Tourney Time
For three of our Wellesley High School winter athletic teams, their seasons were extended as they were able to qualify for the state tournament. The three teams that did so were the boy’s hockey team, the girl’s basketball team, and the girl’s hockey team.
For the girl’s basketball team, they were able to win their first tournament game last night, at home against Duxbury and will face Whitman-Hanson Saturday afternoon, at home as well. The boy’s hockey team, which has been a big story this winter, with their extremely successful season, is playing in their first tournament game Sunday in Bourne, against Milton High School, who the boy’s beat twice this season, both times by big margins.
The final team that made the tournament this winter is girl’s hockey. Unfortunately, their tournament life was short lived as they fell to Newton North in a game that came down to the final seconds. The girl’s though, should feel good that they were able to get into the tournament by winning their last couple of games during the regular season. Both teams that remain from the school in the tourney have a chance to bring home a state championship trophy, and hopefully one of those teams will finish the job and get that trophy.
Red Sox gear up for season
For our hometown baseball team, the Boston Red Sox, another season is starting up this week. This is because pitcher’s and catchers are reporting for spring training in Fort Myers, Florida and the position players are soon to follow. The team has high expectations this season, as they are coming off their second world series championship of this millenium, and they are returning the core of last year’s team.
This year’s team will have to go with a shorter spring training than usual, as the team is going to be opening their season much earlier than usual this year, with two games in Tokyo, Japan against the Oakland Athletics. There are a lot of questions right now about the health of star pitcher Curt Schilling, and whether or not he will be able to play this season. Even if Schilling can not go, the Sox have a very talented pitching staff, which includes Josh Beckett, and Daiskue Matsusaka, who will be entering his second season in the major leagues.
I expect this team to do great things this season, and to compete for their second straight AL East title. In my opinion, the Yankees glory days are a thing of the past and the Sox will now make a push towards becoming as great a team, if not better than the Yankees were in their glory days. Fenway Park will be the place to be this season, and I can assure you it will be a fun season of baseball, and a successful one for our hometown Sox.
Pats Lose
Well, despite all the predictions of a blowout and all the hype of 19-0, the Patriots fell to the Giants last night in what is a very tough loss for us fans. I give all the credit in the world to the New York Giants, who played tremendous football last night and really didn’t let Patriots get in a groove offensively. Obviously, there is next year, but considering all the history, it’s a tough loss and will be tough to overcome.
There are two areas of the Patriots that I want to talk about after last night. First off, is the defense. They could not come up with the stop when they needed to, and allowed to Giants to come right back after the Pats took the lead. My heart though, goes out to Junior Seau and Randy Moss who both wanted to win the game so bad, especially Seau, who may not be coming back next year, and this is a heartbreaker for them.
The second area is the offensive line, which played their worst game of the season. They could not keep the Giants away from Brady and that made a huge impact on the game. All that being said, I once again congratulate the Giants as they really did deserve to win last night. Us Pats fans will get over this, even though it will be extremely tough.
Boys Hockey Staying Course
For our own Wellesley High boys hockey team, this season has been a big success so far. The team’s record currently stands at 9-1-3 with the lone loss coming last Wednesday Norwood. Saturday night the team clinched its second straight state tournament berth with a 4-1 win over Milton at Babson. The team has another home game tomorrow night at 8 pm against Brookline, also at Babson.
Personally I think that this team has a shot to do some great things in the Division 1 tournament which may include winning the state championship. Up until the loss to Norwood the team had been considered to have a chance at a possible Super 8 berth. The Super 8 for those who don’t know is the best 8 division 1 boys hockey teams as decided by a committee. Those teams play in a tournament against each other with the top two teams from the two brackets of the round robin part going to the semi-finals and then the winners of those games going to the finals.
The game that really sticks out to me this season is the Needham game. Not only was it a 2-2 tie but the crowd was amazing. The Wellesley fans all dressed in red and showed their school pride and spirit to the best of their ability. I have seen posts on different high school sports forums I visit who say that it was the best high school sporting event atmosphere that they have ever seen. Hopefully the team can keep their success going and possibly bring home that state title in March for not only the players, but the student body as well.
