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.

Boys Basketball

The Boys basketball team ended their most successful season in recent memory at the hands of Old Rochester last weekend. In their first tournament game, Hanover blew out Bishop Stang, 71-47. Hanover was hot from 3 and played great defense. Jack Buckley led the way with 28 points and 15 rebounds in front of a large Hanover crowd that stormed the court after the win. The win came as many local media from the South Coast and Boston had already started hyping up a Stang-Old Rochester rematch.

Hanover headed to Old Rochester Saturday with much confidence against the 17-3,  number one seed. Unfortunately, it was Old Rochester’s game from start to finish. Their whole starting five plus a big man off the bench were incredible offensively all game and their great defense took Hanover out of the game. Hanover made a couple of runs but Old Rochester was able to consistently pull away again.

While it was very upsetting that their season, and their careers for some of the HHS players, were over, they took some happiness away from the game due to Jack Buckley reaching 1,000 points. Hanover force-fed him the ball in the end and Old Rochester made it hard on him, but Buckley hit some tough shots to reach the milestone. It was a great season, the first 10+win season, the first league championship, and the first tournament game win for all of the players and coaches involved at Hanover. Jack Buckley and Jack Phelan were named league all stars. Buckley was Hanover’s leader all year, averaging 25.4 ppg, 14.6 rpg, and 2 bpg and being named league MVP. Phelan was a stat sheet stuffer, averaging 8.7 ppg, 7.1 apg, and 2.2 spg. John Carroll (12.2 ppg) and Evan Elkhill (11) provided much of the supplemental scoring for Buckley.

Girls Basketball

Coach Fish and the girls team had a very successful season of their own. They were able to win a Patriot League championship for the second consecutive year after a rough start. It was in the second half of the season that Hanover started to play good ball despite missing a key player to injury and some talented seniors having graduated. In their  first tournament matchup, they knocked off a good Ursuline team in a gane that came down to the wire. Steph Flynn got hurt late in the first half for Hanover and things looked grim, but she heroically came back to lead them to victory.

Up next came the long trip that almost every team in D3 South dreads, down to Martha’s Vineyard. Leaving school early to play at 4:30, Hanover played a great game and nearly put down the Vineyard. It came down the final minute and the Island girls hit a big 3 with 32 seconds left that would clinch the victory. It was a tough loss but Hanover is a young team and the future is incredibly bright. They are favorites to three-peat for League champs and with Archies weakening, one of the favorites in D3 South. They grabbed three All Star spots for Juniors Flynn  (who also won league MVP) and Kayla McMahon as well as Sophomore Meg Raab.

Girls Hockey

The Cohasset/Hanover co-op took a step back from last year’s very successful season but were still very competitive. They made the tournament in their last game of the year by tying Quincy/North Quincy. The lost in the first round of the tournament to a very good Medway/Ashland team out in Marlboro. Like Girls Basketball, they are a young team with a lot of potential. They lose top seniors Valerie Farren of Cohasset and Erin Smith of Hanover, but return five of their top six forwards and their top defensemen. They will also bring back outstanding goalie Shea Kearney in between the pipes. Kearney, along with Senior Forward Valerie Farren, Sophomore Forward Cassidy Bodie, and Sophomore Forward Callie Hoadley, were named SEMGHL All Stars.

Wrestling

Seniors Mike McLeod and Dillon Russell had their careers end this weekend at Massachusetts All-Sates. They wrestled valiantly all year and it was their first time getting this far in the post season. They were a big reason why Hanover had their winningest season ever this year. However the team is still wrestling because Colin Boutin managed to move on to New Englands. Returning this year from Xaverian, Boutin had high expectations on him but he has surpassed all of them. He has been dominant all year and was the first Indian to place at All-States since the early 2000s.

As in the Fall season, the Indians found success this winter in every sport they competed in. Swimming, Gymnastics and Skiing have already held their state competitions (see Winter Season Over for Some Teams), and Wrestling has begun the preliminary rounds of states. Now with the Hockey and Hoop teams about to begin their roads to the Garden and DCU, here’s the outlook:

Wrestling

At this point, Wrestling has already gone through sectionals and states with All-States on tap for this weekend. At South Sectionals at Foxboro High, Mike McLeod, Colin Boutin, and Danny Ryan all took 2nd place for their weight class. Dillon Russell nabbed third, Damien Galotti got 4th, Rian Boutin and Jeff McDonald got 5th, while Hunter Gillis, Tyler Anderson and Pete Crowley placed 6th. Peter Basset also wrestled but was unable to place. McLeod, Ryan, Russell, Galotti and Colin Boutin qualified for states.

At States, Galotti was unable to wrestle and Ryan was unable to place, ending successful seasons for the pair of sophomores.  McLeod, Russell, and Boutin were able to move to All-States with their top 6 performances. McLeod and Russell placed 6th, Boutin 5th. All three are back in action this weekend trying to end the season on a high note.

Girls Hockey

The Cohasset-Hanover hockey team had another solid season, but barely squeaked into the post-season with a tie in their last regular season game against Quincy-North Quincy. The team got stuck with the 23rd seed out of 25 teams in D2, giving them a tough draw to advance. They will face Medway-Ashland tonight (Feb 26) at Blackstone Valley Ice Arena. CH already played a home-and-home with them this year, tying them at home and losing out at their place. It will be a tough task to get off that long bus ride and face a very talented team, but a good goalie can take you far. Shea Kearney has been dominant for the team all year and will give them a chance in every game they play. The top line of Callie Hoadley, Sam Taylor, and Valerie Farren will need to be in sync and firing on all cylinders too. It should be a very competitive game and the team will try to advance like last season. Update: The team fell to a very talented Medway/Ashland Co-op in the 1st round last night 2-0.

Boys Hockey

The #roadtothegarden is never easy, but it’s hard to look at teams in the bracket  and not envision a repeat. These last two seasons have justified why Hanover moved to D2 after their 2007 State Championship. They’ve been an absolute powerhouse since they moved back. Looking at D3 South, some of their potential opponents are almost laughable. Sure, upsets can happen, but if the Indians play to their capability, they are in great shape. In their first game they will face Diman, who just beat Apponequet in a prelim. Should be an easy win. Norwell, Cohasset and maybe Bourne (since Gallo is their home rink) look to be the only real challengers in the south. Wayland, Watertown, or Newton South will provide a real tough task in the EMass final should they reach that point. It looks as though the north is down this year while the south is up, meaning Hanover would likely be the favorite. After that, it would be on to the Garden where they are likely to see Shrewsbury again. Shrewsbury is still a very good hockey team, probably one of the top three that Hanover would face all year, but they have taken a considerable step back from last year’s team that dominated the Indians 7-1 due to the loss of a lot of seniors and a top underclassmen. To continue their success, Hanover needs to keep doing what they’re doing. They have a good mix of youth and experience. They’ve been consistently rolling 4 lines with great results and if that keeps up in the tournament, they’re a tough out. When Noah Clapp keeps things locked down in net, they can beat any team in D3. Look at it this way: Duxbury is a legitimate top 25 team in the MIAA and will make a tough team in D1 South and Hanover beat them by a solid margin in one of their best games of the year. Personally, I believe the only D3 teams you could maybe consider top 25 are Hanover, Norwell (who was there briefly), and Shrewsbury. So if Hanover brings their A game, I don’t see them bowing out.

Girls Basketball

The Girls Hoop team beat Ursuline Academy in a nail-biter yesterday (Feb. 25) to win their first tournament game. They won 47-45 in front of a home crowd. Coming off a great end to the season that included another Patriot League championship, they are a top team in D3 South. They earned the 5th seed entering the tourney, putting themselves in a good position. Ursuline was not a weak team, but it was definitely a game Hanover was expected to win. Next, they are headed to the Vineyard on Friday (Feb. 27). The team has all the tools to make a nice run. They have great scoring in games from Steph Flynn, Kayla McMahon and usually Meg Raab or Alyssa Delahunt as well. They play tough defense and at this point their whole roster has considerable experience. They have already shown great resiliency this year by bouncing back from a rough start. The other side of the bracket is tough with Abington and Archbishop Williams who knocked them off last year in their second game of the tournament. If they reach the sectional final, it will be against the Archies powerhouse. However, if Hanover takes it one game at a time, they have the talent and ability to keep moving on.

Boys Basketball

The Indians got a tough draw when the MIAA came out with its brackets over the weekend. They will start off with a talented Bishop Stang team today (Feb. 26) at Bishop Stang at 6:30. Hanover was in a 3-way tie for the 8-10 seeds and ended up with the 9th. Tourney favorite Old Rochester, as well as excellent Wareham and Martha’s Vineyard teams, are on their side of the bracket. The other side seems a little softer with the top teams being Norwell and Bourne. Hanover is coming off a rough stretch, 3 losses in league play. Jack Buckley hurt his ankle in the first of those three games and the hope is he will be back to close 100 percent for the tournament. His scoring, rebounding, and post defense are crucial to Hanover’s success. Buckley has been consistently dominant, even in his worst games going for 15 +. He will be their biggest factor, but the onus is on the trio of Jack Phelan, Evan Elkhill, and John Carroll to supply the secondary scoring load. All three of them have had great scoring nights but have also had nights where they didn’t break 5 points. All three need to find a level of consistency for the team to move forward. Phelan and Zach Thomson will be tasked with playing great defense on Stang’s tough guards, something Coach Hannigan has been preaching all week. The bench is inexperienced when it comes to tourney time, but if they step up instead of being overwhelmed, Hanover can beat any foe in D3 South. It’s on the Indians to play to their highest level and when they do, they can make a deep run in the tournament. Update: Hanover routed Bishop Stang 71-47 in a game that was close for awhile but Hanover was too hot shooting to lose.