Season Preview: Boys Hockey Hoping To Bounce Back From One Win Season

The Whaler boys hockey team had made three consecutive state quarterfinals – including one state semifinal – entering last season. But after graduating a large senior class in 2024, the Whalers struggled last winter and won just one of their 15 games.

But as Nantucket regroups ahead of this season, they’ll have a new goalie between the pipes in junior Thomas Schroeder, as well as senior captains Jeremy and Canton Jenkinson at forward with senior captain Soren Edwardes anchoring the defense.

"Watching Thomas, he is just very comfortable," head coach Jack Moran said of his goalie, who was one of Nantucket’s top six forwards last winter. "He's not afraid. He's going to have to knock a little bit of the rust off as far as where he knows the position he's in outside of the crease. Just got to figure that out a little bit more. But he moves pretty well, and I think over the next few weeks with a little more repetitiveness he is going to be good.

“We were doing breakaway drills and Thomas must have stopped 20 of 25 attempts, something like that,” Moran continued. “He looks sharp back there. He’s a guy who we feel confident is going to make those key stops for us if the opposing team gets a breakaway chance.”

Some other players Moran is hoping can step up and solidify larger roles on the team are sophomore defenseman Parker Furtado, senior defenseman Andrew Lavin, and senior forward Ben Freeman.

“Obviously the Jenkinsons and Soren will play a big part in what we are doing, but we got some senior guys here as well who are one year older,” Moran said. “(Seniors) Ben Freeman and Andrew Lavin, and a lot of these younger guys have really grown too. We have five freshmen. A lot of these newer kids show a lot of promise in terms of their hockey IQ. They know what they're doing, they handle the puck well, and one issue we have had sometimes is size, and I don't see that being an issue right now. (Sophomore) Felix Soares has grown, (sophomore Ryan Phillip is doing well.”

Nantucket kicked their season off last year with a 10-0 loss at home to Martha’s Vineyard, but will have a chance for some revenge when they welcome Martha’s Vineyard for their season opener on Sunday, December 14^th at 2 p.m.

"It sounds like Martha's Vineyard has a new coach and lost a lot of seniors from last year's team," Moran said. "But the Vineyard is always a tough game, and then we have Monomoy after them. So these should be a couple of big tests for us before the winter break.”

You can view the boys hockey team's full schedule here.