ISL

[Superlite]

Their hockey team made the Elite 8 for the 2nd time in 3 years. But agreed, it’s different. Before the start of spring season the juniors spend 11days in the white mountains (4 living solo)..

Apologies as this an ISL thread. Maybe I shouldn’t talk about Pingree playing ISL teams

Not if you want to ski....Holderness is a great spot...not for everyone...

[NNELax]

Their hockey team made the Elite 8 for the 2nd time in 3 years. But agreed, it’s different. Before the start of spring season the juniors spend 11days in the white mountains (4 living solo)..

Apologies as this an ISL thread. Maybe I shouldn’t talk about Pingree playing ISL teams

Not if you want to ski....Holderness is a great spot...not for everyone...

I think that 11 days in the white mountains experience is one of the coolest and most unique offerings from the Prep School community...I would want my kids to do it...

[Can Opener]

The new playoff structure in the ISL opens up schedule slots to play good OOC teams. Currently there are a few strong "orphaned" programs nearby like Andover, Exeter, Pingree and Dexter. There are also the "underchallenged" programs in the Lakes Region like New Hampton and Holderness. St. Paul's girls are excellent, but the boys program can't seem to regain the stature it enjoyed under the legendary coach Cliff Gillespie. SPS was part of the ISL back then. For a good read on a don't-make-'em-like-that-anymore guy, check out:
https://reportertoday.com/eastprovidenc ... e-jr,34130?

[Laxxal22]

Thanks for sharing that history Can Opener. Quite the life for Coach Gillespie.

Huge news in the ISL football world that will have an impact on ISL lacrosse. Peter Bourque, a star QB at Catholic Memorial who already holds offers from Syracuse and Maryland as a 2026, is reclassing and going to Tabor in the fall. He's also one of the best midfielders on a very strong Laxachusetts Black 2026 squad. Even if lacrosse takes a big back seat going forward, he'll still be a hugely impactful player for however many springs he suits up for the Seawolves. Tabor football under Coach Moore is going to be a problem.

https://twitter.com/PeterBourque7/statu ... 1471939640

[Laxboy78]

Why leave CM? Football team is loaded

[Laxxal22]

Why leave CM? Football team is loaded

But the lacrosse team is not. It was reassuring as a lacrosse fan to see his Twitter post had pictures of him playing both sports. The ability to reclass, and what that unlocks for recruiting, had to be a big part of it. The daily ride between Hingham and West Roxbury couldn't have been fun either.

I'm a little surprised the move wasn't to a Choate, Avon, Loomis, etc. where the level of football is definitely a step up. My sense is the ISL-7 is pretty level with the Catholic Conference/top MIAA, but despite the talent infusion Tabor is still part of the ISL-9 in which definitely has some cupcakes. Hopefully they either make both divisions 8 teams or swap Tabor and Thayer, because the Seawolves will be a hot knife through butter against the St. Grottlesex teams.

[Superlite]

Didn't the CM lacrosse coach head over to Middlesex (his alma mater)?

Why leave CM? Football team is loaded

But the lacrosse team is not. It was reassuring as a lacrosse fan to see his Twitter post had pictures of him playing both sports. The ability to reclass, and what that unlocks for recruiting, had to be a big part of it. The daily ride between Hingham and West Roxbury couldn't have been fun either.

I'm a little surprised the move wasn't to a Choate, Avon, Loomis, etc. where the level of football is definitely a step up. My sense is the ISL-7 is pretty level with the Catholic Conference/top MIAA, but despite the talent infusion Tabor is still part of the ISL-9 in which definitely has some cupcakes. Hopefully they either make both divisions 8 teams or swap Tabor and Thayer, because the Seawolves will be a hot knife through butter against the St. Grottlesex teams.

[NNELax]

Next year. Powers will be the HC in 2025.

[Laxxal22]

Brock Geraci from Govs has flipped his commitment from Georgetown to UNC.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C4a1ZP2uFsa/

[Laxxal22]

NELJ ISL preseason podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0Gklxd ... ce3nuWAaGw

[Laxxal22]

NELJ ISL preseason podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0Gklxd ... ce3nuWAaGw

Was able to listen on a flight. I never like cut & paste articles behind a paywall, but since the podcast is free I feel it's fair game to discuss the content. With that said, how do people feel about their top 10?

10. Rivers
9. Milton Academy
8. Roxbury Latin
7. Tabor
6. Middlesex
5. Thayer
4. Govs
3. Nobles
2. St. Seb's
1. Belmont Hill

Similar to me, they basically think the top five is a coin flip. Pod is definitely worth a listen.

[Laxxal22]

First week of games! It’s a little tough to tell what’s still a scrimmage and what counts, but I’m pretty sure the following are actual games. Please let me know if I’m missing any.

Nobles hosts Deerfield on Saturday. Gonna be a tough one for the Dawgs as a captain of last year’s team is now a PG at Deerfield—scouting edge to the Big Green. Nobles does have weapons and offense and potentially an edge facing off. They’ll need that to stay close.

St. Seb’s runs the same gauntlet they did last spring, playing at Lawrenceville Thursday and at Brunswick Saturday. The Arrows have a high ceiling this season, but playing the schools that are consistently top 10 nationally is a different animal. Lville apparently has a pretty nasty 10-man ride, which is rough to see in the first game of the season. I honestly think it’ll be a real achievement to keep either game within a touchdown.

Andover heads to Govs on Saturday. Andover took this one in OT last year. Obviously there’s a lot more that plays into the outcome of a game, but based solely on committed players I’d say Govs is the strong favorite here.

[Can Opener]

NELJ ISL preseason podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0Gklxd ... ce3nuWAaGw

Was able to listen on a flight. I never like cut & paste articles behind a paywall, but since the podcast is free I feel it's fair game to discuss the content. With that said, how do people feel about their top 10?

10. Rivers
9. Milton Academy
8. Roxbury Latin
7. Tabor
6. Middlesex
5. Thayer
4. Govs
3. Nobles
2. St. Seb's
1. Belmont Hill

Similar to me, they basically think the top five is a coin flip. Pod is definitely worth a listen.

Man, it is so hard to predict how 16-19 year old boys will come together as a team and perform on the field, but I suppose the order above is a reasonably good guess. I would drop Govs out of the top 4 and lump them in a "pick 'em" group of 5-7 with Middlesex and Tabor. Without their elite FO guy, this will be a different team this year from the squad that finished around .500 in '23. They got a bit lucky with their schedule this year by avoiding Bel Hill, but still face Thayer, Nobles and Sebs in the regular season. On paper, Thayer should be very strong, with committed players and experienced coaching. For some reason it didn't really gel for them last year, but they are capable of winning any game in front of them. At the bottom of this list, I think Milton sneaks past RL for the final playoff spot since they have a little more depth than RL. Rivers lost some talent and also struggles with depth, although I am a fan of their coach. I agree that Bel Hill is probably the favorite, but as a fan of the game, I really hope that they don't use that modified zone defense again. Finn Fox is one of the most talented poles in the country and it would be fun to see him have more leash to freelance and start fast breaks in a man-to-man set up.

[Laxxal22]

Govs will be interesting. Umansky was a great player, but he missed the first few games last season and I wonder if he was ever 100%. NELJ did the March cover story for the print edition on Govs, and their expectations are high. But based on NELJ doing a cover story on Xaverian at the start of last year (before a very disappointing season) and then a cover story on Belmont Hill (days before they got bounced in round 1 of the playoffs), being featured on that cover might be a curse.

I'd also love to see the BH defense get to play with a seek and destroy mentality, but if they didn't play it with last season's personnel I can't see a change when the talent isn't quite what it was and there being so many strong attack units across the league.

[Laxxal22]

Livestream for Seb's @ Lawrenceville at 5:30. Too bad they didn't get last week's warm weather. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3PnKlJ0xAU

[pcowlax]

Govs will be interesting. Umansky was a great player, but he missed the first few games last season and I wonder if he was ever 100%. NELJ did the March cover story for the print edition on Govs, and their expectations are high. But based on NELJ doing a cover story on Xaverian at the start of last year (before a very disappointing season) and then a cover story on Belmont Hill (days before they got bounced in round 1 of the playoffs), being featured on that cover might be a curse.

I'd also love to see the BH defense get to play with a seek and destroy mentality, but if they didn't play it with last season's personnel I can't see a change when the talent isn't quite what it was and there being so many strong attack units across the league.

Great respect for BH as a league outsider (though not as much respect as I have for Laxxal22 and his amazing league previews) but man, that zone and the pace of play it engenders is just painful to watch. So much talent last year and won 9 games scoring 9 or fewer goal. Their D is so tough it shuts down both offenses on the field! Ugh. Winning is winning but I am frankly surprised they don't lose some kids to other comparable top ISL schools who want to get up and down the field.

[Laxxal22]

17-6 Lville.

Some thoughts...

Tough outing, but not that unexpected. Early Seb's sloppiness got them in a hole, which lead to frustration penalties (refs seemed to call a pretty tight game) and things getting out of hand.

The Arrows woke up a bit in the 4th quarter, and started playing with more confidence. Announcer was still saying the same names, so it didn't seem like it was an "empty the bench" scenario for Lville that Seb's capitalized on. 

Was interesting to see who played (and who didn't) for Seb's. Thankfully it's easy to find a roster for Seb's online, which I can't say for most of the ISL. Seb's may have had an injury or two. Nothing major that stopped the game, but a couple of guys played early and then stopped taking runs. Hopefully that was more precautionary than anything serious.

[Laxxal22]

Govs-Andover game is rescheduled from tomorrow to this afternoon at 5:15. I'll keep an eye out for a stream to post here, but won't be able to watch myself.

Should be a good one. Govs roughed up Dexter in a scrimmage the other day and Andover did the same to St. John's Prep (caveat being it was SJP's second day of practice/tryouts). I know nothing about Andover but it's a good early season measuring stick for both teams.

[Laxxal22]

Andover 11 - Govs 9

The Youtube algorithm is getting to know me pretty well, as when I opened the app last night and the first suggested video was the tape of this game. It may still be up, but tough camera placement and very early season level of play made it a rough watch. I got through about a quarter before deciding to turn it off and stop punishing myself.

Weather will be absolutely abysmal in both Deerfield and Greenwich today, but I haven't seen anything about Nobles-DA or Seb's-Wick getting cancelled.

[Laxxal22]

Seb's - Wick stream at 1 (sadly I can't watch): https://events.locallive.tv/events/139507

DA-Nobles has been canceled. (Edit: postponed to 5/6 - should be a much better game played that late into the season)