There is only D1 MIAA school in Western MA, and as you probably guessed from the title of this article, that school is Pope Francis. The Cardinals have won a total of 30+ games over the last two seasons and made deep runs in the Super 8 playoffs – making it to the championship game at the TD Garden but each time falling in overtime to two-time defending champ BC High.
There is more to Pope Francis’ story than just wins and losses or goals and saves: there is something unique about this program. There is a bond that you rarely get with teams out East near Boston because the fan base is central to each hometown or county. In Pope Francis’ case, they have players that represent their hometowns and nearly half of the state by territory. This community was also shaken to its core by tragic events in 2011 that led to a severe drop in Springfield Cathedral’s student enrollment and nearly forced the school to shut its doors but resulted in the founding of a brand new school (Pope Francis) after merging with Holyoke Catholic.
To learn more about the program we spoke with head coach Brian Foley for some perspective on the team’s success and motivations…
NZ: Let’s start with the obvious first question. Over the last two years, you have put together two really successful campaigns. Both seasons you have made the Super 8 Finals but lost to the eventual champ BC High. Can you take me through the past two seasons and what ingredients allowed you to have so much success?
Coach Brian Foley: I would say both teams are a little different. Two years ago we were a good team and we lost our first-round Super 8 game to BC High 6-1 I believe. It was a humbling loss and at that point as coaches, you talk to the kids and challenge them: what do you want to do from here? We had a team meeting and a team vote on paper: the only question on the ballot was “Win” or “Get ready for spring sports”. After that, they played really good hockey and beat Burlington 3-2 and followed that up by beating Central Catholic who beat us twice in the regular season and that gave us a lot of confidence. After that we beat St. John’s Prep 5-1 and Hingham 6-0. We went into the Super 8 Final at the Garden playing the best hockey that the kids had played in their lives. BC High was clearly the better team and we even held a 1-0 lead until the last minute. The OT loss was disappointing but we were so proud of that team and those kids.
The next year we knew BC High was the target – our big rival. We knew they would be really good again. They are always one of the top teams in the state. Last year went the way we would have predicted: we lost twice to them in the regular season, beat them once and lost to them in the Finals. We really went at them this time. We were the underdogs the year before and this year it was the two best teams in the Final. In regulation, we played an almost perfect game for 43+ minutes but they scored in a 6-on-4 power play situation late in the game. Prior to that, we had played a solid game. When you lose to a rival in four overtimes it’s disappointing, but there isn’t a lot of regret: both teams can be proud of their seasons. Last year we wanted to get back, that was the talk. The year before was a first time experience.
Going into this year we don’t know what we’ve got yet: replacing our seniors, we have a lot of very good young talent and how much can they grow as individuals and as a team by the end of February. It’s an exciting and totally different coaching experience compared to when we had a ton of veterans. This year there will be a lot of room for growth. It could be a rocky ride, as long as we are good at the end of the year.
Image Credit: Pope Francis Communications
NZ: It was hard to miss your top line of Cocchi-Demers-Tavella last year – there were times where teams just couldn’t defend their combination of speed and agility. What do you feel made them so hard to game plan for?
Foley: They were all Top 6 forwards as juniors alongside seniors like Trevor Crawford and Brendan Nehmer, who graduated and created more space for them. But those three played together in the Super 8 on a line. Going into last year it was the first time ever (it will be my 16th year in 2019-20) that we said that these are our guys; we will put them together and keep them together. We switched them on and off a few times but we started and ended with them. We knew we would ride them to see if anyone could defend them. We had so many seniors on that team including on the second and third lines. There was a lot of depth and we could keep them together which is a credit to their teammates who scored key goals for us throughout the year.
All three were a little different but all three are future college hockey players. Max Cocchi was the most gifted goal scorer, he was just a natural goal scorer. Jon Tavella was the engine, nobody competed harder in the state. He hustled and blocked shots, he was the Energizer Bunny. Makem Demers from a sheer talent perspective has it all: vision, hands, skating: he’s a D1 talent. The three complemented each other: they scored the big goals. Makem is with the Maine Nordiques now and doing really well with 18 points in his first 25 NAHL games. He’s getting a lot of college interest. Cocchi and Tavella are both doing post-graduate years at Tilton and they will have big years. These are three really good hockey players and friends. We will miss them and we will have a hard time replacing them. The young guys need to step up.
Image Credit: Pope Francis Communications
NZ: Looking back at your senior class they really stepped up for you during the Super 8 run. Can you speak to what that class meant to the program?
Foley: We talked to those guys a lot about “being the first” – make it to a final, be the first to win it. Being from Western MA, there’s never been a team to win the ultimate D1 crown since the West Springfield Terriers in 1952: before the Super 8 became established. We talk a lot about the chance we have to make history and what the seniors can do as a class. Last year was our 11th straight Super 8 bid, we’ve had a nice run. In my first eight years, we were just trying to make the playoffs. Now we’ve established the program as Super 8 contenders. For 11 straight years we’ve been selected by the committee and what we emphasize this year is to stay there, let’s make it 12. We want that first title for a Western MA team in 67 years. We talked about the memories being lifelong and how cool it would be for us to be that team. The kids bought in, I’ll never forget that group of kids and what they accomplished. They built a lot of great lifelong friendships.
NZ: Speaking of the program, from the parents, coaches and administrators we’ve talked to there seems to be a lot of pride in the team’s success. Do you attribute that to being one of the top contenders from western MA? Does the team take on an “us against the state” mentality since most of the other programs are closer to Boston?
Foley: It’s an easy thing to use as motivation. No matter how much success we have, we take the underdog role. From a standpoint of population. The school is 340 kids co-ed. We have maybe 160 boys in the school total vs BC High who has maybe 160 boys try out for the team. We struggle to have a junior varsity team in some years. Luckily we are fortunate to have talented kids who come from great families, work hard and want to be the best. We try to schedule the best teams both in-state and out of state: even if it means missing the tournament. In my first three years, we missed the tournament because we wanted to play the best teams in the state and even teams from outside of the MIAA.
NZ: Things weren’t always so easy for Pope Francis, the tornado in 2011 changed everything: can you explain how difficult it was to go through that both as a coach and a local resident?
Foley: The damage from the tornado dramatically changed the enrollment in the school. The building went from holding 2,000 kids to about 600+ and just after that, they moved what was then Springfield Cathedral to a vacant elementary school in Wilbraham. That affected a lot of families and their commutes to school. A few years later you have 200 total kids in the school, co-ed. Pope Francis as you see it today is a merger of Springfield Cathedral and Holyoke Catholic – two small schools that brought enrollment up from 200 to 340 today. A few years later now, the freshman class is full. The school was built to house just over 400, about 100 per class. The freshman class was capped at 105 and now there’s a waiting list. The new building and facilities are great. They did a great job, plus the academics are great too. More people have an interest in the school now – the administration did a good job hanging on, because they could’ve easily closed. Somehow the hockey team kept performing, we kept getting good players and we were able to maintain our level of play throughout that period by getting to the Super 8.
We try and represent the area as best we can: we are the only D1 school in Western MA – it’s not a town school, it’s a community school. We owe a lot to the community for their support. The support we had at the Garden was amazing, the alumni who live in Boston who came to those two games was very humbling, it was an unbelievable experience.
NZ: Even through the tough times, your team has been able to find success and foster the development of players who can shoulder the load. How have you been able to maintain that success, particularly offensively where it seems like every year there is a new star upfront?
Foley: The upperclassmen do a good job of mentoring the younger players. When you play for Pope Francis: you play for the program, not the team. There is a lot of movement between junior varsity to varsity, our young kids get chances to practice and dress for games. We try to move them up and develop them. When the kids graduate, the ones who fill the spots have practiced with you the year before. They know what to expect and the goals they have to accomplish in the offseason to step into those shoes. The work ethic within the program keeps us at a high level. Their job is to improve. The old adage: “what you do when no one’s looking” is the most important thing and we get a lot of kids who buy into that. When we see a kid who graduated with 20 goals, we look at a sophomore who had 5 and we look to replace our production. We’ve been lucky to have that sophomore to junior to senior progression. The key, really, is to have kids stay with the program and graduate from the program. We’ve never had that many seniors (12) on a team – it’s the most since I’ve been here. A key element to high school sports, you see it with Hingham who has so many, but it’s tough to beat a group of seniors. In the last two years we have had that element.
NZ: Let’s move on to this coming season – many of your top point producers have graduated and the underclassmen will need to fill their shoes. Can you speak to the state of your F, D, G groups and who are a few of the names to watch for this season as key contributors?
Let’s start with goaltending: that’s the key to the postseason, to build from the goal out. Ben Zaranek split with a senior as a freshman. He played in 3 Super 8 games and won them all. He was the only goalie for us in the postseason last year. He had a tremendous run, and he’s only a junior. Sophomore Ryan Rhodes also played a few games as a freshman, and he will be a very good goalie. This is a position of strength for us.
On defense, we’ve got two seniors: Matt Pelletier and Logan Dapprich. They are going to be the leaders of that group and they played a ton of minutes for us in the Super 8 Final. They will have tremendous years. Sophomore defenseman Jack Kennedy is one to watch this year, he’s D1 caliber. He broke his collarbone at the end of last year and he is ready to make a huge jump. That’s what we expect: he’s bigger, stronger, faster and he looks different, he’s physically more mature.
For the forwards, our leading scorers Brandon Spaulding and Evan Phaneuf will be juniors and they played on the top three lines amongst our seniors. We will count on them to be productive for us. They are our top two centers and we will split them up, that way we hope to generate two solid lines around them. We have a lot of depth at forward, a lot of kids who practice with us. Our three senior forwards all have played with us – hopefully those guys can step up and have productive senior years. We have a couple of intriguing freshmen who could do some damage, one of them is very well known locally in the 2005 age group: Ryan Leonard (San Jose Sharks draftee John Leonard’s younger brother). We’ll see how he does.
We are going to be a deep team with four lines and eight defensemen that can play. How much will be determined as the season goes along. On paper, we are deep and well balanced, but you don’t know how that translates into production until you get going. I think we’ll be stingy on D, have some production upfront and we’ll be good again.
Image Credit: Pope Francis Communications
NZ: Finally, what are your goals for the season? I’m sure the veterans on the team want another shot at the title?
Our #1 goal is to maintain the level of a Super 8 program – keeping that 11-year streak alive. That’s the first goal. We are an independent team without a league so there is no league goal. Each game becomes a playoff game – they all have rankings implications. We are playing all the teams who we expect to be in the competition. If you beat them you’re ahead of them, but if you lose to them, you’re behind them.
Special thanks to the Pope Francis Communications Department for the images on this story!
