Sather Era ends for Fairfield Prep hockey: ‘It’s a long time to be doing something’

Head coach Matt Sather said he’d been thinking about it for a while. Associate head coach Rudy Mauritz said he’d almost done it a couple of times. Sather and Mauritz, who along with Pat Ryan and Tim Sather made up the longtime coaching braintrust behind the state’s modern dynasty, have done it, stepping away from the Fairfield Prep ice hockey program. The school announced Sather’s retirement on Friday and posted the job on Sunday. “It’s a long time to be doing something,” said Sather, a Fairfield Prep English teacher who became head coach in spring 1999. “It’s in some respects a full-time job in itself on top of a full-time job teaching. There’s a lot to do, and for that long — I look at it and say, ‘it’s not my job. It’s Prep’s job.’ I was lucky enough to hold it longer than anybody else, but it’s not mine to hold.” The Jesuits were 359-143-22 under Sather. In his 21 full seasons in which the CIAC played a tournament, they won 11 championships. “‘It felt like time’ is probably the right way to say it. There was no big reason but a bunch of little ones,” Sather said. “There’s a sense that things need to be renewed now and again. That includes teams’ leadership, my own life. It felt like the right time.” Mauritz and Sather were teammates in school in the early 1990s and were next to each other behind the bench for almost a quarter century. “Matt and I have been talking about it for some time,” said Mauritz, who was associate head coach. “I think about a lot of fun that was had, a lot of great memories coaching for those 24 years. “It’s been a good amount of time, half of my life, all of my adult life. Taking that season off would afford me more time for my family. That’s something that is needed.” Ryan said Bob Bernier was the one who got the staff together, though Bernier, a longtime leader in the Prep program himself, downplayed that. “Matt came as a teacher,” remembered Bernier, who was on Adolph Brink’s staff at the time. “He wanted to get involved with hockey, and in his first year, he was kind of a volunteer assistant with us. He showed a lot of promise, obviously.” Sather coached the junior varsity the next year, and by the end of that season, he’d become head varsity coach after the school let Brink go with two games left in the regular season. Though that season ended in the CIAC quarterfinals, the next couple of seasons were the first of those 11 titles, leaving Sather tied with Hamden legend Lou Astorino. “It was a magic time,” said Bernier, who had been coaching the junior varsity at Prep but decided to step away himself after this season, a year after a knee replacement. “He takes over, and in his first full year, he wins a state championship, and he wins one the next year.” The Hamden job, coincidentally, is also open after Todd Hall stepped down, meaning a big change for the two programs with the most CIAC hockey championships. Mauritz is Fairfield Prep’s baseball coach with Sather as his assistant. They said they’re sticking around on the diamond. “I would never complain about it, but it was a tough thing, coaching back-to-back seasons,” Mauritz said. “Part of it was a product of our success: The state tournament would run into the start of pitchers and catchers.” And with the season drifting later, it could run into tryouts, too. “I loved it; it was a privilege in some respects to be in that situation,” Mauritz added, “but it was also really tough to be in that situation, too.” In the winter, they’ll leave behind the CIAC’s premier hockey program and over two decades of highlights. “It kind of feels a little bit like a blur, to be honest,” Sather said. “It’s sort of a blurry memory more than any signature memories. There’s certainly a ton to be proud of. At times I tend to fixate more on the other stuff, the regrets you have here or there. They’re mine, not anybody else’s.” mfornabaio@ctpost.com; @fornabaioctp

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