It’s been two years since the Holliston hockey team graced the Division 3 South State Tournament with their presence. Back in 2015, Holliston barely advanced into post-season play with a 9-9-2 record, but tournament play is different than regular season hockey, and the Panthers made their presence known. As the 20 seed in a 23 team tournament bracket Holliston played above and beyond their means as the Panthers upset Somerset/Berkley 3-2 in a shootout and Mashpee/Monomoy 1-0 before falling to Cohasset in the Quarter Finals.
Sitting at 3-4-2 with over half the season still on the slate, the Panthers are still in contention to get back into the tournament. If the team is to once again make a run through the tournament, the squad’s five captains, three seniors and two juniors, are going to be the ones that get the younger players moving in the right direction.
Senior goalie Adam Kampersal is considered the vocal captain, according to second year coach Dan Geary; while senior winger Kyle McDevitt is a hard working, lead-by-example player and senior defenseman David Sancomb is the lunch pail captain. The other two captains are junior center Jack Larche, the motivator who gets the team rowing in the right direction, and junior defenseman Jack Wilke, who is an assistant captain and probably the best overall player on the team. Wilke is not only a player the rest of the team looks up to, but one they also respect.
As the team’s net minder, Kampersal feels his position is one in which he can make a real difference on the ice, but also believes this year’s squad is much more prepared to venture into the tournament this winter.
“Last year we had a lot of suspensions, injuries and only about 15 or 16 players. With such limited numbers, it makes it tough on the rest of the team,” the goalie said. “This year, I’m looking to get this team back into the playoffs and hopefully, do better than what we did two years ago when we went to the Quarter Finals.”
Although, having four captains and an assistant, if the Panthers are going to make it into the playoffs, they are going to have to get the younger players caught up to speed and make sure they stay on the same page.
“We have a lot of freshman on this year’s team, which should also provide the team with a lot more depth than we had last year,” McDevitt said. “I also believe that we have a better group of leaders with everyone working toward the same goal. Last year, we had a tough time working together as a team, everyone was not on the same page.”
Sancomb, the team’s physical player when it comes to working the corners, agrees with his co-captain on getting the younger players on the same page if Holliston is going to make any noise in the tournament.
“I myself am a lead by example guy who doesn’t mind doing the dirty work for the benefit of the team. We have nine freshmen on this year’s team, and I want to get them going,” he said. “We all want to get back to the tournament – I keep telling them the tournament is the best part of high school hockey.”
Larche, who is the only junior captain, is obviously honored to hold such an honor at his age and believes he is a good mix with the other captains but it’s the coach who is supplying the system the team plays on the ice.
“Last year was a transition phase for the team having Coach Geary take over about a week before the season got underway,” he said. “He had a new system, and we had to adapt. Our last coach was a big dump and chase guy while Coach Geary wants us to control the puck, skate into the zone, work on our passing and set up plays.”
As the team’s only assistant captain junior Wilke finds that this year’s squad a lot tougher than last years.
“It’s an honor to wear a letter on my jersey, no matter what it is; I’m here to help this team and be a good leader and do whatever it takes to help this team win,” Wilke said. “There are a lot of hard workers on this team; guys who can get on the forecheck, bang some bodies and get those dirty goals. If I take the younger guys under my win and teach them – I believe that we’ll definitely make the tournament.”
The team’s other junior captain agrees with Wilke.
“This team did a lot of off season work to get better. We’re looking to grab those 10 points and get into the playoffs; that would be huge,” Larche said. “Of course we all want to win every time that we step onto the ice, but we don’t need to win every game, we just need to play sound defense and prevent all the ties. In the past, we haven’t been able to bare down in the last minute of games.”
Kampersal not only believes that his teammates are all in when it comes to the actual game time, but the team also likes to get together off the ice as well.
“We’re a close knit group, probably the best in the last four years, with no one star player so we work extremely hard together to win games,” the goalie said.
While the team is hovering around .500, their chances of making the tournament remain good, but if they all get on the same page at the same time, Holliston is bound to make the tournament, and once they get there, who knows what they can accomplish?
Issue Date:
February, 2017
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