Boys’ JV Hockey Co-Captains John Burt ’18 and Ian Merrick ’18 with the Grim Cup.
A few weeks ago, Choate’s JV hockey team beat Loomis Chaffee. However, this game wasn’t just like any other game for the two hockey teams. The two teams faced off against each other in the annual Grim Cup, whose history goes back a few years.
A few years ago, longtime Boys JV Hockey coach at Loomis, Mr. Jim “Grim” Wilson, announced his retirement. Since Mr. Wilson was retiring, former boys JV hockey coach at Choate, Dr. Benjamin Gardner, created the Grim Cup. Dr. Gardner established the cup to commemorate both his rivalry and friendship with Mr. Wilson and the JV hockey program at Loomis. However, Dr.Gardner never created a standard trophy for the game;instead, he wrote the words “Grim Cup” on an orange traffic cone. Ever since then, the traffic cone has been the official trophy of the Grim Cup. In addition, when Dr. Gardner retired a few years ago, his name was added to the trophy as an honor to his role in the rivalry. Although the former JV hockey coaches are not currently coaching, they live near each other in New Hampshire and keep in touch.
Last year, Loomis won the game for the first time against Choate and received the trophy, so heading into this year’s game, Choate desperately wanted revenge. In the beginning of the game, both hockey teams played evenly. Choate scored first, but Loomis was quick to answer with a goal of its own. The second period was similar to the first period as Choate scored again, but Loomis responded with another goal. However, in the third and final period, Choate dominated. During a span of five minutes, Choate scored three goals, including a goal from junior forward Dan Brockett ’19. Then, Austin Propper ’19 capped off the third period with an empty-net goal, icing the game that ultimately finished six to two in Choate’s favor. After coaching the team to a massive victory, Head Coach Mr. Jesse Minneman said, “At the end of the day we got some solid goaltending, and we showed that we had a quite a bit more firepower at the offensive end. A lot of different guys contributed, both in scoring and defensively, which is always great to see.”
In addition to an important win over Loomis, Choate’s JV hockey team has had an impressive season. They hold an eight-three record with wins against the like of Deerfield, Pomfret, and Taft. John Burt ’18 and Ian Merrick ’18, the only player left on the team coached by Dr. Gardner, are experienced senior captains who have led the team’s younger players. Additionally, goalies James Dunne ’20 and Charlie Tait ’21 have been a reliable duo in the net as they have only let in one goal or less in six of their games.
When asked about how Choate boys JV hockey has played this year, Merrick said, “We are a young team, but a lot of the young players have not had a hard time adjusting from eighth-grade travel teams to high school hockey.”
Mr. Minneman also expressed positivity about how the season is going. The boys have developed some impressive chemistry together. On that topic, he stated, “We’ve got a vibe in the locker room and on the bench. Everyone embraces his role and is super supportive of whoever’s on the ice.”
Choate Boys’ JV hockey looks to carry its momentum from the Grim Cup into their final games and cap off their fantastic season on a high note.
