GLax as they are informally titled has been having one of the best seasons of the spring sports teams at HHS and they’re still going strong. Heading into tonight’s senior night, the team has a record of 9-3-2. The senior class has been a strong one, made up of Sydney Lambert, Marissa Nimeskern, Holly Welch, Hannah Mischler, Hannah Joy, and Liz Gallagher. If you’re around tonight, go send them off with a large crowd.

The team has a very good record and are near the top of the Patriot League. They have had some great wins, like one over Patriot League Fisher rival Scituate. They have had some tough losses like the one to Norwell, the top team in the region. And the good competition will keep on coming, as they face Marshfield today, Cohasset on Thursday and Sandwich next week.

The team has been firing on all cylinders mostly, but Senior Captain Sydney Lambert had a few that stood out to her. “(Sophomore) Jenny Rosinski has been playing well and is going to be a huge asset the next couple of years. (Junior) Emma Devine is doing well on defense and is a very good transitional player, (Junior) Brielle Prouty is a really hard worker and has been moving the ball well.”

Prouty, as well as fellow Junior Chachie Smigliani, are actually both committed to play division 1 lacrosse, at Liberty University and Bryant University, respectively.

Despite a great record, the team isn’t in line for a league championship and it’s tough when you have to face top teams like Hingham and Norwell annually. Still, the Indians have already qualified for the tournament and look poised to keep their season going strong.

The Indians’ Softball  team has a good mix of seasoned veterans and inexperienced players, which has gotten them off to a reputable start. Despite quite a few tough losses, the team’s talent and determination should help them rise to the top as the season progresses. With the help of colleague and team ace Callie MacDonald, here’s a look at how the season has been going.

The team is 7-3, a very good record when you take into account the difficulty of the Patriot League. They have had some really tough losses in extra innings games where, if a couple things had gone their way, they would have been victorious. According to MacDonald, their toughest game was against Middleboro. The game went 10 innings and they eventually fell to the Sachems 5-3. It was tough because after 10 innings in softball, an international tiebreaker is used. The international tiebreaker is when the each inning kicks off with a runner starting on 2nd base for the team batting.  Middleboro is a big rival when it comes to softball so it was a tough loss, but the Indians will get another crack at them.

Hanover has had some big wins as well. According to Callie, a somewhat recent victory over Whitman-Hanson was their best and most memorable win. “The game started off terrible,” she said. “We gave up a lot of hits and errors, leaving us down by seven.  We didn’t let that get into our heads.  We pulled it together and won in the last inning, 11 to 9.” The Indians have shown great resiliency all year and in this game it payed off for them.

A lot of team members are playing some great softball right now. Callie and Lindsay North have been leading the way at the plate, both hitting .670 coming into the week. They have been strongly reinforced by co-captains Steph Spitz, who has been good at the dish and in the field, and Kayla McMahon, who has an incredible three grand slams on the season, including two  in one game. Caroline O’Rourke has been good behind the plate this year, allowing very few past balls while having a quick pop time.

The toughest stretch of the year is behind the Indians and they came out of it in good shape. The team  has a good chance of making it into tournament play.

Photo by William Wassersug @scifisportsguy via Twitter.

The Boys Lacrosse team lost a great amount of talent when the Class of 2014 graduated. Coming into this year with some uncertainty, the team is off to a good start and hopes to stay consistent.

The team is off to a 3-1 start and in the “last 10 out” portion of the ESPNBosotn.com poll. Their lone loss comes from perennial juggernaut Duxbury, who, at #3 in the ESPNBosotn.com poll, is an “underachieving” 13-5 at home. They started off the season with a weekend win up on the North Shore vs. Hamilton-Wenham. It was a low scoring affair and Hanover came away with a 5-4 win against a good team. They came back the following Monday to face the Hull Pirates in a non-league home game. The tribe won 9-8, but members of the team acknowledged they didn’t play their best and should have done better. They kicked off league play vs. Silver Lake. Let’s just say this, Silver Lake is definitely a baseball school. The Indians blew them out by a dominating score of 18-3. After that came the Duxbury loss, which was an anticipated result.

The team has a good mix of players from all four grades and are getting contributions from everyone. Noah Clapp, after a stellar hockey season, minds the net for Lacrosse and has been off to a good start. Among the D Poles helping him out are Christian Sarruda and Joe Byrne, who are both doing well. In the midfield, the Indians use a wide cast of players to carry them. In terms of attack, Senior Tom Martin and Freshman Neil Calkin have been playing very well.

The team still has a tough road ahead with a solid Patriot League that includes excellent teams like Hingham and Scituate as well as D3 powerhouse Cohasset (#7 in the ESPNBoston.com poll) . If Hanover wants to get anywhere in the postseason, they’ll have to get by Cohasset and/or #9 Dover-Sherborn, two teams that have been big roadblocks for them in the past. The team will continue to get better as the season goes on and are fully capable of having a great year.

The Red Sox opened their season by making a strong statement. The team combined for six home runs, one of them a grand slam, to crush Philadelphia 8-0 Monday, souring the Phillies’ home opener. Clay Bucholz was nearly unhittable on the mound. With the game, the team seemed to say “we’re back and we’re ready to win.”

The Sox currently ranked 8th on The Bleacher Report for MLB rankings, due to the off season additions of Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez. Pitching was a concern after they failed to resign Jon Lester. Another blow came when catcher Christian Vazquez went out with the season-ending Tommy John surgery. They were forced to call up top catching prospect Blake Swihart.

Overall, I feel we will have a decent season and make it to the playoffs but will be  up against tough odds to make it to the World Series for the 4th time in 11 years due to the pitching problems. The only way we have a chance of getting to the World Series again would have to be a huge blockbuster trade for a superstar pitcher, which doesn’t seem likely.

The season continues today with another game in Philadelphia. The Sox home opener is Monday, April 13.

The incredible amount of snow this winter has been a real thorn in the side to spring sports everywhere. Some of the problems are fading but the damage has been done. The MIAA has pushed back the end of the regular season by a week for every sport except Track and Field, which only got pushed back to May 28th. Many programs have felt the struggle along with Hanover.  But at HHS, things are finally starting to get underway.

The boys lacrosse team spent much of its first week offsite at an indoor turf facility. They got into action this weekend with a 5-4 win north of Boston at Hamilton-Wenham. They followed it up with their first home game Monday afternoon with the turf finally clear, knocking off Hull. Last week, three Hanover teams went on the road to start their seasons as well. Boys and Girls tennis, who usually play opposite of each other, both went to Duxbury where they came up short. Girls lacrosse went to Quincy and got a W on their record. Five tennis courts are cleared as well as the turf so all of those teams should start to have home contests soon.

Track and Field has been pretty limited thus far by the snow. The team has been doing most of its stuff out in front of the school. They have already had one meet postponed. They haven’t been able to practice their field events and haven’t done much of anything on the actual track. Hopefully, they won’t be too rusty when they finally  start.

As for Baseball and Softball, a brand new indoor batting cage donated by HYAA has helped but both teams spent have spent a lot of time cooped up in the gym so far. Just recently, both teams have started to use portions of the turf and some of the front fields to get some work in. Both teams had all their games last week postponed. Softball travels to Plymouth North Wednesday (4/8) for its first game and baseball will take the diamond for games next week.

Rugby has been inside the middle school gym for the most part. With the turf now open, they will hopefully get outside some more. However, they operate on a very different schedule than the rest of spring sports.

The winter cleaning has been pretty tough, but Mr. Hutchison has done an excellent job getting things ready. He cleared all five of the open tennis courts almost entirely by himself. He had quite an innovative method going with the turf, where the use of many huge tarps laying face down has led to more melting and opened up patches until it has reached a point where the entire playing field is clear. Things will get going full throttle around here soon and hopefully the spring weather will cooperate so that the rest of the season can go on without a hitch.

Cover photo by Patriot Ledger

HHS has added a new sport for the Spring season: Rugby. The idea came about last spring and was spearheaded by seniors Stephen Cockey and Seamus Boutin. The talk around it cooled after school ended and there wasn’t an expectation it was going to be added as a sport. Then this winter, word came that should the team get enough members, it would be added as a spring sport. Cockey, Boutin and others scrambled trying to recruit every able-bodied  male in the school. They cut it close numbers-wise but they have a team nonetheless.

The team draws from all four grade levels and it will be interesting to see how they do. Cockey and Boutin will be two of their key players. The other Boutin brothers, Freshman Rian and Junior Colin, will be important as well. Freshman Oliver Manser, Junior Pete Crowley, and Senior Jeff MacDonald have shown they’re going to be assets as well. Their ace is Junior Padraic McDonough, by far the most experienced and knowledgeable rugby player in the school. He will have to play of huge part of any success they have. The team went with some school staff members for a coaching staff. Mr. McLean, who was a long-term sub last year, and now teaches at Hanover Middle School, is the head coach. He is assisted by our vice principal Mr. Galligan, who is an experienced player, and by Padraic McDonough’s father.

The team has spent much of its time practicing in the gym at HMS while they waited for the turf to be clear. They don’t have a complete schedule in place, but the first game is set to be scheduled this week so that should probably take place in two weeks, according to Stephen Cockey. The team has complete autonomy over their schedule and may play in several tournaments as well sevens rugby, where each team has 7 players on the field as opposed to the usual 15. There is no Patriot League for Rugby, although some schools have programs. It’s just their first year and right now they’re officially classified as a club, but hopefully this year marks the beginning of a bright future for Rugby success here at HHS.

The NCAA tournament kicks off today after another exciting College Basketball season.  The last two days have been play-in games, where low-ranked conference champions vie for a spot in the tourney. On Tuesday, Hampton beat Manhattan in a good game. Then in an incredibly exciting game, Ole Miss came back from a 17-point deficit to beat BYU. On Wednesday, Robert Morris came back from behind to knock off Florida. Then in the nightcap it was another thriller when Dayton beat Boise State in a game that came down to the final shot. The play-in games are always in Dayton, which gave them a home court advantage.

March Madness, which deserves the name with the amount of exciting games, is a basketball junkie’s nirvana. It’s such a big deal that President Obama takes time to fill out a bracket every year, something I think he undeservedly gets too much heat for. Weeks of the top basketball teams play their best for the national championship. It doesn’t get any better. There are always a couple lower-seeded teams that knock off a top power school and become darlings of the tournament. Almost every year there is a Cinderella mid-major team that will go on a long run in the tournament, sometimes all the way to the final. It is truly a great time to be a basketball fan, trust me, I know from vast experience.

March Madness is always a great time to make some money too.  Industry estimates are that $90-$100 million are legally gambled every tournament and that the number could even be as high as $227 million. However, lots and lots of money is available illegally. Bracket pools run in offices or among groups of friends are not usually worth more than a couple hundred to one thousand bucks, but 23 years ago a nationwide FBI estimate put that number at $2.5 billion and that number has likely grown. Pregame.com, a website that analyzes world news, estimates that $12 billion worldwide, legally and illegally, was at stake during last year’s tournament. Yes, technically Bracket Pools are illegal. Right now the only state where sports betting is legal is Nevada. I like to compare it to jaywalking; everybody does it and as long as you don’t egregiously partake in it in an authority’s face, they’re not going to do anything about it. To date, no one has ever been prosecuted for friendly office pools; key word being friendly. But gambling money isn’t the only  money at stake. A report last year by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas says, “The cost to American industry will be more than $1.2 billion, based on an average hourly wage of $24.31 and if each worker spends just one hour on their brackets.”

Like most years, the 2015 tournament has a little bit of local flavor if you’re interested. Perennial New England representative and defending national champion UConn did not manage to qualify this year. However, Harvard won the Ivy league for the fourth straight year and will look to go for their third 1st-round upset in four years. They start off with a tough University of North Carolina team. Northeastern also made the dance for the first time in awhile. They have a lowly 14 seed and start off the tournament by playing the very first game versus a hot Notre Dame team that just won the ACC championship. The expectation is their tournament experience is going to be pretty short. Providence is also in the tournament. They have had a pretty solid year and are capable of winning some games, but next year is when they’re going to have their best shot to win it all. They start off this tournament with Dayton, and if they get by them, they have been a trendy upset pick to knock off #3 Oklahoma in the second round.

If you’re looking to get involved or make some wagers, you can’t go wrong with Kentucky. They’ve been exceptionally dominant all year, and they have on their  bench Sam Malone, whose high school playing days were at Scituate High School.

Like most years, there is a lot of parity in college hoops and a lot can happen. Author’s pick: Arizona over Virginia. Happy watching!

The Boys Hockey team’s bid to return to the Garden to play in the state championship game ended Sunday, when Norwell beat Hanover 5-1 in the South Sectional Final at Gallo Arena. Norwell moves on to the Emass Championship March 11 against Watertown.  The winner of that game heads to the title game.

The score was deceiving as Norwell isn’t four goals better than Hanover, but at times Sunday they certainly looked it. The Clippers came into the game having beaten Hanover 4-2 very early in the year. They just lost their best player, Senior Captain and SSL League MVP Dave Talanian, to a broken leg in their semi-final against Cohasset. But their youth didn’t hurt them as they consistently kept Hanover at bay offensively while putting on good pressure down the other end. Norwell scored first but Hanover was able to strike back. Tom Martin got the puck on the wing in his own zone and threw a beauty of a two-line pass to lead Ernie Meads into the Norwell zone where he went top corner with it. The elation was short lived as Norwell scored 45 seconds later. They put a shot on Clapp and there was a huge scrum in front of the net, bodies went down and everyone was taking pokes on net. Alex Ferguson came away with the puck and put it away.

Hanover had its chances though. They would get 5:30 of power play time in the span of about 5 minutes and 45 seconds and failed to capitalize. A Norwell defenseman got a 4 Minute Major for Boarding after he launched Landon Hasenfuss into the boards with a cheap hit from behind. As someone who is certainly not a hockey expert but knows the game, there is no question in my mind he should have been tossed. Hassenfuss was pretty shaken up on the play but would return to the game. After four minutes of the power play without anything to show for it, Norwell would do Hanover another favor and pick up another penalty. The Indians were again unable to capitalize and Norwell would score before the end of the period. The 3rd period was all Norwell but Hanover fought until the end.

Reaching the South Sectional Final is an impressive feat, but this year’s team had already tasted more and was striving for the state title. It’s funny how things worked for them this year. Last year’s team had more talent but they struggled in the regular season, including a patch of five straight losses. But they turned it on in the postseason and earned a deserved spot in the state championship against Shrewsbury. Comparatively, the cupboard wasn’t bare this year but it seemed there was a drop off in talent after losing several excellent seniors and two sophomores who were very good. But this Indians squad dominated in the regular season, they had very few losses, won their league and beat top 25 Duxbury. They just didn’t have the horses to reach the Garden. While they could have beaten Norwell on Sunday, Norwell looked like the better team.

The Hockey team still provided four of the best student experiences at HHS: tournament games at Gallo. The rink itself is great, the overwhelming student support and enthusiasm is what makes it great. It’s an incredible atmosphere.

Their season is over and the team may be dissatisfied right now, but when they look back at this year they should be proud. A Patriot League Championship is an impressive feat. Landon Hasenfuss won League MVP and he, along with Tom Martin and Noah Clapp, were named league all stars. Trevor Doucette had a great season as the first line center and wore the Matheny jersey well. Along with Martin and Hasenfuss, Alex Wisnes, Ernie Meads and Connor Morris were all very potent forwards for the team. Seniors Alex O’Dowd and Joe Maguire as well as Junior Dan McDougall (who made his return to puck after 2 years of being a sharpshooter in the basketball program) led the team’s grinder line and put in the hard work. The fourth line of Ryan Mahoney, Zach Taylor, and Ryan Phillips really came along as the season went on. All of them were underclassmen and will be back to contribute.

On the back end, Tyler Powers, who was the third line center on last year’s Garden run, moved back to the top D pairing. He brought great quickness, toughness, and puck-moving ability back with him. He was paired with Shane Fallon who made big hits and launched rockets from the blue and back all year long. The second D pair was a little smaller and quicker. Mike McGlame, arguably the team’s top defenseman, was great all around with strong offensive and defensive skill sets. His partner, Freshman Paul McCabe, was small but quick and never afraid the throw the body around at bigger opponents. Drew Cratty and Christian Sarruda made up the last D pairing. Sarruda was the big and tough defender with the hard shot, and Cratty was the smaller with puck-moving skills and agility on the ice. Behind them was a stud pairing of goalies. Noah Clapp was back between the pipes and was phenomenal all year, hence his All Star selection. But behind him was Drew Zwart, who saw less ice time but was stellar when in there. He had a .949 save percentage on the year. Senior Forwards Chase Coogan, Mike Martino and Junior Scotty O’Brien made up the team’s fifth line. Junior Reese Fallon and Freshman Jason Galotti were on varsity as extra defensemen. While they didn’t see that much ice time, all five of them were integral to the team’s success.

It might not have ended how or where they wanted, but the Indians should be proud of their season and the Seniors should be proud of their careers. Like I’ve said so many times already, and I mean it every time, despite losing a great senior class, there is a lot of talent coming back and the future for boys hockey is bright.