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Which New England Prep school would have the nest combination of academics and ice hockey erring on the side of academics. And by hockey I mean not just win/loss but development, hockey "culture", exposure/opportunity etc. F
You're combining things that don't combine. Coaches at the programs that get the best exposure don't see development as their responsibility. Coaches that develop players tend to not get as much exposure. And most of the hockey players at top academic Preps take watered down classes.
You have to decide what's important, and prioritize that.
If your kid is a good enough student AND athlete to be able to choose. Most, candidly, aren't, except in their parents' eyes.
Certainly one could argue, for example, that Yale University is top notch academics and (usually) top notch hockey (2013 National Champions). Lets say on a scale from 1-10 for both hockey and academics, Salisbury gets a 10 for hockey and Exter gets a 10 for academics. Are there any schools that would come close to 20?
For most prep schools, the strength of hockey varies from year to year whereas academics more consistent. What we could do is to pick out the top 10-15 schools by academics first, then compare in hockey. Exeter, Loomis, Milton ?
It's more about what you kid puts into it. You can excel or coast at any school. What's considered "Top" are simply subjective lists for elitist parents to brag about.
Look at the history of the elite 8, big and small 8 brackets and cross compare the schools with matriculations, d1/3 commits, and any other reference point that fires your kid up...there is your answer.
I'd start with Pomfret then probably look at a place like Holderness, maybe Albany Academy and Loomis. All in the running .
Poor Randy. He can’t believe all the money he throws at his kid is not fixing his hockey problem. He doesn’t understand that his kid is still just a ****y hockey player. Keep throwing money at the problem Randy. Hahahaha.
So you don't believe that smart athletes don't exist? Probably because you have never met one. MIT has students that were nationally ranked runners who also happen to be brilliant. Stanford is full of Division One athletes that were Valedictorians at their high school. These people exist.
I think you are getting off track of the question. The question was where would you say is the best combination of academics and hockey. I was very impressed by Groton, Loomis, Deerfield and Berkshire. All of those schools are considered "reach" schools by most as you have to be more than just a hockey player (most not all). I think if you have a kids that is not the best student a place like Winchendon might make a lot of sense. If you have a kid that is a fairly good student and and a fairly good hockey player I think your best bet are the smaller schools Holderness, Tilton, and the like. There are so many options, but the the hard to get into schools are that way for a reason. They provide a lot of both.