Hockey: New coach Adam McHugh, Columbus Academy Vikings fitting together well

Adam McHugh coached numerous young hockey players during his time at the youth level, including Columbus Academy’s Jake Carlin when Carlin was in elementary school.

McHugh and Carlin have been reunited now that McHugh is in his first season leading the Vikings. McHugh, 28, replaced Corey Taber, who resigned after four seasons.

The transition has been progressing well.

“The one thing that we’ve been talking about and that I’m extremely proud about is the resiliency that these guys and girls have,” McHugh said. “There’s no bickering. There’s no fighting on the bench. If somebody makes a mistake, they’re helping each other out on the bench and on the ice. I don’t think I’ve ever coached a team that’s been so supportive of each other.”

A 2011 graduate of Olentangy Orange, McHugh was a forward and defenseman on the Pioneers’ early teams after the school opened in 2008, serving as the program’s first captain.

He previously served as an assistant coach at St. Charles and junior varsity coach at Orange.

Carlin, a senior forward, is excited to again be playing for McHugh.

“It’s been pretty smooth,” Carlin said of the transition. “Not having Corey here has been different, but I like where (McHugh has) taken the team. I like how he’s developing the new kids, getting the program out there to the younger kids. It’s definitely been good. It’s been fun.”

Last season, Carlin had 12 goals and 11 assists.

Seniors Max Walker and Andrew Zaki and junior A.J. Bradley are other key forwards.

Senior Kyle Bernstorf and junior Ethan Kim will split time in goal in place of 2021 graduate Max Crane, who was a four-year starter.

McHugh expects senior Connor Harris and sophomore Lauren Golden to help anchor the defense.

“I think we’ve exceeded expectations,” Carlin said. “The Watterson win (8-6 on Nov. 19) was a big win. We’re going to be a lot stronger than people think we are.”

Taber guided the Vikings to their lone league title, winning the CHC-Blue Division in 2019-20, but they slipped to fourth last season (13 points, 6-10-0-1).

“Our goal is to win our division,” Carlin said. “We definitely need to come out stronger than we were last year. We just need to play our game. We have a lot of motivation and a lot of heart on the team.”

While focusing on success this season, McHugh also is looking to the future.

“We want to create as much interest as possible with the lower and middle schools,” he said. “We are establishing that relationship with the middle schoolers, current high schoolers and our alumni.”

fdirenna@thisweeknews.com

@ThisWeekFrank

COLUMBUS ACADEMY

•Coach: Adam McHugh, first season

•Top players: Kyle Bernstorf, A.J. Bradley, Jake Carlin, Connor Harris, Max Walker and Andrew Zaki

•Key losses: Luke Budzik, Max Crane and Campbell Gwin

•Last season: 8-16-1-1 overall

•2020-21 CHC-Blue standings: Olentangy (22, 11-5), Watterson (20, 10-6), Gahanna (16, 9-7), Academy (13, 6-10-0-1), Worthington Kilbourne (9, 4-11-0-1), DeSales (6, 3-14), Dublin Scioto (0, 0-16)

•2021 postseason: Def. Kettering Alter 4-3; lost to Upper Arlington 4-0 in second round of district tournament

•Outlook: Academy has a new coach as McHugh has replaced Corey Taber, who stepped down after four seasons.

Carlin, a senior forward, had 12 goals and 11 assists last season. Bernstorf, a senior, and junior Ethan Kim will split time in goal in place of Crane, a four-year starter.

McHugh expects Harris, a senior, and sophomore Lauren Golden to help anchor the defense.

•Quotable: “Our goal as a team is to surprise people. Whether it’s shift by shift or game by game, I want people that are watching our games to be like ‘whoa’ and ‘wow’ about the way these kids are applying what we learn in practice into a game situation.” — McHugh

—Frank DiRenna

GAHANNA LINCOLN

•Coach: Kevin Schodorf, fifth season

•Top players: Ethan Brehm, Toni Dejanov, Nate Highland, Nick Hoerig, Brendan Phillips and Deke Travers

•Key losses: Thomas Giles, Colton Heery, Ashwin Kumar and John Warner

•Last season: 14-12 overall

•Outlook: The Lions did not participate in last year’s postseason because of COVID-19 protocols, but they viewed their season as a success after posting their first winning record under Schodorf.

With experienced players returning, Gahanna is looking for even bigger things this winter, including winning the CHC-Blue.

Giles was lost to graduation after finishing fourth in program history in assists (74) and seventh in points (106). Kumar, Warner and Heery also were among the team’s top scorers.

Travers is a sophomore who gives the Lions a defensive anchor at goalie after finishing with the second-best save percentage in program history (.913) and going 11-11 while earning first-team all-league honors.

Brehm is a senior and Highland is a sophomore who are among the team’s top forwards along with seniors Defang Ndematebem, Chase Pry, Morgan Rumpke, Rohan Schmidt, Cole Tiberio and Hayden Waara and sophomores Toni Dejanov and Bennie Hoerig. Highland had eight goals and 15 assists, Dejanov had seven goals and 12 assists and Schmidt had 10 goals and six assists last season.

Nick Hoerig and Phillips are senior defensemen, and seniors Josh Knuckles and Gracie Travers also should contribute on defense.

•Quotable: “I’ve got 10-plus seniors this year and the expectations are high. We expect that we should win the Blue Division this year and (we want to improve) on our 14-12 record from last year. We’ve got a lot of players that came back. This is my fifth year coaching and we’ve got 35 in the program versus 15 my first year.” — Schodorf

—Jarrod Ulrey

NEW ALBANY

•Coach: Matt Buss, third season

•Top players: Colin Appell, Colin Carr, Grayton Grady and Josh Hall

•Key losses: Victor Appell, Brandon Beesley, Zach Blaney, Max Dupler, Josh Haywood and Ian Hoff

•Last season: 4-15-0-3 overall

•2020-21 CHC-Red standings: St. Charles (25, 12-2-1), Upper Arlington (24, 11-3-0-2), Olentangy Liberty (22, 10-3-1-1), Olentangy Orange (21, 10-4-0-1), Dublin Jerome (10, 4-10-1-1), New Albany (5, 1-9-2-1)

•2020-21 postseason: Def. Cincinnati Sycamore 8-1; lost to St. Charles 5-1 in second round of district tournament

•Outlook: The Eagles again are working with low numbers, as they have 14 players for the second consecutive season. Last season’s top two scorers return in senior forward Appell (14 goals) — whom Buss called “one of the better players in the league” — and junior forward Carr (11 goals). Two other seniors are back in Grady (forward) and Hall (defenseman).

Sophomore Nathan Underhill takes over in goal. According to Buss, he took up the position less than two years ago.

Buss is encouraged by freshmen Bryan Bogert (forward/defenseman) and Matan LeFevre (forward), while the rest of the roster consists largely of younger players still learning the game and adjusting to varsity play.

New Albany is in the CHC-White this season after two seasons in the CHC-Red, the conference’s top division.

•Quotable: “We have a young team again and only 14 players, so we’re shorthanded. We just don’t have the numbers this year, so we’re like that little engine that could. We have a good nucleus. We will stay in some games, but it’s a development year. We need to rebuild.” — Buss

—Dave Purpura

This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Hockey: New coach Adam McHugh, Columbus Academy fitting together well