PHS PATRIOTS HOCKEY TEAM HISTORY AND INTERESTING FACTS

 

Portsmouth High School established its varsity hockey team in the Fall of 1986.  26 boys responded to the call for players and the team was organized under Head Coach Frank Stranick.  Practices and home games were held at the Portsmouth Abbey School’s Hockey Rink; an arrangement that continues to the present day.  In that first season, 1986-87, the Patriots played a schedule of exhibition games against various teams from the Rhode Island Interscholastic League (RIIL).  The team accounted for itself very well, even in games with the better teams in the league, and the players were enthusiastic.  Coach Stranick considered the season an overall success, and the team looked forward to becoming a full-fledged member of the RIIL the following Fall.

 

The Patriots Hockey Team became part of the Suburban Division, a modern Division 3 equivalent, and joined the official RIIL schedule for the 1987-88 season.  In its first official campaign, the team had a winning record, with nine wins against eight losses, and made it into the post-season playoffs.  Two players earned All-Division honors for the inaugural season.  Sophomore forward Tucker West was selected to the First Team, and junior forward Thomas Gianetis to the Second Team.

 

Making it into the playoffs that first official season set a precedent that has been repeated nearly every year by subsequent teams.  While records for the very early years of the team are incomplete, it is clear that the Patriots post-season efforts did not lead to the State Championship finals until the 1996-97 season.  In that series, the Patriots finished as the Division 3 Runner-up.  Portsmouth made three more trips to the finals as a Division 3 team, winning the championship in 2001 and finishing as runner-up in 2000 and 2002.  The team moved to Division 2 (at that time called Met B) for the 2002-03 season and has made six trips to the finals in the subsequent years finishing as state champion in 2010 and 2024 and as runner-up in 2011, 2016, 2023, and 2025.

 

From the 2003-04 season through the 2008-09 campaign, Portsmouth had enough players out for the team that it was able to form a junior varsity squad with its own coach, practices and games.  The JV team provided those players who did not make the varsity squad with an opportunity to continue to develop their hockey skills, and to play the game they loved, as they worked toward eventually earning a spot on the varsity.  Following that final JV season, all players  practiced together and were considered to be on the varsity team, regardless of how many games they skated in.  Beginning in the early 2020s the team began scheduling “JV” games for the players who did not have the opportunity to play regularly in the varsity games.  A robust schedule of games, including a number of them with Division 1 JV teams, provided challenging competitions for those future  regular varsity players.

 

Until the 2011-12 season, when Portsmouth joined a girls co-op hockey team with Barrington and Mt. Hope High Schools, the only opportunity for lady Patriots to play the sport for their school, was to join the boys’ varsity team.  Over the years, six young women became members of Portsmouth’s boys’ varsity hockey team, and were regular, on-ice players contributing to the Patriots’ successes.  The squad’s first female player was Dana Dugan, who played in the 1988-89 season.  Eight years later Portsmouth had its second girl on the team, Rosanne Meyer.  Meyer played three seasons for the Patriots, 1996-97, through 1998-99 and was honored by selection to the All-Division Second Team as a sophomore defenseman: her first year on the squad.  Shannon Peckham played as a goalie with the Patriots in the 2003-04 season; she was the only female player who did not play as a defenseman.  Korrie Peckham was on the team the following season, 2004-05, and was followed by Jamie Camara who skated from 2005-06 through 2007-08.  Jill Ethier earned a spot on the roster as a freshman in the 2010-11 season, and skated through her senior year season, 2013-14.  During her sophomore season Jill was invited to join the other Portsmouth players on the newly formed girls’ team.  She opted to continue skating with the boys’ squad and, as such, is the only PHS girl to have played all four years of her high school career on the boys’varsity team.

 

Midway through the 2003-04 season, and continuing through the 2011-12 campaign, the Patriots hosted an event at the Abbey that became a tradition for that short period of time; the annual Coastal Cup Tournament.  Held each year around the Christmas - New Year holidays, the competition was a quick, two-round event with four participating teams: the Middletown Islanders, Mount Hope Huskies, Rogers Vikings and Portsmouth Patriots.  On the first day of competition the teams were randomly paired and faced each other in a qualification game.  The winners moved on to vie for the Coastal Cup trophy in a second game typically played one to two weeks later.  The losers faced each other in a consolation game played just before the championship event.  Besides the tradition of hosting and playing this annual competition, the Patriots made it a school tradition by winning the tournament every year it was held.  Although the team faced serious challenges from the other schools over the years, it rose to the occasion and won every Coastal Cup tournament.

 

The Coastal Cup Tournament was initially conceived as a means to provide an opportunity for Portsmouth to compete with the other two public high school hockey teams on Aquidneck Island, along with the team from Mount Hope.  In the early days of the tournament, Portsmouth played hockey in Division 2 while the other three schools played in Division 3.  As a result, despite being in close proximity to each other, the teams were never scheduled to compete together in league play. The Coastal Cup Tournament, established as a non-league event, provided the means for the Patriots to faceoff with those neighboring schools.  Over the years the other three teams eventually moved to Division 2, as well.  As a result, the Patriots were routinely scheduled to play each of the opponents two to three times during the regular season, with additional meetings possible in the post-season playoffs.  Since the original purpose of the Coastal Cup Tournament was no longer valid, a decision was made to end the contest and to replace it with a new invitational tournament to be conducted in the same format during the 2012-13 season.  The Coastal Cup trophy was retired and replaced with a new award - the Patriots Cup.  The inaugural tournament featured the Patriots and three new teams: the Cranston East Thunderbolts, East Providence Townies, and South Kingstown Rebels.  The new competition was a success, although a long-standing tradition was broken when South Kingstown claimed the championship title.  It was the first time Portsmouth had lost in the finals since it began hosting a holiday tournament. The 2012-13 season was the only occasion in which the Patriots Cup Tournament was played.  In subsequent years the Patriots opted to participate in other holiday tournaments held around the State.

 

The Coastal Cup	The Patriot Cup

 

                                                                                               

 At the start of its 2012-13 season the PHS hockey team reached a unique milestone when Aidan O’Brien joined the team as a freshman.  Aidan, whose father, Mike O’Brien, played for the Patriots during the first two seasons the school had a hockey team, was the squad’s first “second generation” player.  Over the next 13 years the squad continued to have players on the roster each season whose fathers skated for the Patriots in those first few seasons that the school had a hockey team.  In all, seven more boys followed Aidan and four more dads reconnected with their high school team.  A complete list of all the second-generation players and their fathers can be found at the menu item at the top of this page or by following this link.

 

 

The first second-generation players and their fathers

(L-R):  Jake Fagan, Tom Fagan, Aidan O’Brien, Mike O’Brien, Nolan O’Brien, Mike Alves, Mike Alves

 

 

Since the fall of 1986, when Portsmouth first put a varsity hockey team on the ice, only nine men have served as head coach.  Mike Monahan served eight seasons at the helm of the Patriots making him the longest tenured head coach.  During the 2015-16 season he reached a milestone not attained bu any of the other head coaches – 100 wins.  His achievement includes all of his team’s victories in regular season league and non-league games, and playoff wins, as well.  Coach Monahan stepped down as head coach at the completion of the 2016-17 season having accumulated 110 wins over eight seasons.

 

The COVID pandemic had a drastic effect on the 2020-21 season.  The entire regular season was reduced to only eight games played over a slightly more than three-week period, from January 29 to February 21, which was followed by a shortened “one and done” playoff format.  Players were required to wear masks at practices and games and even had them on in that year’s team picture.  Fans did not attend the games.   Despite the difficulties, the Patriots finished third in their sub-division and seventh overall, which qualified for the postseason.  The team ultimately lost in the playoff quarterfinal game.

 

In 2022 the team established a new tradition to honor all those in the PHS hockey family who have served, or are serving, in the military or as first responders.  In celebration of their contributions and achievements, the event is held annually at a home game at the Abbey.  A pre-game ceremony is conducted, including the introduction of a special honoree, and the team wears military themed uniforms in the game.

 

Shane Temple became the Patriots first All-State player in 2024.  The RIIL All-State Team players  historically have been selected each year by the Providence Journal sports writers.  Players are named to either a first or second team.  Traditionally only players from Division 1 teams have been chosen.  It is exceedingly rare for any player from a Division 2 team to appear on the list.  Only in recent years have a few Division 2 players been selected.  Portsmouth’s Shane Temple is the only Division 2 player ever to have been honored as an All-State Player by the Providence Journal twice – first in 2024 and again in 2025, both times as a second team forward.  In 2024 the RIIL Hockey Coaches Association began producing its own list of All-State players.  Like the Providence Journal the coaches’ selections were primarily from Division 1 teams.  In 2025 the Coaches Association named Shane as a First Team All-State Forward.