Early yesterday morning, coaches and players alike on the boys Prep Hockey team boarded a charter bus and left campus for remote Faribault, Minnesota with the goal of winning the first-ever Prep Hockey Conference (PHC) League Championship. The PHC, which is in its first year, is comprised of six different North American prep schools including Mount Saint Charles Academy, South Kent School, Shattuck-St. Mary’s School, St, Andrew’s College, Culver Academies, and of course, Northwood School, all of which will be attending the playoffs to compete to be the champions of the league. The league’s top seed, Shattuck St. Mary’s is hosting the tournament.
Assistant Coach Steve Mallaro is optimistic about the upcoming weekend. “I think it will be a good weekend for us. It’s been a long season so hopefully we can put together a good effort this weekend,” Mallaro said.
Northwood and Shattuck-St. Mary’s players in the handshake line after a Northwood Invitational game in 2017 (Photo: Mr. Michael Aldridge).
This weekend marks the first time this season the Prep team has traveled by plane for a hockey-related outing. Having finished second in the East division, the team will need to face off against Culver at 2:30 PM CST today to ensure their spot in the semifinals against Shattuck-St Mary’s, whose regular season record earned them a bye in the first round. If the Huskies can defeat Shattuck, they will play in the finals on Sunday at 11:30 AM CST.
The tournament seedings were determined by the outcome of designated league games. Each team ended up playing eleven league games this season.
“It’s a big weekend for our school as a whole,” said Mallaro. “We’re going out there to represent Northwood and who we are.”
Every game this weekend will be streamed live on HockeyTV. Standings, stats, and the schedule for the weekend can all be found on the official PHC website.
