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Forward Duo Dominates in EHL Premier Division

By usajuniorhockey.com, 12/27/16, 7:00AM EST

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Andrews and McPherson Leading the Boston Jr. Rangers

TEWKSBURY, MA -- The first meeting of Johnny Andrews and Mike McPherson may very well have taken place in the same setting where the game of hockey was born – on a frozen pond.

“We had mutual friends from select [youth] teams, and I played pond hockey with him a few times, but we didn’t know each other until high school,” said McPherson.

Those meetings presaged a great hockey partnership, which turned into a Hull-and-Oates combo that has helped lift the Boston Jr. Rangers in the Eastern Hockey League.

McPherson, a ’97 from Somerville, Mass., and Andrews, a ’96 from Wakefield, Mass., have been teammates for six years and linemates for five. The pair torched the competition in the EHL Elite Division during the 2015-16 season, scoring 100 points (regular season and playoffs) apiece.

This year, they are first and third in EHL Premier scoring. McPherson leads with 42 points, and Andrews is third at 39 points.

“It’s just a chemistry that you can’t really explain,” said Rangers Premier head coach Rich DeCaprio. “Johnny knows where Mike is all the time. Johnny does a lot of the grunt work. He has great hands, he protects the puck and knows how to block out guys in the corner. Mikey gets all the goals, but Johnny’s very skilled, too. He has very silky hands.”

“Mike knows how to get open, he knows where to go,” added DeCaprio. “Mike is a goal-scorer, 50-plus last year in 40 games. You knew it would translate a little to Premier, but didn’t know it would be a goal per game.”

The two got to know each other at Matignon High School, a private Catholic school in Cambridge, Mass. Although they were both teammates on the varsity team as freshmen, it wasn’t until sophomore year when they were paired together for the first time. A year later, the scoring combination helped lift Matignon to its first state tournament appearance in nine years.

“We clicked, and we’ve been in pretty much every game together since sophomore year,” said McPherson.

“I had met a couple kids who were going to Matignon, and one of my old coaches went there. It was a nice, small school and I got to know everyone,” said Andrews. “The hockey wasn’t the best, but we brought it up. Mike and I communicated well, and we got along on and off the ice and became good friends.”

Together, after their 2015 graduation, they made the decision to go to Rangers tryouts while weighing college decisions that did not involve hockey. Although they didn’t make the Rangers’ top team, they would commit to getting better during a year with the junior developmental team in the EHL Elite.

“The [Breakaway Ice Center] is nice, and we would get a lot of ice time. With coaches Rich and [Ryan] Blair, it’s easy to develop,” said McPherson. “It was nicer to go from high school to Elite and then to Premier. The Elite Division was a little faster and the players were a little bigger.”

“I had to pick up all aspects of my game,” Andrews added. “It was definitely a good feeling – we won the Elite championship and broke a scoring record.”

Climbing the ladder

The McPherson/Andrews duo had done all they could at that level, so nothing was keeping them from a promotion. Neither was anything handed to them.

“The Premier Division is definitely faster and more physical, and there’s a little bit more talent,” added Andrews. “In my Elite season, I weighed 232 pounds, so I had to do a lot of work during the off-season and I got down to 210. I needed to get quicker and more mobile.”

DeCaprio told the pair they were in for a whole new game when they moved up this year.

“I told them, coming in, that they were not going to be able to play the same way at the Premier level. You’ll get burned,” added DeCaprio. “They’ve done a good job, and they’re really focusing on the defensive side of the game. As a center, Mike definitely gets in there in the corners and he’s done a good job of supporting the defensemen.”

The two players don’t just get the job done on a pure skill level. They also both display strong character and the necessary mix of self-respect and self-motivation at this level.

“They’re good kids. They care and they want to win. You can yell at them and get on them,” said DeCaprio. “Johnny cost us a goal in a recent game. I let him have it in front of the bench and in the locker room. I know he can take it and he responds. He ended up scoring the overtime game-winning goal in that same game.

“Johnny and Mike do not get special treatment – they may even get yelled at more than anyone else.”

All of this is part of the preparation for the intense accountability at the next level – NCAA college hockey – to which both are no doubt headed. Neither has made his commitment yet, but both have Division 3 options on the table.

McPerson may not even be done with his junior hockey career after this year.

“I’m talking to Tufts, Amherst and SUNY-Brockport. I’ve also talked to Coach [DeCaprio] about some Tier-2 teams and maybe doing a tryout in the USHL to try and get to a Division 1 school in the Atlantic Hockey Association,” McPherson said.

“I obviously have to go to school next year,” said the ’96 Andrews. “I’m looking for the school that suits me academically. I’ve talked to a lot of ECAC West teams, especially Elmira. My No. 1 school is UMass-Boston, but I haven’t heard anything from them.”

He figures that before next year, he needs “to cut a little more weight and get quicker and stronger.”

McPherson’s to-do list before college hockey includes cutting down on mental mistakes and playing better defensively.

“Honestly, they just keep playing the right way. They’d started to get frustrated two or three games if they hadn’t scored. I told them ‘you’re not going to be able to score every game in college,’” said DeCaprio. “Don’t get frustrated. Take the hits and roll off the hits.”

While they work towards their college goals, they continue to work better together as well as with new linemate Mike Forman. The NAHL veteran came on in late November and helped the Rangers go 7-1 in December, including five overtime or shootout wins. McPherson and Andrews were responsible for all of the overtime goals, and Forman assisted on each.

“It was good adding Forman to keep Andrews and McPherson playing the way they’ve been playing,” said DeCaprio. “We were also able to move their former linemate Blake Bride to a new line with Henry Cormier and Kyle Galloway and that line is heating up.”

A hockey partnership made five years ago simply continues to make life better for whichever hockey team they’re suiting up for. Andrews, McPherson and DeCaprio are all glad that team is the Boston Jr. Rangers.

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