Rui Han ’25 skating through traffic.
Boys Hockey (11-8-3) lost its first two games against Belmont Hill and Dexter Southfield this past Friday and Saturday. Yet, on Wednesday, it dominated against Kimball Union Academy (KUA) in a four goal shutout.
Leading up to Boys Hockey’s matchup against KUA, Head Coach Paul Tortorella described the team’s recent hardships, with injuries plaguing its top scorers Rui Han ’25, Alex Theodore ’27, and Grayden Robertson-Palmer ’25. Despite these injuries, Boys Hockey is eager to play its next few games and hopefully advance into the NEPSAC playoffs.
“The team is currently… holding the fifth spot out of eight in the NEPSAC Large School Tournament. We have had a series of injuries to our top three scorers, Han, Theodore, and Robertson-Palmer, everyone else is healthy. The team has been playing well overall and practicing hard and is looking forward to the next stretch of games to solidify our playoff spot,” wrote Coach Tortorella in an email to The Phillipian.
Maxim Krasovsky ‘27 reflected on the team’s losses on Friday and Saturday. As hockey is a team-based game, momentum is a large factor in a team’s success. One major issue in the games against both Belmont Hill and Dexter Southfield was the team’s inability to stay composed after scoring goals.
“Belmont Hill, we scored first and then we just couldn’t get anything going after that. They ended up getting [goals] late in the second and late in the third, and we just never got any momentum after that first goal. Then Saturday night was just bad in every way: we started poorly and we never really got going,” said Krasovsky.
In its two practices following a defeat against Deerfield, Boys Hockey, according to Krasovsky, worked on refining targeted details. However, the team’s triumph over KUA mainly lay in improved communication, especially in the locker room.
“There wasn’t really anything we worked on specifically in practice because we’ve continued to work on certain small things that are really specific and extra errors. Since last Wednesday, where we kind of went on that losing streak, we’ve had a practice on Thursday and a practice on Tuesday and that’s all we’ve had. I wouldn’t say it was enough time for us to completely change something. In terms of how we play, I genuinely think that the majority of the change was in the locker room and how we look just like what we were thinking going into this game,” said Krasovsky.
When pertaining to the Boys Hockey’s recent shortcomings, David O’Neill ’26 noted how the team looked ahead and prioritized team chemistry as a means to overcome its opponents.
“We definitely talked as a team in practice leading up to the game today, just focusing on staying together and not dividing against each other and just trying to focus on our next opponent and taking it over the game,” said O’Neill.
After Wednesday’s game against KUA, Krasovsky commended both Rui Han ’25 and Russell Louie ’27 for their exemplary performance. However, Kravosky defined Edouard Lord ’26, the team’s goalie, as the key player for the success in the game.
“Rui Han scored a really good goal to start off with and Russell Louie also scored a goal, but the real standout performance today was from Edouard Lord. He played in net today and it was his second start of the season. He played extremely, extremely well; he got a shut-out and he definitely bailed us out in a couple spots. A lot of the credit, I would say, for us walking away 4-0 would go to him,” said Krasovsky.
Regarding Wednesday’s game, O’Neill similarly complimented Lord’s goaltending abilities, and stressed the team’s offensive and defensive efforts that resulted in its decisive victory.
“Goaltending was great, especially with [Lourd’s] shutout, which was nice to have. We worked at practice about protecting our own blue line better, which was great; that was definitely effective. And then on offensive zone, [we worked on] cycling the puck and playing well down the ice,” said O’Neill.
Boys Hockey will face Governor’s Academy at home this Friday.
