SPEED SKATING: Hun School boys’ hockey player Zach Vallee, right, races up the ice in recent action. Junior forward Vallee totaled four goals and two assists as Hun reached the final of the National Capital Hockey Purple Puck Tournament in the Washington, D.C., area that took place from December 27-29. The Raiders, who went 4-1 in the event to improve to 8-3, face LaSalle College High (Pa.) at the Hatfield Ice in Colmar, Pa., on January 7 and Holy Ghost Prep (Pa) on January 9 at the Grundy Ice Arena in Bristol, Pa. before hosting St. Joe’s Prep (Pa.) on January 13 at the Ice Land Skating Center. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)
By Bill Alden
Heading down to the Washington, D.C., area in late December to compete in the National Capital Hockey Purple Puck tournament, the Hun School boys’ hockey team was fired up for the road trip.
“With the prep school guys it is rare that you get to do that,” said Hun assistant coach Kevin Morello, who guided the squad at the event which took place from December 27-29. “For our French Canadian kids, that is more like what they are used to with tournaments and stuff. It seemed like they really lived up to that and loved it a lot. Everyone seemed really excited.”
The Raiders went on to produce an exciting run at the event, going 3-0 in Prep-Purple division play and then topping Prep-White runner-up Paul VI (Va.) 6-3 in the Prep semis before falling 3-2 to St. Joe’s Prep (Pa.), the Prep-White leader, in the final on December 29.
Morello sensed that his squad was going to excel at the event when it overcame a sluggish start to defeat Jesuit Dallas (Texas) 5-2 in its opener of division play at The St. James in Springfield, Va.
“I explained to them that the first half (under the event’s format, teams played two 25-minute halves) is going to be tough, we will see how it goes,” said Morello. “We will get the legs moving and then in the second half we kind of just took off. From that second half, I was thinking we have a really good chance to win this whole thing.”
As Hun defeated Archbishop Spalding High School (Md.) 5-3 and Gonzaga College High (Washington D.C.) 4-1 to wrap up division play, its veterans excelled.
“A lot of our seniors stepped up, like Anders [van Raalte],” said Morello of the senior forward who tallied four goals and two assists in the tournament. “That might have been one of the best weekends I have seen that kid play. He was all over the ice, the points didn’t even matter for me. He was hitting everything that moved. He was awesome. Nate Trawinski (1 goal, 2 assists) and Justin Bibeau (1 goal, 3 assists) were Anders’ linemates and that was probably our best line with those three guys.”
A talented newcomer, junior forward Zach Vallee, a Quebec, Canada, native, proved to be a catalyst for Hun as he scored four goals and had two assists in the tournament.
“Zach is our most skilled player, he can take over a game whenever he wants,” said Morello. “That is the thing about him, that is pretty much expected of him. When you get the help around him and everyone is jumping on board, that is huge.”
In the semifinal win over Paul VI, Vallee’s skill sparked the Raiders.
“We started off a little bit slow, Vallee scored the first goal,” said Morello. “He just took the puck end-to-end and scored. He picked up the puck on the far blue line and went coast-to-coast and tucked one in far side. Everyone on the bench erupted and I was like we are winning this game.”
Despite jumping out to a 2-1 lead over St. Joe’s in the final, Hun squandered some early opportunities and ran out of gas as it got outscored 2-0 in the second half.
“If we were a little more disciplined in the first and if we took care of business in that first half, we could have won,” said Morello. “I think we probably had five grade A chances; if we score four of those we win that game. I think we were a little
bit gassed.”
The squad’s two top defensemen, sophomore Devin Espana (2 goals, 3 assists) and senior Andrew Darst (3 goals, 3 assists), took care of business.
“Those two guys are our horses, they play a lot of minutes,” said Morello, who rotated goalies Blake Echternacht (2.01 goals against average in the tournament) and Elliott Trottier (3.00 goals against average) with Echternacht played three games and Trottier seeing action in two. “I don’t think anyone realizes how good Andrew Darst is. He is good at everything — he is on the power play, he is our penalty kill guy. He has really turned into an unbelievable player.”
Senior forward Kelly-Lepage had a very good tournament as well, tallying two goals and three assists.
“He played awesome; technically he is on our third line but he is on our first power play,” said Morello. “He gets a lot of minutes. He is the defensive man on that bottom line to make sure that we are not giving up too many goals and that we are spending most of our time in the offensive zone. He took on a really big role, he scored a really big goal in that final.”
Hun’s run at the event, which saw it improve to 8-3 overall, helped the team come together on the ice.
“I think everyone is pulling on the same rope now,” said Morello. “We are feeling the progress that coach Eric Szeker pushed us towards. We have been able to take and run with it. He was able to being in a bunch of kids who have great mentalities. If we get scored on like two years ago, it would have been like it is the end of the world. Now it is like everyone on the bench is we are going to get it back. That mentality has flipped from we don’t belong to now we should be winning these games.”
Being on the road for the week led to bonding off the ice for the squad.
“I think no matter what, when you are sleeping in hotel rooms and you are having breakfast together, you can’t help but get a little bit closer,” said Morello. “At the end of the day, the wins and the losses for a coach that is what I focus on. But for them, when they are 25 years old they are not going to be thinking about if they won Purple Puck. They will be thinking about whatever this guy did in the hotel room to make everyone laugh. It is the camaraderie.”
Looking ahead to the second half of the season, Morello believes the overall experience will benefit
the Raiders.
“As I was walking in the locker room thinking about the speech I was going to give, part of me was angry that we didn’t take care of business in the first half,” said Morello. “But part of me was like, we have come so far from three years ago losing every JV game to where we are now. We just lost in the championship of a really good tournament against a really good team and we were right there so it is tough to get on them. I think for them that is a lesson that they needed to learn, looking at that locker room and seeing how upset they all were. Now we can pull from that a little bit.”
Hun will be bringing plenty of confidence as it gets into 2026 action by facing LaSalle College High (Pa.) at Hatfield Ice on January 7 and Holy Ghost Prep (Pa.) on January 9 at the Grundy Ice Arena before hosting St. Joe’s Prep (Pa.) on January 13 at the Ice Land Skating Center.
“I think for us, the expectation is that we win out now,” added Morello. “We have shown that we belong, now we need to take care of business every single time we show up and play 60 minutes every single time. That is our goal.”