‘Tis the season. Or the preseason.

“It’s Christmas Day for us coaches,” Bishop Guertin High School girls basketball coach Brad Kreick said Monday before welcoming a full roster to the first practice of the 2022-23 season. “You do feel like an 8-year-old kid counting down the days. Before Santa Claus comes you get to open up your presents and play with all the shiny new toys. We’ve got a veteran team, but there’s nothing like Day One. Everybody’s excited, everything is in front of them, lot of optimism….One of those great days.

Yup, plenty of coaches around the area – hoop, hockey, track, gymnastics,wrestling, you name it – went to bed Sunday night likely tossing and turning with excitement and woke up Monday the same way.

The 2022-23 local high school winter sports season is officially underway. Tryouts and practices were held all over the area, athletic directors trying to divvy up gym time for multiple teams, etc.

BG has a field house, so tons of teams could practice, multiple levels of boys and girls hoop. At Conway Arena, the North-Souhegan and South-Pelham co-op hockey teams were on the ice, one at 3 p.m. and the other to follow at 4. Nashua AD Lisa Gingras stopped in to check on things and chat with one of her newest coaches, new North-Souhegan coach Ashton Rome, who has quite a minor league hockey resume as a player.

For Rome, this was a different day than it was for established coaches like Kreick. Kreick knew exactly what he’d see on Day One; it was the exact opposite for a new coach like Rome who hadn’t seen his players on the ice prior to Monday.

“I didn’t know what we had for skill level or talent, things like that,” he said. “I mean, obviously you’re a little nervous, but at the same time, it’s hockey. I’ve been doing it for a long time. So just tried to stick with what I know and see what every player had.”

Let’s hope he liked what he saw from the 20 players or so who were on the Conway ice for an hour, as Rome is the sixth Saber-Titan coach in the eight years of the co-op that is craving stability.

Skaters battle for the puck during the first practice of the season for North-Souhegan hockey at Conway Arena. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Not a problem with BG girls hoop, the area’s winter dynasty of sorts under Kreick the last seven years. But hoop coaches like himself around the area are thrilled to be starting under much better conditions than a year ago, when there was almost a revolt over the condensed season that limited practices because teams were playing three games a week to end the season early, with the finals over before the fourth week of February.

This year? Much better, as things go three weeks later, with the finals on March 12. The experimental pilot program crash landed, as the coaches, etc. were heard.

“I like it, because it gives us much more practice time,” Kreick said. “It gives us roughly the normal amount of practices. You always feel a little bit better about it having more prep time for games.”

While BG won a dramatic final with a Brooke Paquette led clutch rally in the final three minutes over rival Bedford, there was something different through much of the regular season for the Cards. Their vaunted defensive pressure, while effective, didn’t look quite the same.

“It ended very well for us last year, obviously,” Kreick said. “But for the seven years, we had the least amount of stuff scheme-wise here vs. any other year by far. There was just not enough practice time.

“You’ve seen us play. We have normally four or five presses and by the end of the season we’re able to wrap up (teams). We had just two or three last year. We didn’t have enough time to get good at five or six things so we figured to get good at two or three things instead and roll with that.”

Then Kreick chuckled. “Maybe it’s a lesson,” he said, “that we’re all more complicated than we should be.”

The first day of practice/tryouts for the Bishop Guertin girls baketball team Monday was pretty competitive, as the look on Caitlyn Wheeler’s face showed as she tried to go to the hoop. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Monday was a day to see if there were any surprises, although these days with basketball, most coaches know what to expect with the open gyms, etc. during the off-season. Kreick said, though, he’s been surprised a couple of times by a player or two on Day One.

“It’s happened,” Kreick said. “Not often. Every once in awhile, there’s someone you didn’t see coming. It’s usually a freshman, someone you hadn’t seen, and they just kind of blow you away.”

In fact it happened last year when 6-2 freshman Brooke Muller impressed. “You walk into the gym and see a long, lanky kid who with a two foot jump can touch the rim,” Kreick said. “You say, ‘Whoa.'”

That’s what many said when they realized the season ended on Feb. 20 last winter.

“It felt like an eternity from the end of the tournament,” Kreick said, “to today.”

Eternity is now on hold, along with a lot of other things.

Well, season back on. And it won’t be off until mid-March.

For winter coaches, Christmas came a few weeks early.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.