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HOCKEY
Exeter brought the
‘A Team in Every Sense of the Word’
team back down to earth, but it
With only five seniors — and a
Tommy Dunleavy and Mike
quickly rebounded
roster chock-full of unproven youth
Faulkner — with a combined nine
— finishing the
and relative inexperience — the
varsity letters between them — and
regular season by
Brunswick hockey team stepped
fellow classmates Matteo Esposito,
winning six in a
on the ice in November with many
Maksim Masiulis, and Will Rogers,
questions surrounding how good it
Brunswick set out from the start to
could be. The Bruins, themselves,
prove the naysayers wrong.
row and capturing
Philip Kemp ’17
the Empire Cup at Millbrook School.
believed they’d be competitive and
Practices were fast-paced,
“All 21 guys bought in right from
The Bruins, all told, never lost
win their fair share of games. They
focus was undeniably clear, and
the start,” Dunleavy said. “We quickly
two consecutive games at any point
also believed they’d vie for their
pre-game preparation was at an
established a winning attitude in the
during the season.
first New England playoff berth
optimum — the Bruins would be
locker room and believed we’d get it
since 2012.
ready to face off with whoever lined
done on game day.”
But outsiders — those in and
up against them at center ice.
Tournament titles at St. George’s and Belmont Hill–Nichols in
Max Fuld ’16 and Colin Bernard ’16
“The team always learned from a loss and continued to play and win with confidence,” Dunleavy said. Faulkner added, “We were so
Buffalo capped a 12–3 first half.
close on and off the ice that when
And if there was still any doubt,
we faced adversity, we were ready
the Bruins began the New Year by
to face it together — as a unit.”
knocking off No.1-ranked Loomis
Narrowly missing the Elite 8
and highly touted Westminster
New England Tournament, ’Wick
in front of jam-packed crowds at
earned the No.1-seed in the Large
Hartong Rink.
School Tournament — its highest
February losses on the road at Salisbury (the eventual New England champion) and
ranking since joining Division I in 2010 — and matched up against Thayer Academy in the quarterfinals. The Bruins ultimately fell to the Tigers, 5–4, in a furiously paced contest that went to overtime
around the New England prep
Gritty victo-
and could have gone
school hockey circle — seemed
ries against
confident that the Bruins would not
Founders
be a legitimate contender, leaving
League
them unranked (and unwritten
mainstays
define this team’s lasting legacy for
about) in season previews and
Taft, Hotchkiss,
either the Bruin players or their
initial polls.
and Kent in the
head coach, Ron VanBelle.
After a 33-game season, though,
either way. While certainly a disappointing end, the loss will not
early going instilled
“This team had something extra:
which saw Brunswick rattle off a
a confidence within
a sense of unity and selflessness
school-record 26 wins and climb as
the group that ultimately
that is rare in sports these days,”
high as sixth in the prep rankings,
carried through the lengthy
VanBelle said. “I’m proud of these
all doubt was firmly cast aside.
winter. Players were willing to
This team was more than good —
block shots, sacrifice their bodies,
boys and grateful to have been a Matt Sealy ’16
small part of their success.
it will, in fact, go down as one of the
and finish checks — and they
best in Brunswick hockey history.
reaped the rewards of that style of
team, in every sense of the word, in
hockey.
School history.”
Led by senior co-captains
28 | TIMES
OF BRUNSWICK • SPRING 2015
TOB Spring 2015 Sports 053015.indd 28
“It is arguably the best hockey
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