'End of an era' as Milton Academy boys hockey coach Paul Cannata approaches retirement

MILTON -- Somewhere amid a pile of papers in a corner of Paul Cannata's cluttered desk in the old Robert Saltonstall Gymnasium building is a treasured souvenir from 20 years ago.

It's a shot chart from a game against Phillips Andover during the 2003-04 season, Cannata's first as the Milton Academy boys hockey coach.

It is not a pretty sight.

"We had one chance on net in the first period and you see this one dot in the corner," Cannata explained with a laugh after a brief search failed to turn up the document. "And we had one chance on net in the second period. I kept it for 20 years. That's where we started."

The Mustangs lost a lot that first winter. Cannata's very first team crawled to the finish line with a 3-17 record, including 0-16 in the Independent School League. Cannata could have been excused for thinking, "What have I gotten myself into here?"

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"It's funny," he said. "I went to North Adams (as an assistant coach) and they were entrenched in last place. I went to UMass-Boston (as head coach) and they were entrenched in last place. I went to Northeastern (as an assistant) and we were entrenched in last place in Hockey East. And I came to Milton Academy and we were entrenched in last place. You generally don't get an opportunity (to take over a program) when there's a championship trophy sitting in the coach's room. When you go into places like that and you're able to build some momentum it's a fantastic experience."

Eventually, things turned around for the Mustangs. So much so that Milton Academy has become a New England power. Over Cannata's time behind the bench the Mustangs have:

Won three ISL division crowns;

Appeared in eight New England prep tournaments, winning the 2011 open-division title;

Boasted more than 60 ISL All-Stars;

Had four players get drafted into the NHL.

"He's built an extremely strong program," said volunteer assistant Neil Hernberg, an ex-Mustang (he predates Cannata's arrival) who lives in Hingham.

Now, however, it's time to turn that program over to someone else. Cannata, a 56-year-old Milton resident, recently informed his team that he will be retiring at the end of the 2022-23 season.

"End of an era, so to speak," said former defenseman Rob O'Gara, who went on to become a two-time All-American at Yale and played briefly in the NHL with the Bruins and New York Rangers. "When I think of Milton hockey I think of Coach Cannata. Obviously, he's done some pretty special things there. He brought a special culture and that wasn't just on the ice; it was how guys handled themselves off of it -- the standard that he held them to and the kind of guys he brought in.

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"I was lucky to have a lot of success with the team there. I'm very thankful to Paul for bringing me to Milton because, it's a little cliched, but it really did change my life. I hold Paul in very high regard."

So do his current players, who were a bit stunned by the news of Cannata's impending retirement.

"I think we were all pretty surprised," said Mason Chen, a senior defenseman from Toronto. "Obviously, he's been here since long before we came, but his status as a coach on the prep-school circuit speaks for itself -- his resume, the teams that he's coached. It's sad to see him go."

"I was surprised, for sure," agreed Jacob Pohl, a senior forward from Chicago. "One of the big reasons I came to play here was Coach Cannata. I liked him more than some of the other (prep-school) coaches I was looking at. I initially felt sad for some of the younger guys who came here to play for him but also grateful that I had a chance to play for him and learn from him for two years."

So why hang up the skates?

"First of all, this has been fantastic -- coming to Milton Academy, coming to this area, raising our children here," said Cannata, who grew up in West Roxbury and played at Roxbury Latin and Hamilton College. "I'm forever grateful. But there was a time to come (and a time to leave). My wife (Laura) and I were just about to have our first child (when I took this job) and now that first child (Caroline) is in college (in Scotland) and a second child (William, a junior hockey forward) is about to go to college and it's a different phase of life. We'll stay involved in hockey. We're just going to do it in a different way and see where that brings us.

"I sort of have a plan, but it could go in four or five different directions over the next two, three, four years."

Going out in style

Cannata's last Milton Academy team is shaping up to be one of his best. Despite losing leading scorer Mikka Kelechian, a senior forward from Canada, to a season-ending knee injury recently, the Mustangs are 14-4-4, and Cannata calls them "one of our historic groups."

They certainly made history back in December by winning the prestigious Flood-Marr Tournament, which Milton Academy co-hosts, for the first time since completing a three-peat in 1982. With sophomore goalie Sam Caulfield, a transfer from Belmont Hill, starring in net, the Mustangs beat Deerfield (7-0) and Phillips Andover (1-0), tied Salisbury (1-1) and then posted a 3-1 upset win over Kimball Union Academy in the final.

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"We really played our best hockey in the second and third periods of the championship game, which was the fourth game in three days," Cannata said. "That's typically a scenario where you almost anticipate that you're going to run out of gas. But this group is resilient and they have a great energy level. We got a little bit of everything, including goaltending. That was great to see."

"I don't think we were considered to be one of the favorites to win that tournament," Chen noted. "I think we bonded well together as a team and came through. Especially with it being Coach Cannata's last season, knowing that now it was really special to send him off with a win."

First-year assistant coach Buddy Mrowka, a former captain from Duxbury, called the title an "affirmation for us as a coaching staff, and certainly for the players, that this team really has a chance to be a threat this year."

Milton Academy was 10-11-2 last winter, but something has clicked this season.

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Hernberg chalked it up to a "better hockey IQ across the board" as well as an improved work ethic. Pohl agreed, saying, "To be honest, I don't think skill-wise we're that much better this year. As a group we've bonded a lot more this year than we did last year. We've really come together."

Pohl said Cannata's impending departure should give Milton Academy "a little more boost" emotionally as the Mustangs chase their final goal -- a bid into the Stuart-Corkery top-tier New England tournament. Think of it as the prep-school equivalent of the old MIAA Super 8. Milton Academy has won it just once in Cannata's tenure, back in 2011. The Mustangs also qualified in 2010, 2016 (lost in the final) and 2018.

"We are vying for that opportunity," Cannata said. "It's the position you want to be in -- to have a shot. That's all you can ask. Just being in the conversation (is big)."

Some darks days

There have been some lows during Cannata's two decades behind the bench, not all of them having to do with game results.

Amid the on-ice problems early in Cannata's tenure, there was the ugliness of a scandal that led to five hockey players being expelled in February of 2005 for allegedly engaging in sex acts with a 15-year-old female student in a locker room.

"Every experience adds up," Cannata said when asked what he had learned from that incident. "You're in it for the good and you're in it for the not-so-good. When you're going to hang around males age 18-24 for 32 years (of coaching), a lot of good is going to happen and they're going to make some mistakes, too. We all learn from it. That's all part of the catalogue of experience."

The program's reputation, which took a big hit in Cannata's second season, has greatly improved since.

Mrowka, who went on to captain the Harvard baseball team and serve as a depth piece on the Crimson hockey team, said Cannata is very particular about who gets the "golden ticket to be a student at Milton Academy and represent the program."

"Even now, being on the coaching side of it and helping (gives tours to prospective student-athletes) and talking to them about the school, he is extremely picky and careful about the kind of person that he brings in to represent the school and him and the program," Mrowka added. "Once you get high-quality people in the team culture, those things take care of themselves. He's made that a priority. That (scandal) was with kids that he didn't necessarily bring in. Once he was able to bring in high-quality people (to build the right team culture) the school has come around to the hockey program as a whole."

Cannata's other painful memory from his two decades in charge came in September of 2021 when hockey player Jake Thibeault, of Fitchburg, was partially paralyzed while playing for his club team. Cannata still gets emotional when discussing Thibeault, although the story has taken a positive turn -- Thibeault was onstage, with the aid of a walker, to receive his Milton Academy diploma, and he's now a freshman at Babson College, where he's helping out the hockey team coaches.

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Last month the Mustangs competed in "Hockey Day in the Burg" -- a combined college/high school tripleheader at Fitchburg State that raised funds for the Thibeault Family Rehabilitation Trust.

"Babson has been a godsend for a lot of reasons," Cannata said. "It turns out that it's one of the most handicapped-accessible campuses anywhere. He's battling. We'll see how this plays out. He's got use of his arms and upper body and a fantastic mind. Great kid, great family."

A 'tall order' for the next guy

What makes Cannata a good coach?

"He's very knowledgeable," Chen said. "He's one of the smartest coaches that I've ever been around."

"He's really straightforward," Pohl noted. "Not only on the bench but in the video room as well. He's not afraid to call guys out. That's what makes us better -- accountability."

O'Gara, now an assistant coach at Yale, agreed, saying, "Coach Cannata was always very honest and that's something that I appreciated. He was very realistic about what he expected from me. An example of that was when I came back for my senior year I was trying to do way too much. We had lost a bunch of guys that had helped us win that (2011 New England) championship my junior year. He kind of brought me back down to earth, and that was really valuable, especially going right into Yale the following year. He's a pretty calm guy so it meant more when he raised his level of intensity. He knew how to pick his spots."

Mrowka, who's working toward a masters degree in analytics at Northeastern, cited Cannata's work ethic. "The commitment and selflessness and everything that he puts in behind the scenes for the players and for the program and for the school is really mind-blowing," Mrowka said. "It's a tall order for whoever's going to step in and try to keep things going after he leaves."

About that ...

"Milton Academy is a top job that I'm sure a lot of top coaches are going to want to pursue," said Hernberg, a 1983 grad who's been on staff for five seasons. "I think that Milton Academy, location-wise, talent-wise, reputation, it's going to withstand the departure of Paul. Yet I'm sure the program's going to miss him dearly."

The feeling will be mutual.

"Every phase of life things are going to change a little," Cannata said. "You're certainly going to miss certain things. I'm actually reading Dan Shaughnessy's book ("Wish It Lasted Forever: Life with the Larry Bird Celtics"). You can't live life backwards, but you wish you could do it all over again. Not just for the hockey but for 100 other things.

"It's been a great life with so many super kids and parents everywhere. It's all been a treat."

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Milton Academy boys hockey coach Paul Cannata ending 20-year run