Success at the Berkshire Jamboree has the school’s hockey teams feeling optimistic about its prospects this season.The hockey program welcomes new head coaches for both varsity teams - Ms. Kelsie Fralick ’11, instructor in Latin, returns to the school as the coach of Girls Varsity Hockey, and Mr. Mike Doyle, Associate Director of Admissions, joined this year as head coach of Boys Varsity Hockey. Previous head coach Mike Traggio ’91 remains with the team in an assistant role and continues his job as director of the Mars Athletic Center.

The Berkshire Jamboree was one of the first opportunities for the teams to play together this season. The Jamboree is an annual pre-season tournament held with several nearby prep schools. Coach Doyle said, “The goal for the Jamboree is to put players in situations they may be uncomfortable playing. We want to give players an opportunity to showcase what they can do, but it is also an opportunity to learn from our mistakes, since the games do not count. It is also a chance for us to try some different plays without anything to lose, so we can be prepared and confident heading into the season opener.”

Boys Varsity Hockey played against Berkshire and Trinity-Pawling on November 28 and Girls Varsity Hockey played against Berkshire, Williston, and Frederick Gunn on November 30. Boys Varsity defeated Berkshire 2-0, and tied 0-0 against Trinity-Pawling. Michael Buenzow ’24 said, “After a losing season last year, the Jamboree was a good way to start the season. It gives us confidence going forward.” With a stronger defense this year, the team is looking to improve upon last year’s record and come out stronger overall.

Girls Varsity had a strong showing, defeating Berkshire 2-0, Frederick Gunn 3-0, and losing to Williston 0-2. The Jamboree was the first opportunity for Coach Fralick to see her team in-game, to help her get a better sense of its strengths and weaknesses going into the season. She said, “You can try to emulate gameday feelings, but there’s nothing like facing people you don’t know and showing them what you’ve got.”

Coach Fralick hopes that her team will have a strong culture of hard work, respect, and joy. She said, “I think those three things will be crucial, not only to our outcomes on the ice, but to our growth as human beings, and I’m in the game of creating great people as well as great hockey players.”

Both coaches have ambitious goals for respective teams, and the Jamboree was a good opportunity to begin to work towards them.