By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

Growing up and playing hockey in Franklin, a town where the high school has been a division one powerhouse on the ice for many years, made Jason Kuphal’s decision where to attend high school difficult. Eventually, Jason felt he made the right decision when he took his skills to Tri-Country Regional Vocation High School, also in Franklin.

“Living here in Franklin and deciding to go to Tri-County was a tough decision for me,” Kuphal said. “Franklin had a real good division 1 team, but I felt that it was a far better situation going to Tri-Country, where I would be able to learn a trade and get my diploma while also playing hockey.”

Second-year Cougar Coach Steve Smith is glad that Kuphal made the choice to come to Tri-County.

“As one of three captains on the team, he is the leader of the three. He is a true leader on and off the ice,” Smith said. “He leads us in all of our drills, and here at Tri-County we have a hierarchy, and the captains are responsible to bring the underclassmen up to speed while helping them both on the ice and in school. I can’t say enough about Jason. Everyone looks up to him.”

As a senior, Kuphal is a three-time captain for the Cougars; something that he takes very seriously.

“When our senior captain left during my sophomore year, I was voted in by the players to replace him. Being named a captain as a sophomore was difficult, because although they voted me in, I was still only a sophomore and an underclassman,” Kuphal said. “By my junior year, I was much more comfortable, and now, as a senior who has been in the position for three years now, everyone understands what I expect from them.”

Kuphal got involved with hockey, because he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps (he played hockey at Blue Hills).

“I wanted to follow in his tracks,” Kuphal said. “Hockey is a contact sport, and I tried playing basketball and baseball, but there is nothing like having a stick in your hand and getting physical on the ice.”

As a youngster just getting started, Jason went through the basics of learning how to play hockey, but his father wanted him to start out playing defense before he got to shooting the puck and trying to score.

“My father wanted me to learn how to skate backwards before I had anything to do with offense. Originally, I was upset with his decision, but now I am thankful and appreciative that he had me do it,” he said. “It was tough and not easy for a young hockey player; you want to a score goals, not play defense.”

After playing defense for 3-4 years, Kuphal was finally able to make the transition to the offensive side of the ice. He noted that as a defender, you get your occasional chances to score, but your main priority is to protect the house. As an 11-year-old winger, he was finding the transition to be a bit of a struggle.

“Having played defense for all those years, I realized and understood why things were being done the way they were,” Kuphal said. “You just have to trust your teammates, but at times, my instincts would take over, and I was helping out on the defensive end of the ice.”

When he eventually got the opportunity to play offense, his coaches were looking for him to play center, but he wanted no part of that position. To Kuphal, center is just an extension of the defense, and he already had his share of defense. He had a lot of catching up to do to get his offensive game up to speed, so he wanted to play wing.

Although now playing offense, the Tri-County senior doesn’t consider himself to be a goal scorer – he would prefer to pass the puck and get the assist. He has gotten his share of goals but finds it much more rewarding to dish the pass to one of his teammates and see them have the success of scoring.

Four years ago, Kuphal found himself to be a young, intimidated freshman when he first came to Tri-County and laced up his skates for tryouts, but things have changed over the years.

“Tryouts were at 6 a.m., and there definitely was some butterflies and a lot of bigger kids than I was used to playing with. I was used to kids my own age, and now I was going up against kids up to four years older and much bigger than I was,” he said. “Things passed as soon as I got onto the ice, and after making varsity, I found myself on the second line. I believe I had a goal my first game, but I wasn’t going all out. I was easing into my new role on the ice as well as my schooling.”

Last year, Smith took over the TC hockey program and upped the morale of the players. 

“We had been losers for such a long time, we all knew that it was a reality, but under a new coach, we wanted to strike at the opportunity and try to turn things around,” he said. “Our first game under Coach Smith was against Attleboro, a division 1 team that was very intimidating, but coach had us believing in ourselves, and we went out and go the win. That win just set the tone for the rest of the season.”

Under Smith, the Cougars went 11-6, posting their best season in nine years and earned themselves a trip to the Division 4 State Tournament. Unfortunately, their first game was against the number one seed, Winthrop, and they were sent home immediately, but it was a playoff game, nonetheless. 

Getting to the tournament was a special moment for the Cougar hockey team, Kuphal noted, but a learning experience, as the thousands of people in the crowd had an effect on the players. 

Third-year captain Kuphal hopes that he can help guide his team back into the tournament with better results this season. In order to get there, TC is going to have to take their game to the next level and beat some of the teams that they lost to last year. 

“We practice at 6 a.m. three times a week and are in the weight room another day while watching film on our opposition the last day,” Smith said. “We are trying to grow the program here at Tri-County; it’s a new culture to the hockey program.”

Individually, Kuphal wants to have fun during his final season on the ice. Although he likes to score, he is looking to having a season where he can get as many assists as he can.

“I had my time, now it’s their turn,” he said. “As a senior I will not be here next year, so they need to take their game to the next level to keep the program trending in the right direction.”