COVID changed so many plans during the infamously memorable year of 2020, and defenseman Charlie Spence was certainly swept up in having to act on his feet last year.
In the end, it was serendipitous, as a full season of playing NCDC hockey for the Boston Junior Bruins has now resulted in his NCAA Division I commitment to the College Of The Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., where he will begin his college hockey career in the Fall of 2022. He will return for a second season with the NCDC Junior Bruins in 2021-22.
Junior Bruins of the NCDC
Originally, the 2002-born Boston native Spence was planning to play his senior season for Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. When that season was canceled, his opportunity to play with the Junior Bruins NCDC season opened up.
“My Split Season [Little Bruins] coach Peter Masters recommended I try out for the NCDC, as he expected the prep season would not be played,” said Spence. “I was with the Junior Bruins for the whole season, and it was a good learning experience. The league was really good, with kids coming from the USHL and BCHL, and it was really good competition.”
Indeed, Spence played 25 of the Junior Bruins’ 42 games, posting a pair of goals and two assists during the regular season. He also had two assists in the Junior Bruins’ six-game postseason that saw them reach the NCDC semifinals. Spence honored the USPHL for its forward-thinking initiative of bringing the entire NCDC down to Florida when the season was in jeopardy last fall due to northeastern U.S. COVID restrictions specifically banning interstate hockey travel between New England states and New Jersey, accounting for most of the NCDC footprint.
“I thought Florida was a great opportunity for everyone to be able to play while other players were at home locked down,” said Spence. “The teams kept adding players and getting better as the time went by. You also had the visibility where a lot of college coaches were at home watching HockeyTV.”
This included Bill Riga, who took the Head Coaching position at Holy Cross after 13 productive and successful years as the Associate Head Coach for a Quinnipiac program that twice made the Frozen Four in his time there, both times reaching the National Championship Game.
Additionally, first-year Holy Cross Assistant Coach Eric Sorenson played his junior hockey for the former Syracuse Jr. Stars, now the Utica Jr. Comets, another NCDC Member Organization.
Fellow Assistant Coach Castan Sommer is a Holy Cross alum and resident of Shrewsbury, located about halfway between the Junior Bruins’ home base in Marlboro and Worcester itself (Riga himself is from Westboro, next to Marlboro). Volunteer Assistant Coach Bobby Butler is a former Junior Bruin, former Junior Bruins Director of Player Development, and veteran of 133 NHL games.
Holy Cross Coaching Staff Familiar With The Junior Bruins
From top to bottom, the incoming Holy Cross coaching staff were all very familiar with the Junior Bruins – two former Junior Bruins, goaltender Thomas Hale and defenseman Michael Higgins, are on the 2021-22 Holy Cross roster. And with its proximity to Marlboro, the Junior Bruins players are very familiar with their closest Division I school and its illustrious space in the game – no one will ever forget when 16th-seeded Holy Cross ousted top-seeded Minnesota in the opening round of the 2006 National Tournament.
“They first reached out to me around the start of [this] August. My Head Coach Mike Anderson put them in touch with me. I went and toured the campus four weeks before I committed. It’s a good spot with good facilities,” said Spence. “In terms of hockey, I like the new coaching staff they put in place. I think they will help change the hockey culture at Holy Cross. In terms of academics, I love the fact you can get a really good education and still play in a Division I program.”
Spence is excited in the meantime to return for another season with the Junior Bruins. The 2019 Dineen Cup Champion Junior Bruins are going to look to bring the Cup back north after the Jersey Hitmen captured it this past March. Along with team goals, Spence has individual improvement goals in mind.
“I want to improve upon my physicality and decision-making – I want to think the game a little quicker because college hockey is a faster pace,” Spence added. “[This summer], I’ve just been working and skating and working out, staying local.”
He has more than a year to decide his educational path on Mount Saint James, but he already has some ideas of where he’ll go.
“I’m sort of undecided right now. I’ll probably go into something related to finance, something with a math degree,” he added.
The USPHL congratulates Charlie Spence, his family, the Boston Junior Bruins, and the College Of The Holy Cross for his commitment.
