Governor's Teams
Athletics at The Governor’s Academy is about outstanding performance- as our championship titles, college NCAA scholarship players, and world competitors will attest- but it is also about character.
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Team Profile
Hockey - Boys Varsity
With a focus on fast and aggressive play, the Governor’s Boys Varsity Hockey team has maintained its reputation as a perennial New England powerhouse. Teammates encourage each other to seize every offensive opportunity in transition and to remain disciplined in their defensive principles. Team culture is built around an expectation of hard work, accountability, and respect, and the coaching staff is committed to maintaining high standards for character and sportsmanship. Governor’s hockey players relish the opportunity to play a game they love with teammates who make them better players and people.
The team practices and competes on campus in the Whiston•Bragdon Arena, a state-of-the-art rink featuring NHL-sized ice, five spacious locker rooms, a classroom for film breakdown, an athletic training center, skate-sharpening technology, and a warming space for fans. Throughout the season, captains organize school-wide themes for home games including Pajama Night and Jersey Night to amplify the student cheering section on winter weekends. The team also organizes an annual “Pink at the Rink” community service event in collaboration with Girls Varsity Hockey, and during the 2022-2023 event, the programs raised over $6,000 for the Jimmy Fund.
While the NESPAC season formally begins in mid-November, Whiston•Bragdon Arena provides ice for informal fall skates beginning in the second week of September. The majority of players compete in the New England Fall Prep League, playing 18-20 preseason games that are intentionally scheduled to avoid fall athletic commitments and allow the boys to begin building chemistry together. Following tryouts in mid-November, the in-season schedule creates a routine for practices, lifting workouts, recovery and mobility sessions, and film breakdown. Govs provides a strength and conditioning coach who creates workouts that correlate with the team’s game schedule and practice intensity as well as two full-time athletic trainers to assist with rehabilitation and recovery from injuries .
Govs competes in the sixteen-team Independent School League (ISL), widely regarded as one of the most competitive high school hockey leagues in the country. Govs plays in the ISL’s more challenging Keller Division against strong programs such as Belmont Hill and Nobles and also competes against non-league perennial powerhouses such as Kimball Union Academy and Phillips Andover. They also travel to Cushing Academy’s Holiday Tournament to prepare for the busy January and February stretch and develop strong bonds with teammates off the ice. Every year, the team’s goals include earning a spot in NEPSAC’s Elite Eight or Piatelli Small School Tournament, named in honor of Governor’s legendary coach Larry Piatelli.
For more information, please reach out to Head Coach Brian McGuirk ’04.
Alums in Action:
Jack Farrell ‘23 – Bentley University
Max LaCroix ‘23 – Boston University
Owen Fowler ‘21 – University of Massachusetts Lowell
Jack Pascucci ‘21 – University of Connecticut
Coaches
Coach Profiles
Head Coach: Brian McGuirk ‘04:
Driven to the balance of academic rigor and athletic prowess, McGuirk enrolled at Govs as a ninth-grade boarding student from Danvers, Massachusetts. After choosing to repeat his sophomore year, he spent five years at Govs and earned twelve varsity letters between football, hockey, and baseball. An All-New England and All-League honoree, McGuirk also played for U17 and U18 National Teams and was selected by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. He applied the academic and athletic lessons learned at the Academy to four years at Division I Boston University, playing in 144 games and winning three Beanpot Championships and one Hockey East Championship along the way. Following graduation, he played four years of professional hockey with the Syracuse Crunch and the Kalamazoo Wings. McGuirk returned to Whiston•Bragdon Arena in 2018, eager to give back to the next generation of Governor’s student-athletes as a coach and mentor. He currently serves as director of Top Gun Hockey and manager of the Salem Icenter and loves spending time on and off the ice with his two daughters.
Assistant Coach: Mike Delay P’23,’25
Drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs, Delay played four years of Division I hockey at Boston College. The opportunity to develop life-long relationships with boarding school students, colleagues, and families attracted Delay to Govs. In addition to his role as Boys Varsity Hockey Assistant Coach, Delay teaches history, is a ninth grade boys dorm associate, and coaches JV Football in the fall. He lives on campus with his wife and two daughters.
Assistant Coach: Nick Jacobs
Goalie Coach: Joe Bertagna
With coaching experience in the NHL and the Olympics, Joe Bertagna has spent a half-century as a player, coach, administrator, and journalist in the sport of ice hockey. He started in goal at Harvard before founding the women’s hockey program in 1977 as their inaugural coach. Bertagna has coached for the Boston Bruins and the US Olympic Team and is a member of the Massachusetts Hockey Hall of Fame and Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Hall of Fame. He believes in emphasizing the mental aspects of goaltending while also enhancing goalie technique, positioning, and rebound control.
Game Schedule
Hockey - Boys Varsity
Game Schedule
Opponent | Date | Time | Location | Details | Result | Score | Status |
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vs.
Deerfield Academy
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St. Paul's School | Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | Scrimmage | ||
vs.
Groton School
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St. Paul's School | Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | Scrimmage | ||
vs.
Taft School
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St. Paul's School | Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | Scrimmage | ||
vs.
Proctor Academy
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Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | ||||
vs.
Middlesex School
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Middlesex School | Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | |||
vs.
Thayer Academy
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St. Sebastian's School | Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | |||
vs.
Belmont Hill School
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Belmont Hill School | Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | |||
vs.
Milton Academy
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Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | ||||
vs.
Phillips Exeter Academy
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Phillips Exeter Academy | Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | |||
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All Day
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Cushing Academy | Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | ||||
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All Day
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Cushing Academy | Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | ||||
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All Day
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Cushing Academy | Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | ||||
vs.
The Rivers School
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Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | ||||
vs.
Phillips Exeter Academy
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Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | ||||
vs.
Milton Academy
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Milton Academy | Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | |||
vs.
Belmont Hill School
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Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | ||||
vs.
Groton School
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Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | ||||
vs.
Holderness School
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Holderness School | Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | |||
vs.
St. Sebastian's School
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St. Sebastian's School | Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | |||
vs.
Lawrence Academy
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Lawrence Academy | Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | |||
vs.
Brooks School
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Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | ||||
vs.
Tabor Academy
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Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | ||||
vs.
Thayer Academy
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Thayer Academy | Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | |||
vs.
Noble & Greenough School
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Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | ||||
vs.
Phillips Academy Andover
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Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | ||||
vs.
Tabor Academy
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Tabor Academy | Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | |||
vs.
Lawrence Academy
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Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | ||||
vs.
St. Sebastian's School
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Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | ||||
vs.
Noble & Greenough School
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Noble & Greenough School | Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity | |||
vs.
Cushing Academy
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Cushing Academy | Details about Hockey - Boys Varsity |