Mansfield High has hired former Milford coach Michael Balzarini as its new hockey coach. Balzarini spent the past five seasons as the head coach of the Scarlet Hawks.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” Balzarini said. “I’m excited to stay in the Hockomock. I’ve formed really good relationships with the coaches on and off the ice. I’m glad to be back, and it’s in a different capacity, which is exciting.”
In his five years with the Scarlet Hawks, Milford had a complete turnaround. In the three years prior to Balzarini, the Scarlet Hawks won just six games. In his first four years, Balzarini led Milford to 42 wins, three playoff appearances and the program’s first ever postseason win. Prior to Milford, Balzarini spent six years with Dover Sherborn – the last three as head coach. He has amassed 72 wins in eight years as a head coach.
“We’re going to take it day by day, making sure the players buy into the system,” Balzarini said. “There’s always a learning curve when there’s a new system. But we’re there to teach them, we don’t expect them to learn it overnight. With the core group of players we have coming back, we feel we can be more competitive. We want to bring in a different culture. We’re familiar with a lot of the kids and we know there’s a really good group of core kids come back.”
Milford hockey is set to begin a co-op program with Hopedale/Millis this upcoming season, which means they won’t compete in league play for at least one season. With a coach already in place, Balzarini opted to explore his options. Milford AD Peter Boucher told HockomockSports.com they plan to send four or five players to the co-op with hopes of rebuilding the program and re-joining Hockomock League play in one or two years.
Balzarini replaces Rick Anastos, who had been in the driver’s seat since 2010, at the helm of the Hornets. Mansfield is coming off a 5-10-5 season, missing the playoffs after two straight appearances in the Division 1 tournament. The Hornets had a string of postseason trips to the Division 2 South tournament prior to that.
Balzarini, who played high school hockey at Catholic Memorial, also coaches for the Walpole Express. He coaches the Mite Express and U18 Premier teams this year.
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