Athletic Director's Blog

The Prep team travelled to Plymouth, Michigan from January 27-29 to play in the Detroit Catholic Central Showcase. Game 1 was against the 2nd Ranked Brother Rice. LFA started off strong with nice passing play from Luke Hampel to John Greer to James Delia who scored on a breakaway. Brother Rice answered right back on the next shift to tie the game and the 1st period ended all tied at 1. The 2nd period was one that I hope never happens again but it was the difference in the way the guys played this weekend. Three minutes into the period, LFA took a 5-minute major for cross-checking and then 1 minute later took a tripping penalty. One minute after that LFA took another cross-checking 5-minute major and then an interference penalty that put the team down 5 on 3 for almost 8 straight minutes . The penalty killers did an amazing job blocking shots and Charlie Campbell made 2 big saves to kill the entire shorthanded time. When the last penalty ended, Tommy Enrietto broke the puck out and hit

  January 23 - The Prep team started back up at home with 2 games Saturday and one Sunday morning when LFA hosted the MPHL US teams. Game 1 against Shady Side saw a dominant start plus 3 goals called back in the 1st 2 periods. The team had a 3-0 lead after 2 periods but 3 mistakes in 8 minutes allowed Shady Side to come back and tie it up before Will Soloway scored in overtime for the 4-3 win . Tommy Enrietto, Mathieu Fehr and Soloway scored the other 3 goals and Ian Vandenberg stopped 18 shots for the win. Later that night against St Francis, the guys played their best game of the year and came away with a 6-1 victory behind 16 saves from Charlie Campbell. Bradley Ma scored his 1st career goal and James Delia, Owen Hardy, Soloway, Fehr and Enrietto scored the goals. This morning the guys got taught a valuable lesson on why sports at this level requires everyone on the team to come ready to compete. Gilmour was too difficult to handle as an older team that has a considerable siz

  After 28 days without skating... Boys Prep hockey jumped on the ice Wednesday and then took the trip to Gilmour Academy to play 4 league games. Game 1 was a game that, as a former goalie, gave me nightmares. Both teams were flying but LFA had a little too much firepower and handed A21 their only loss of the weekend with a 9-5 win. Charlie Campbell got the win in net stopping 15-20 shots. Will Soloway had the hat trick while Aidan Stubbings, Owen Hardy, Mason Culley, Mathieu Fehr, Asher Goduco and Tommy Enrietto rounded out the scoring. Game 2 the next morning the team kept it rolling with Ian Vandenberg picking up another shutout in the league with 22 saves and a 5-0 win. James Delia scored a big shorthanded goal and Fehr and Hardy each had 2 goals. Game 3 the players hit a wall and had no legs to get the job done and fell 4-1 to Shady Side. Tommy Enrietto had the lone goal and Charlie Campbell stopped 17-20 shots. Sunday morning the kids jumped back on the ice for game 4 against

Darrin Madeley  - I am a former NHL player and Division I, two time 1st Team All-American and 1992 College Player of the Year.  I started working at LFA in 2005 after coaching the USA National Team Development Program (NTDP) where I was part of four World Championships where Team USA won two Golds and one Silver. Prior to retiring, I played for the Ottawa Senators and the San Jose Sharks of the NHL and Detroit Vipers of the IHL.  I also played in Europe with TPS Turku (Finnish Elite League) and Rosenheim (German Elite League). I earned a bachelor’s degree in physical and health education from Lake Superior State University and a teaching certificate (K–12) from Saginaw Valley State University where I graduated Cum Laude. I coach the Prep Hockey and Softball Teams at the Academy. I live on campus with my wife Jennifer and we have two LFA graduates Jenna ’11 and Tyler ’14.

The Prep Hockey team at Lake Forest Academy provides its athletes with an opportunity to develop as individuals while preparing them for the next level of hockey after high school. The players are challenged to achieve academic success alongside improvement on the ice both as individuals and as a unit. The team practices five days a week or so beginning in the fall through playoffs in February. The amount of time that the team spends together forges strong bonds among the players. One of the team’s captains, Will Soloway , said his favorite part about being on Prep this year has “definitely been how close our team is.” He commented how the team is “all very committed” and how “this feels like one of the closest groups I’ve been a part of in my entire hockey career.”  Lake Forest Academy is a member of the Midwest Prep Hockey League, or “MPHL”, with LFA being the only team in Illinois. The other schools in the MPHL are located in Vermont, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Canada. League games ar

There are times as a coach that you know you were dealt a really good hand and these past two years Andrew Poska, Tyler Madeley and I have been given players that understand adversity, loyalty, and character. Last year they stayed loyal but forgot how to play the game of ice hockey the way it needs to be played. When you spend the year scrimmaging against your friends, you lose the intensity and grit that comes with the game. These first four months have been up and down due to understanding the game as well as teams cancelling or not being able to travel the first 6 weeks. This weekend saw it all come together while overcoming even more adversity. The team travelled to St. Catherine’s Ontario Canada for 3 games. Defending MPHL Champions Ridley for 2 and Ontario Hockey Academy for 1 game. The trip started with a 13.5 hr ordeal where the kids got to Buffalo at 130am and crossed the border the next morning. After checking in and then lunch and a quick nap, the kids faced off against Ridl

The Prep team kicked off the MPHL season in Vermont on October 29th and it was beyond what the expectations were going in. On Friday morning, the team squared off with St. Francis out of Buffalo and the adrenaline kicked in quickly. Masen Culley and Mathieu Fehr had 2 goals each and Will Soloway, Ben Snyderman and Owen Hardy had the others. Ian Vandenberg stopped all 21 shots for a 7-0 win. The next stop was Gilmour Academy. The boys played a very nervous 1st period and trailed 2-0. The second period saw a much different team and Scott Daniel scored to make it 2-1. The Caxy’s carried the play all period but could not score on 16 shots and then an unfortunate bounce made it 3-1 Gilmour after 2. Gilmour started the 3rd with a 5 on 3 and converted on a great pass to make it 4-1. That’s when the game turned and for the next 14 minutes the Caxy’s dominated play and came back to make it 4-3 but that’s as close as we got and lost 5-3. Charlie Campbell stopped 27 of 32 shots and Tommy Enrietto