AAA Hockey

Rich Brande is a proud graduate of South Kent School’s Class of 1988. Following his prep career at South Kent School in Connecticut and collegiate career at the University of Connecticut, he played in the minor professional ranks before embarking on his coaching and player development career. 

Brande began his career coaching ice hockey at North Adams State College. He then made his first return to the Hillside as the Director of Admissions while also teaching and coaching ice hockey for four years. He went on to lead the Admissions team and become Head Women's Ice Hockey Coach at the National Sports Academy in Lake Placid, NY. While there, Coach Brande also worked with the US Women's National Team and, in 1999, became the Assistant Women's Hockey Coach at the University of New Hampshire.

In 2003, Coach Brande returned to South Kent School where he oversaw enrollment management and external affairs, leading the transition and development of the South Kent Selects Hockey Academy. In 2013, Brande and his family moved to Boston, where he embarked on a successful consulting career, working extensively with international students and families. Coach Brande continued to be involved with coaching and player development, placing many U.S.-based and international student-athletes in colleges and boarding schools. In the spring of 2023, he returned to the Hillside once again to lead the newly launched AAA team.

Dillon Duncan '04 joins South Kent School as the Director of Constituent Engagement. Duncan is a graduate of South Kent School, where he also started his hockey career. He went on to play USHL hockey for the Lincoln Stars, Division 1 Hockey for Mercyhurst College, and then played professionally for two years. Duncan earned his degree from Western Connecticut State University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance, Investments, and Markets.

Duncan returned to the Hillside as an intern during the 2008-2009 academic year, first to teach AP Economics and Finance and coach hockey and lacrosse. He later became the Co-Director of Admissions and Director of Enrollment. Following his time at South Kent, Duncan became Associate Director of Admissions, Assistant Director of Financial Aid, and Director of Constituent Relations at Kent School. In more recent years, Coach Duncan has helped to manage a small educational consulting company and owns Benchmark Hockey LLC, an ice hockey camp that manages 250+ campers each summer.

Jason Lefevre is in his second season at South Kent School and first season as Assistant Coach of the AAA team. Originally from Rome, NY, Lefevre played prep hockey at the Hotchkiss School and was the captain of his team in his senior season. After finishing his prep school career, Lefevre played Division 1 hockey at Colgate University.

Following his playing career, Lefevre spent ten years coaching in the College ranks and nine of those years coaching at his alma mater, Colgate University. He worked primarily with the goaltenders and forwards and traveled extensively, recruiting and evaluating student-athletes across North America. Before returning to Colgate, Coach Lefevre worked as an assistant coach at Utica College for one season.

Coach Lefevre was instrumental in the development of Colgate’s goalies. One of those goalies, Mark Dekanich, signed with the Nashville Predators and played over 300 games of professional hockey between the NHL, AHL, KHL, and ECHL. Lefevre also founded Colgate University’s first-ever all-goalie school in the summer. Over the course of ten years following his playing career, Coach Lefevre worked with goalies in the central New York area. He trained and developed over 40 future NCAA and professional goalies. One of those goalies, Andy Iles (Ithaca, NY), played for the USA Hockey National Team Development Program (NTDP) and Cornell University.

Ross LeBlond joined the Hillside in 2022 as a Golf Coach and Humanities Teaching Fellow from Mount Holyoke College, where he is currently pursuing a Master’s degree. He joined the coaching staff of South Kent’s new AAA Hockey team in fall 2023. As a native of Cape Elizabeth, Maine with a father who played D1 Hockey at Boston University, Ross grew up with hockey in his blood. He fell in love with the sport by watching the Portland Pirates, an AHL team near his childhood home, whose players inspired him to study the sport deeply, become a hockey player himself, and work hard to improve. 

The hard work paid off for Ross, as he became the starting goalie for Cape Elizabeth High School, earning All-State honors in Maine. He helped his team go to the state championship before losing to Lewiston by a goal. After Cape Elizabeth, Ross did a postgraduate year at Hebron Academy, where he fell in love with the boarding school environment and decided to make it a part of his early career path. Ross earned a Bachelor of Arts in History from Nichols College, where he was also a four-year member of the varsity golf team. 

In 2022, Ross began his hockey coaching career with Northwest Connecticut Youth Hockey’s Intro to Hockey program. Coach LeBlond looks forward to setting high expectations for the student-athletes he works with in the classroom and on the ice. Outside of coaching and teaching, Ross spends most of his free time golfing, reading, and traveling as frequently as possible. 

Coach Bonis has extensive experience with both hockey and athletic conditioning. He played both at Proctor Academy and in the Eastern Junior Hockey League (EJHL). He is a USA certified swim coach, lifeguard, lifeguard instructor and is the Connecticut Trainer for Heroes of Tomorrow, run by former Navy Seal Stewart Smith.

Coach Bonis was a competitive cyclist and now competes as an open water swimmer, conquering the 2018 Lake Champlain Open Water Race and the 2019 Peaks to Portland open water swim. Whether it is climbing the tallest peak in the Rocky Mountains, swimming across the largest lake in New England, clinging to a rock face, or pushing impressive weight in various directions, Coach Bonis has spent the better part of his life connecting with people through fitness. 

Coach Bonis has a Bachelor of Science degree in Community Health and has taught anatomy, physiology and philosophy. He has been mentoring student-athletes both inside and outside the weight room at South Kent School since 2005. The classes he has taught, as well as the training programs he has designed, always take the mind and body connection into account. An excellent motivator, Coach Bonis knows that it takes self-reliance to accomplish anything, “Working out is not always the hardest thing, it’s sometimes just getting to the gym that is the most challenging part.” 

Ryan Goodliffe joined South Kent School as the Assistant Hockey Coach/Goalie Coach in 2023. Born and raised in Brewster, NY, Goodliffe became a goaltender at a young age. Goodliffe played three years of Junior Hockey and, in 2023, signed a professional tryout contract with the FPHL Elmira Mammoth.

Goodliffe has spent the last year coaching for Prime Goaltending, training young goaltenders to enhance their skills. Previous to working as a goaltending coach, Coach Goodliffe worked with equipment suppliers as a Goalie Sales Assistant for Wesco Sports and as a Customer Service Representative for Cooke’s Skate Supply. 

Coach Goodliffe joins South Kent to continue to inspire and develop young athletes so they are prepared for the next level. In his free time, he enjoys the health and fitness space.