PEABODY — Fenwick boys hockey coach Jim Quinlan felt his Crusaders took a major step in the right direction last season. After a sluggish start, Fenwick turned it on during the closing stretch, played its best hockey at the right time and qualified for the Division 1 North state tournament as the No. 11 seed.
Fenwick’s run ended in a 3-2 shootout loss to Winchester in the quarterfinal.
“The kids wanted to win,” Quinlan said. “They didn’t want to lose. They wanted to make the tournament. The kids listened to the coaches. They worked hard. We won six in a row to get into the tournament. We beat Reading 2-0 in the first round, then we had Winchester 2-0 with nine minutes to go in the game. My senior leadership was tremendous. We’re working off that and we’ll see what happens.”
If Fenwick can carry some of last season’s momentum, the Crusaders could be in a good place. Practice started last week and everything has met Quinlan’s expectations thus far.
“Things are looking good,” Quinlan said. “We’re doing well. We’re going to be a hard working team and we’ll be in every game we play. We have a hard schedule. We have a lot of seniors and some juniors. I’m looking for that leadership up top to get us into the tournament. Right now, everything’s been going well for us.”
Co-captains this season are seniors Ian Worthley (center) and Jake Murphy (right wing). Assistant captains are seniors Tom Estella (center) and Nick Muzi (left wing).
“This is my fourth year at Fenwick and these kids came in when I came in,” Quinlan said. “They know what I expect. They’re going to be great leaders because they want to win. They want to show that Fenwick’s a winning program. They got a taste of the state tournament last year and they want to get back there.”
Defensively, Fenwick has depth. The core of defensemen includes seniors Aidan Grenham and Alex Michelic; juniors Aidan Anthony and Gavin Belt; sophomores Mike Fragai, Bill Kniziak and Kin Muniz.
“Defensively, we’ll be good,” Quinlan said. “They know what I expect. I feel more comfortable because they all played last year. I threw those sophomores in as freshmen. They have experience and that’s huge.”
Also projected to play key roles are senior forward Diego Segee, senior left wing John Bernbaum, junior right wing Cam Martin, junior center Nick Sasso, junior right wing Liam Hill and freshman defenseman/forward Max Vieira.
“I’m pretty excited about our returners,” Quinlan said. “They’ve been with me for two, three years. They know what I expect. We have everything in place. We have some transfers who are good players. I think we’ll have good chemistry.”
In net, Fenwick turns to junior Jack Vieira and sophomore Dylan Bloom.
“They’re competing for the position,” Quinlan said. “It’s going well. They work hard against each other and they compete against one another every day. I could put either one of them in net. That’s a good sign.”
Fenwick starts the season Saturday (8) at Arlington Catholic.
“We’re going to be in every game we play,” Quinlan said. “We’re not a team that gets crushed anymore. You have to come ready to play us. Our goal is to be better than we were last year.”
