COLLINSVILLE – One of the area’s top hockey prospects, Collinsville native Hunter Longhi, was recently drafted by the Madison Capitols of the Tier-I United States Hockey League, and will play in the nation’s top tier league this coming fall in Madison, Wis.
Longhi, who previously played for Collinsville High School in the Mississippi Valley Club Hockey Association, played last year for the Springfield Jr. Blues in the North American Hockey League, scoring 12 goals and adding 18 assists for 30 points in 48 games this past season. He didn’t play for the Kahoks in the 2019-20 MVCHA season because of his commitments to the Jr. Blues, but in the 2018-19 season, Longhi was among the league’s leading scorers, with 50 goals and 51 assists for 101 points in the 25-game season.
“I feel great, and I was really excited,” Longhi said when asked about his reaction to being drafted by the Capitols. “I had talked to them before the draft, and I felt very good, they were committed to me, and I knew I would be drafted by them. It was just a matter of what round.”
It turned out to be the seventh round of the draft’s second phase, and when Longhi officially got the call, he was very excited, and is looking forward to playing in a city that has a great hockey tradition, with the success of the University of Wisconsin’s teams, formerly in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, and now in the Big Ten.
“I was super excited,” Longhi said. “We had heard that it was one of the best places to play in the USHL. I have a couple of friends on the team, and they told me nothing but good things about the place. Yeah, the University of Wisconsin is a big thing there, but it bring attention to us as well. I’m extremely excited. It’s going to be a great opportunity.”
Longhi’s mother, Desiree, is very happy for her son as well, and is also excited about Hunter’s opportunity to shine at the USHL level, a league which is considered on the same level as Canada’s top three junior leagues – the Quebec Major Junior League, the Ontario Hockey League and the Western Hockey League.
“We’re really proud of him,” Desiree Longhi said. “He’s really excited, and I hope it all goes well. He’s going to be five-and-a-half hours away from home, but it’s only a car ride away, and his father and I are still going to support his dream.”
Playing hockey has become a full-time commitment for Longhi, and it involves a very structured schedule each day. And it still involves getting schoolwork in as well.
“They get up in the morning for practice,” Desiree said, “then there’s off-ice training, video training, community service and school. And (Hunter) still managed a 4.0 GPA. It’s a lot of hard work and dedication, and we’re very proud of that.”
Before that, Longhi committed to play college hockey at Harvard, which is one of the NCAA’s top programs. He’s very much looking ahead to playing for the Crimson.
“Yes I am,” Longhi said. “Ever since I committed, I’ve been thinking about it in the back of my head. It’s an exciting place.”
And Longhi will also have the chance to play in one of college hockey’s biggest in-season tournaments, The Beanpot. It’s the Boston city championship, where the local Division-I college teams – Harvard, Boston University, Boston College and Northeastern – compete during the first two Monday nights of February at TD Garden, the home arena of the Boston Bruins.
“I’m excited for that,” Longhi said. “I hope to win a couple of Beanpots there. I remember watching the 2016 final on TV (a 1-0 overtime win by Boston College over Boston University). It was just an exciting game that year. That was a great game that year.”
Overall. Longhi is very excited for the chance to play in Madison, and later on for Harvard, and he’s very optimistic about his future in hockey. But he also has a backup plan if things don’t work out as well.
“I’m very optimistic about it,” Longhi said, “and likewise, my college career. I’m looking forward to Harvard. I always focused on making hockey my job, but if it doesn’t work out, I have a really good backup plan.”
And of course, all roads could wind up leading to the National Hockey League.
“You never know,” Longhi said. “That’s the best part about hockey.”
