The Keller Division was a juggernaut last season with six teams securing playoff berths. Many of the talented juniors that made impacts last season are sticking around for one more go as seniors, which will keep the top of the Division heavy. It seems to be getting deeper though with a new influx of D1 committed prospects who will make their prep debuts this fall. We would suspect Thayer, Milton, Lawrence Academy, St. Sebs and Nobles will be the playoff teams this season. Here are our capsules for all 8 teams in the upcoming season, ranked in order of predicted finish.
Thayer The Tigers wrapped up a storybook 20-win season last year with a Large School Championship, defeating Westminster in the title game. The road to a title gets a little tougher this year as F Ty Amonte (70 points, BU commit), D Kyle Peterson (26 points) and D Colin McCabe (25 points) have all left due to graduation. But the good news is that there is plenty of returning firepower to keep the fires burning for Coach Tony Amonte down in Braintree. Top scorer F Casey Carreau (71 points, BC commit) is back, which could mean bad things for the rest of the conference given what a difference maker he was last season. Attacking F Aidan McDonough (44 points) is back for his senior season, while F Evan Googins (20 points) and F Tristan Amonte (16 points) should continue to improve as upperclassmen. The forward lines for the Tigers are very deep and the defense looks quite athletic as well: PJ Garrett, Cam Lemanski and young 01 Jake Flynn should bolster a crew of mobile blue liners. Speaking of which, new additions include 4-star UMASS Amherst commit D Jayson Dobay, plus Providence commit F Jay O’Brien, and G Jimmy Scannell who comes over from St. Sebs. All told, it’s a good year to be a Tiger.
NZ’s Take: While the team lost a key core of talent, Carreau could be prep’s most productive player this season, McDonough is one of the better power forwards in prep and incoming recruits Jayson Dobay and Jay O’Brien are immediate impact players who could arguably make this team better than it was a year before. Goaltending is the only real question mark but if they can get strong play from the crease than this team is Elite 8 bound.
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