By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
Nantucket High School hockey has a new face. Kris Marsh has been named the new head coach of the club team, the third head coach in the three-year history of the program which is scheduled to become a varsity team next season.
The 24-year old, first-year teacher at the Nantucket New School is fresh off graduation with a degree in education from New York University in May. Marsh has been coaching hockey since he was 14 years old in New York City and played four years of hockey at the collegiate level. He arrived on Nantucket this summer and has been coaching the Nantucket Youth Hockey Midget team.
Marsh replaces Rand Smith, who coached the team to a 4-8 record last season. Graeden Ambrose was the program’s first coach and chose to take an assistant-coaching role last season.
Every head coach at the high school has a one-year contract and all coaches must re-apply for their jobs each season.
Three individuals applied for the hockey head coaching position this year. Smith, Marsh and State Trooper Jack Moran interviewed with the hiring committee, athletic director Nancy Larrabee said.
Larrabee cited Marsh’s education background as well as his hockey coaching and playing experience as reasons for the hire. The interview committee brought their recommendation to Larrabee for endorsement and then to superintendent Robert Pellicone. The official hire was made the Monday before Thanksgiving.
“Ideally, I want to be part of the program as long as they want me to be around. Being the third coach hired for the position, just shows that the program is growing as well as the coaching. Five years ago when the rink was around, the pool of coaches was slim. As the program continues to grow and more people with hockey experience come to the island, it allows the program to continue to grow,” Marsh said.
Marsh will welcome two new assistant coaches to his team: Dave Bell, who has been involved with the Nantucket Youth Hockey travel program, and Mark Latter, a 2007 graduate of the University of Rhode Island and four-year collegiate hockey player. Mike Nee will also return to the coaching box this season.
Marsh met with his new team for the first time Sunday afternoon, a day before practices were scheduled to begin on Monday. In a letter to parents and players of this year’s high school team, Marsh stressed the importance of personal growth and improvement, communication and teamwork.
“A good coach can communicate with players and their parents easily. Being able to show kids what they are doing wrong on the ice and not have to coach through yelling, but being able to stop a drill during practice and say, this is what you guys are doing. That is one aspect of my coaching that will help me with the program,” Marsh said.
He also recognizes the importance of this season as the last at the club level to the future of a Nantucket varsity hockey program.
“I am really involved in being a part of this community and being a part of the teams that are underneath the Midgets and underneath the high school team. I work alongside (junior Whalers head coach) Steve Theroux at times, and seeing the eighth graders and the seventh graders that are going to be coming up is very important. You can see the talent coming up and working along with them to make the transition from junior Whalers and junior high school hockey a little easier,” Marsh said.
“Hockey recently has gone to a more skill-based, speed-based system.
Hockey has definitely changed a lot from 10 years ago. It is not about being tough, it is not about the hardest check. It is about skill now, it is about speed. I think being recently removed from the college ranks, that plays an important role in showing these kids the level that I come from and showing it to them,” Marsh said.
Marsh has a unique way of describing is own playing style.
“Hard hat and lunch pail. I wasn’t a goal scorer. I was more the second- and third-line player that worked hard. You find your role as a player and you work at that. I was an agitator. I drew penalties. I was someone my coach relied on to get out there and stir the pot up if it had to come to that,” Marsh said.
Marsh started skating at age 3 in the Bronx, where he played roller hockey for the first part of his hockey career. Around age 11 he made the transition to the ice at one of the local skating rinks in Westchester, N.Y. He took his first job coaching at age 14 and has experience teaching hockey to Mites through Midgets.
For the last seven years he has been coaching in the Central Park League at Donald Trump’s Wollman Rink and the Lasker Rink. Marsh also spent time coaching at the all-boys private Browning School and helped to build its program from the ground up. Before he left, the Squirts had won the Central Park League Championship and the Peewee team finished second in their league.
Marsh earned an academic scholarship to NYU where he would continue his hockey career. The American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II Violets finished second in the nation during Marsh’s freshman year, losing in the championship game to Oakland University at Michigan. After two seasons above the .500 mark, they returned to the nationals last winter and finished 16th overall.
Following graduation, Marsh and his wife Lindsay, who he married in October, moved to the island when Lindsay accepted a position working at the Cavalier Gallery. While interviewing for teaching positions on the island last January, Marsh learned about the high school hockey program and decided to interview for the position this fall.
For a full hockey season preview, check back to next week’s Sports section.
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