brice (KUA) - Arizona State

‘A’ Prospects - 2004

F Adam Fantilli (KUA)

F Mel Mortarelli (Rivers)

D Ollie Chessler (Rivers)

F Cole Lopilato (St. John’s)

‘A’ Prospects - 2005

Joey Zheng (Phillips Andover)

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Listed below are the ‘B’ prospects who were highlighted as players to watch over the coming seasons. They should all be at least on the radar for D3 if not D1 and junior hockey scouts looking for players.

‘B’ Prospects - 2000

F Dapa Conneely (Phillips Andover)

F Mitchell McGinn (Governor’s)

F Sean Brown (Governor’s)

F Tim Manning (Holderness)

F Donte Pierre (KUA)

G Luke Garrity (St. Sebastian’s)

F Johnny McElaney (Dexter)

F Johnny Baker (Hoosac)

F Max Pineo (Tilton)

D PJ Donahue (Exeter)

G Kevin Clark (Groton)

‘B’ Prospects - 2001

F Manny Cabral (Hoosac)

F Andrew Malatesta (Phillips Andover)

F Matthew Cormier (Rivers)

F Reese Ramirez (Exeter)

F Nate Chickering (Proctor)

F Jeremy Abraham (Hotchkiss)

F Chris Roy (Austin Prep)

D Ryan Bell (Rivers)

D Luke Mix (Exeter)

G Casen Janko (Rivers)

F Michael Tersoni (Tilton)

F Michael McEachern (Rivers)

D Ryan Rahbany (Rivers)

‘B’ Prospects - 2002

F Mojmir Petras (Phillips Andover)

D Seth Robinson (Hoosac)

F Ian Driscoll (Pingree)

D Victor Malzahn (Phillips Andover)

F Ian Worthley (Bishop Fenwick)

‘B’ Prospects - 2003

D Bobby May (KUA)

D Christian Ivancich (Phillips Andover)

D AJ Grenier (Central Catholic)

F Will Conway (Rivers)

F William Noll (Groton)

G Shane Shelest (Phillips Andover)

G Thomas Giroux (Groton)

F Griffin Hatley (KUA)

F Jaiden Moriello (KUA)

‘B’ Prospects - 2004

D Robby McDonald (Austin Prep)

F Tommy Raymond (Holderness)

D Brendan Donnelly (North Andover)

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The U18 Division, the lower/younger of the two divisions, also has some notables to track.

U18 Division Prospects - 2001, 2002

F Jackson Wilson (Cheverus HS)

F Matthew Moniz (TBD - contact me to update)

F Marek Pechr (New Hampton)

D Daniel Pechr (New Hampton)

U18 Division Prospects - 2003

F Sam Maietta (Salem)

F Michael Dinges (Central Catholic)

F Aidan O’Connell (Central Catholic)

F Braden Reilly (Bel Hill)

F Shane Kelly (Bel Hill)

F William Canavan (Nobles)

D Cody Plaza (Danvers)

F Joseph Calo (Middlesex)

U18 Division Prospects - 2004

G Michael Hayes (Arlington)

F Aidan Burke (Malden Catholic)

G Dillon Bloom (Bishop Fenwick)