Amonte talks strategy with his players during a recent Thayer game.
Photo by Dave Arnold
It doesn't rival the significance of the Chicago Blackhawks against the Detroit Red Wings, but the competition in the Independent School League is fierce. The schools in the league are feeder programs to junior hockey leagues and the highly touted Hockey East. Amonte himself played in the Hockey East for Boston University after winning a championship for Thayer, where he teamed with another future NHL all-star, Jeremy Roenick.
Wins don't come cheaply so the Tigers got a boost of confidence when they beat state powerhouse Malden Catholic 4-0 in a mid-season scrimmage.
"We have good periods here and there and then we let off the pedal and then we kind of mess up there and we can't come back from it," said Jimmy Shea, a senior and captain for the Tigers. "So I just think consistency and hard work will help us."
The lingering issue for the players, and the coach, is the rink. It's been an ongoing issue for Thayer Academy that predates Amonte's high school days in the 1980s. But it's coming to the forefront now.
"It does take away from our program," Amonte said. "We're the only school in the ISL without a rink at this current time. We're trying to get one. We're working as hard as we can, diligently over there at the school. That's the other part of my job, being in the development office. These are tough times but we're plugging away and we're trying to do everything we can to make sure that hopefully in the next three to five years we have something started or built on our campus.
"It's a project that just really needs to take place. I think the school recognizes that and I think it's going to come to the forefront here within six months to a year. This is going to be our main project for the school and hopefully we can start raising the funds properly."
In the interim, the Tigers are working hard in a shorter span of time to make up for any lost practice. It's something they're determined to do to not use their lack of a rink as a cop-out for the team's woeful standing.
Said Barry, the sophomore, "We have one of the younger teams in the ISL. We still don't have a rink, but we're working on that. But I think we have a lot of potential."
Thanks to Amonte.
Zuri Berry is a sports writer and producer for the Boston Globe and Boston.com. He's covered high school sports in California and Massachusetts for the past 10 years. You can follow him on Twitter @zuriberry, and reach him via e-mail at zuri@zuriberry.com.
