Tag Archives: 2013-2014

Boy’s Lax Takes on Tough Schedule, But is Still Successful

If you look around the sports team at HHS, you will see many of them play very similar schedules. They are mandated to play other Patriot League teams (Keenan Divison once, Fisher Divison twice) and a handful of selected non-conference games. Almost all the teams stay pragmatic and schedule Norwell, Rockland, Abington and one more relatively local team. Not the boy’s Lacrosse program. Partially because Lacrosse on the South Shore is still growing and Hanover is ahead of the curve, and partially to be challenged, Boy’s Lax has arguably played the most difficult schedule of any HHS athletic team the past two years. Already in a league with two teams perennially in the state’s top 15 (Hingham and Duxbury ), the boys load it up in non-conference too. Last year the program faced Mansfield, Milton, Acton-Boxborough, and Cohassett out of league. Three of those teams are classified as Division 1 by the MIAA while Cohasset has been a powerhouse the past five years. The schedule resulted in an excellent season in which they dabbled in and out of power rankings and eventually fell to a great Dover-Sherborn in a thriller of a game.

This season has held a similar tough schedule in which they face Division 1 teams Weymouth, Falmouth,  and Sandwich, along with D3 stalwarts Cohasset and Norwell. The boys have jumped out to a 8-2 start while overwhelming teams with their talent and performing well offensively and defensively. As of Thursday, they were #6 in the Boston Globe South Rankings and named to the ESPN Boston High Schools’ top 25. Their two losses came at the hands of reigning D3 State Champ Cohasset (#13 ESPN Boston) and a talented Hingham group (#10 ESPN Boston). Both games were tightly contested and were lost by a 2-goal margin. Their record has put them second overall in the Patriot League, behind only Duxbury.

The remainder of the schedule will continue to challenge the team as they will take on a good Scituate team as well as a solid Silver Lake squad, both winnable yet challenging games. Hanover will also have to face state #1 Duxbury, as well as Scituate and Cohasset again. If the past is any indication, they boys will still make it though with an outstanding record and high playoff seed.

Indians Still Working Things Out on the Diamond

The Hanover Indians baseball team has started off to a pedestrian first half and they know it. It took the team longer than usual to get through 10 games due to four rain postponements against Norwell, Pembroke, Quincy, and Middleboro. The second half of the season will be very compacted with three to four games a week and will require great stamina from the boys. If they play in a way similar to the first half, they very well may miss out on a coveted MIAA postseason birth.

Junior Shane Fallon takes a lead off first vs. Duxbury.
Junior Shane Fallon takes a lead off first vs. Duxbury.

The Indians started out rough with a blowout loss to Norwell, followed by a disappointing 8-4 loss to a mediocre Scituate team. The subpar play was picked up slightly in a 2-0 victory over North Quincy with Ryan Kelleher getting the win and Mike McLeod’s surprise success at the plate. Hanover continued to struggle against Whitman-Hanson through 6 innings, but a change was sparked with a 4-run rally to come within one before the umps took the tie away from them.

Heading into vacation week, Hanover lost freshman Matt Lanagan and junior Mike McLeod to travel, but their absence opened it up for the emergence of sophomore Sean Cornell. Hanover hit Rockland all over the place, taking a 7-0 lead before Rockland made a comeback and Troy Bridson had to come in for the save. Thursday of vacation week marked a doubleheader against a highly touted and undefeated Abington team. The first game, Kelleher pitched a complete game gem and Hanover hit Abington hard for a 5-0 victory. In the second game, Dave Griffin went out and topped Kelleher’s performance while getting an early 2-RBI hit from Kelleher to back him up. The game would end 2-0. Hanover then got beaten 4-1 by a highly ranked Silver Lake team. Matt Sointu threw his best but Hanover couldn’t get its bats moving til the end.  In the next outing, Hanover was tied with a good Duxbury squad 1-1 through 5 innings but a few mistakes in the 6th lead to a domino effect and Duxbury won with ease.

Despite the inconsistency, some Hanover players still put up great numbers. Pitchers Sointu and Kelleher are pitching great, each with a 1.94 ERA. Kelleher has also been hot at the plate, leading Hanover with a .345 batting average, followed by junior Justin Paskell at a .344 clip. In limited action, Phil Levangie is hitting .294 and just getting started.

Despite their ups and downs, Hanover is ready to get rolling in the second half. The second half of the season will be a grind for the Indians but that doesn’t mean they can’t be successful. Says senior captain Kelleher, “We need to have more timely hitting if we want to start winning games. Our pitching has been strong but we need to start scoring more runs.”

Kelleher pointed to the performance of Sointu, who has a 1.94 ERA but is 0-3 due a lack of run support, and team batting average of .210 when he is pitching.

Kelleher is very optimistic about the second half. “I’m looking forward to getting the bats going. As soon as we start to hit we are capable of going on a 5-game win streak. Tourney Time is the best time of year and hopefully we can make a run this year after an extra innings loss to Apponequet last season.”

Hanover gets back at it May 5th in Patriot League play.

Ms. Fay: Read-a-holic, Pop Culture Fan!

You all know Ms. Fay, am I right? The awesome English teacher with passion and soul for teaching. Well, she started to teach at Hanover High School in 2003, but going even further back, she taught middle schoolers right when 9/11 had happened.

“I will always remember that year not because it was my first year of teaching, but because I had to  try and keep a room full of eighth graders from panicking after they heard that America was under attack,” Ms. Fay said.

That commitment to her students has made Ms. Fay one of the most popular teachers here. She actually cares about the well-being of her students instead of just walking in and giving lectures all day long.

Before Ms. Fay was a teacher, she had the following jobs to keep herself going: copy editor, medical transcriptionist, executive assistant, and, one of the most difficult jobs, a stay-at-home mother. She said that she could’ve gone right into teaching when she came out of college, but she wanted to have a family and devote all of her time to raising her family as best as she could.

Ms. Fay says that she always has some sort of an adventure each day, and that is her favorite part of teaching at HHS. “I really never know what the day is going to bring. Each time I step foot into this school it’s an adventure waiting to happen. Each day has the potential to be amazing!” And she’s not kidding. With more than 700 students roaming the building, each day will always bring something unpredictable.

Speaking of the students, Ms. Fay has some advice for graduating seniors. She says that they should take every opportunity given to them, especially when it comes to improving their quality of life.  Career-wise, she says that you should never place yourself in a profession where there is absolutely zero passion for it. “Find out what it is you love to do and then do it — even if you have to change your major three or four times to get there!” she said.

When she’s not teaching students, or helping her kids at home, Ms. Fay is either watching television, reading, or planning her next family trip to Disney. Some of Ms. Fay’s favorite shows include “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” (quite the obvious one), “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” “Modern Family,” “The Big Bang Theory,” and “Grimm.” She is also calls herself a “read-a-holic.” She reads about one book a week — imagine that! She also does soccer, kickboxing, and yoga..

YouTube Access on the Way for Students on School Computers

 

Every student knows that YouTube is one of the most popular websites on the Internet today. It contains a wealth of videos about a wide array of topics. There is truly something for everyone on the world’s largest user content site. Many teachers frequently access SonicwallYouTube in order to show  videos relevant to their lessons. I would bet that the average student would be hard pressed to go an entire day without watching at least one YouTube video as a part of class.

In spite of the educational benefits, YouTube has been blocked for student access for as long as anyone can remember. After all, with the great power of educational videos comes the opportunity to waste time watching the infamous 10-hour Nyan Cat video or perhaps even worse things.

Within the coming weeks, all students will have the ability to access Youtube. “Students will be able to sign onto the Sonicwall and gain access to YouTube on any school owned iMac computer,” said Mr. Ciccolo, the Hanover School District Director of Technology.  It is important to note that students will not have access to YouTube through the HHS-Guest wireless network. According to Mr. Ciccolo, this is both for reasons of network limitations and personal accountability. Simply put, the existing school wifi infrastructure cannot handle the additional traffic. Already, according to Ciccolo, “75+ devices” are connected to any one access point at a time, which is way over the recommended capacity.  Also, by limiting YouTube access to school-owned computers, teachers will be able to monitor which video students watch. Inappropriate usage would result in discipline according to both the teacher’s classroom rules and the district’s Digital Technology Acceptable Use Policy.

Mr. Patch’s Advanced Digital Media class served as the pilot group of students for this school-wide initiative.

“Having access to YouTube is extremely useful when trying to create videos,” said Maya Collins, a student in the class. “A lot of the time we use references of videos we’ve seen online while filming. Being able to access this helps in constructing ideas  as well as viewing our own videos, which are uploaded to the school’s YouTube channel.”

Seeing the benefits, the school administration gave the green light for everyone else to have access.

Social media websites, including Facebook and Twitter, will be still be blocked for students on school-owned computers and the guest wifi.

Please remember that with the power to access Youtube comes great responsibly. The school tech staff certainly have the option to block YouTube once again if usage gets out of hand.

Honest Review: “To Boldly Flee”

Hello, and welcome to another “Honest Review.” I realize that you are probably looking at the title of this movie and are thinking, “What the heck? I’ve never heard of this movie!” Well, let me give you some background.

This movie exists on two websites (blip.tv and thatguywiththeglasses.com), and is directed by the fabulous Doug Walker. Doug has already formed his instant fame online with his famous series “The Nostalgia Critic.” So, here came another feat to direct. He has other movies besides this one, but nothing is as good. Trust me when I say that Doug is not only an excellent director , but a great actor and writer as well.

This movie, as you guessed by the cover, is heavily sci-fi, with comedy sprinkled in. The actor list would be too long for me to get into, so I will say their names along the way. Let’s get started, shall we? Let’s review “To Boldly Flee” (contradictory much?).

Anyhow, we begin with Paw (Paul Schuler) sitting on his car, as he hears some odd frequencies from another planet coming in. Don’t ask me how this is possible from an Earthly laptop, but it just is. He then goes to his friends Joe Vargas, Leo Thompson & Lewis Lovhaug  to discuss what he has heard. Something big ends up happening, for this is the comeback of Nostalgia Critic’s (Doug Walker) old and supposedly dead friend, Ma-Ti (Bhargav Dronamraju). Before Lewis can even think about leaving, a robotic and evil version of himself comes in and locks him in the closet. Uh oh.

Speaking of  Doug, he has a psychotic enemy named Terl (Noah Antwiler), who is trying to get him arrested. Nobody would take a fake alien from the movie “Battlefield Earth” seriously, so the Nostalgia Critic  was only placed under house arrest. However, we see that Noah has the spirit of “Ma-Ti” trapped inside of him, so the Nostalgia Critic  and the others try to get to it. After getting all of the information they need, and the Critic realizing that the house arrest anklet is nearly impossible to bypass, he decides to create a spaceship to go to the source . . . The “Plot Hole.” This is where Ma-Ti is being held, so he can basically mess around with the planet however he wants.

Anyhow, after the spaceship has been built, it’s up, up, and away . . . To Nostalgia Critic’s house? I suppose that’s a clever way of working around the house arrest, isn’t it? All kinds of antics ensue while up on the ship, but let me explain the most important ones:

1.) JesuOtaku (Hope Chapman), after a shock from a machine her and CR (Chad Rocco) were building, she turns incredibly intelligent and begins to build all sorts of crazy machines to help Nostalgia Critic (Doug) out.

2.) Noah gets kidnapped, only to be saved by his friends SadPanda (Julien Diaz),  Sage (Bennett White) and . . . The Nostalgia Critic  in a Judge Dredd outfit? Awesome.

3.) Terl and Zod (also played by Doug) capture one of the shipmates, the Cinema Snob (Brad Jones). Not awesome, considering he’s the one who knows how to fix the missiles that were deactivated.

After all of this craziness happens . . . Oh wait, I’m forgetting someone, aren’t I? Lewis’s  robotic version of himself, of course. Oh, he just goes and turns Nostalgia Chick (Lindsay Ellis) and Todd in the Shadows (Todd Nathanson)  into robots. The oblivious Nostalgia Critic ignores this completely (for humor, I suppose), and allows Noah (the actor playing Terl) to be hooked up to a machine. This machine will allow the others to go into Noah’s mind, to “see” Ma-Ti ask him some questions. Good, but I’m still confused about why the Nostalgia Critic didn’t do anything about the obvious robots standing right in front of them! This is not answered as Film Brain (Mathew Buck) enters Noah’s  mind, to go to see Ma-Ti and ask him some questions, mainly to get the answer as to what Ma-Ti wants Nostalgia Critic  to “remember.”

Meanwhile, Cinema Snob confronts the “Executor” (“Emperor” spoof) of the ship, which Terl  and Zod help to run. Cinema Snob converts over to the bad side, making one of his friends on Nostalgia Critic’s ship seem to shiver. Luke, Cinema Snob’s friend, tries to get Cinema Snob back over to the good side, and does so when he goes over to Zod and Terl’s ship to fight the “Executor,” and wins.

All the while, everyone on Nostalgia Critic’s ship is now under a different commander. Phelous is telling the Nostalgia Critic’s  crew to attack the enemy  Zod and Terl’s ship. This attack includes the infamous Mario “blue shell,” created by JesuOtaku (Hope Chapman), Paw , and CR. HOLD ON. While all of this is going on, Nostalgia Critic  is going to the “Plot Hole”, which I guess is a gateway to the “real” world… As the Nostalgia Critic  meets his writer… Doug Walker himself.

Okay, here we go:

Cinema Snob: He turned back to the good side (Doug’s), along with Luke

Zod, “Executor”, and Terl (Noah): All killed with the assault from the crew of Nostalgia Critic’s (Doug’s) crew… Rather quickly, I might add.

Nostalgia Critic : Tries to go into the “real world”, but claims that it is probably just as “phony” as the world he’s in.

Happy ending? You bet! Everyone is re-united and the villains (Zod, Terl, and “Executor”) were all defeated forever. Well, the only bad thing is that Nostalgia Critic had to sacrifice himself over to the “Plot Hole” in order for it to die down, and allow everyone else to be safe.

My Final Take: Honestly, I am not that big of a fan of Sci-Fi, but this movie was amazing. The actors did an excellent job, Doug Walker himself is an amazing writer, the special effects (as expected) were well done, and there were only slight nitpicks to pick out.

Nitpicks: Okay, for one, how did Paw’s EARTH laptop pick up signals all the way from SPACE?

Second, if the “Plot Hole” was left alone for so long, why didn’t it take over space? (I guess Mathew really did tame the “Plot Hole” after all!)

Lastly, if the Cinema Snob knew the technology of Nostalgia Critic’s  ship well enough, wouldn’t he sort of know the villains’ (Zod, Terl, and “Executor”) ship too? If so, why didn’t he just escape before the three could take in away?

FINAL RATING: I give this movie a SOLID 10/10. If you have at least 3 hours to spare, give this a watch. I’d recommend it highly.

Ms. Bertelli has Music (and a Love of Comics) in her Heart

Kate Bertelli, the vibrant music teacher, has always had music on her mind. It’s been quite the passion of hers, due to the “awesome educators and role models” she’s had over the years. With the encouragement of those instructors, and a little help from her mother as well, she found her way into teaching. But teaching wasn’t always her first priority.

 Ms. Bertelli had multiple “odd jobs” (even though they weren’t really all that odd) throughout her high school and college years before looking at an opportunity to teach middle school. She worked as a secretary in a law firm, waited tables, and plenty of other things having something to do with some form of leadership. When Ms. Bertelli found a teaching position, it was in East Bridgewater, where she spent three years before joining the HHS faculty in 2012.

 “I’ve met so many great students and parents while in Hanover,” Ms. Bertelli said. “I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to get to know them, and be a part of their lives.”

Ms. Bertelli seems like a very busy woman, teaching music and leading Concert Chorus, VOX, Corporation, and Chorale — as well as meeting with the Friends of Hanover Music booster group. But this doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have any sort of down time.

When Ms. Bertelli has that precious time to herself, she is usually exercising or reading. She’ll go out for a walk on the Cape Cod Canal. She also really likes to grill outside with her family. Her cooking will usually include some sort of “healthier alternative,” although there are only so many “healthy” options with nachos, brownies, et cetera. She’ll sit down to read either some blogs or Marvel comics. She’s quite the fan of the Marvel comics and movies, so she’s definitely excited to see “Captain America” in theatres (don’t give her any spoilers!).

 Ms. Bertelli doesn’t have any advice for the graduating senior class. However, she usually has a song or two up her sleeve. She says that “Everybody’s Free (to Wear Sunscreen)” (AKA: The Sunscreen Song) by Baz Luhrmann offers a lot of good advice. Enjoy it!

 If I have any advice for you, it’s that you need to join any music ensemble she runs. Ms. Bertelli is very optimistic and fun to work with, speaking from two years of experience with her. So, if you can sing, don’t be afraid. Just sign up for her classes, and have fun!

 

Honest Review: Film version of Cuckoo’s Nest strayed from the book

Hello, and welcome to Honest Reviews. Today we’re taking a look at the 1975 film version of “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest,” which I recently watched in my Senior Humanities class. Something definitely flew over this “nest,” but it wasn’t a bird. It was the mind of this director. Milos Forman was trying to recreate some of the … rather eventful things we’ve heard about this classic American novel published in 1962 by Ken Kesey. But, to be quite honest, he failed amazingly.

Let’s address something, though, before I get into the negatives. Jack Nicholson is amazing in this movie as McMurphy, a rather hyperactive individual who causes some problems (including strangling someone in the end); there’s no denying that. His acting is magnificent as usual, although I admit that’s coming from someone who loves his acting style.

Now, the moment you’ve been waiting for… Let’s talk all about what made this book-to-film adaptation so very wrong.

 We have all of the characters as described in the book, set in a brutal mental ward in the 1960s. Oh wait, no we don’t. Harding doesn’t have those rather delicate hands that the book mentions. Oh no, you should see the size of them! They could fit a child’s head inside of them! For those of your wondering who Harding is, he is supposed to be a rather smart individual and very talkative. He is in the book, but the movie practically strips all of his dialogue (or makes it too simplistic).

But the Nurse is still there, right? Yeah, but she’s not looking as the book described. You would think that she would have the body to match the vivid descriptions of the book, but no. In this book, the Nurse really seems to be described as a rather busty looking woman, with an obnoxiously mean personality. Played by actress Louise Fletcher, Nurse Ratched has the body of a rather anorexic-looking woman.

There are way too many inconsistencies in this film to count, so why don’t we bounce back over to the positives for a moment?

To be honest, I think that Fletcher plays her part really well. I mean, she has the same attitude the Nurse has in the book, despite her physical differences. When it came down to the voting process of whether or not to allow the patients to watch the World Series, her attitude was still stone cold, refusing to count the votes. Nicholson does a great job of portraying McMurphy’s boisterous and vibrant personality, seeing as his acting is usually off the wall. In fact, I think everyone does a good job, in terms of line delivery. The director proves he did indeed read the book with the accurate portrayal of the scene where Candy (a newer female character) breaks into the ward with some booze to share.

Now back to the inconsistencies that drive me up a wall.

 For one, the novel is supposed to be told from the point of view of Chief Bromden, the rather strong and silent type, so when the movie randomly makes the switch to McMurphy’s point of view, it threw me completely off. Not only this, but McMurphy seems rather energized for someone who just entered a mental institution in the ‘60s, doesn’t he? Maybe there’s something in his mind telling him he’s actually insane. I’d say Nicholson himself is insane and not McMurphy, but ignoring potential mental illness, let’s move on. The hospital seems more frantic than it was described in the book, doesn’t it? People running around screaming, mumbling to themselves in the halls… It feels like an early ‘90s MTV music video. Am I supposed to be enthralled… Or creeped out?

And while the movie actually manages to follow through with Bromden revealing that he can talk, he doesn’t talk as much as he did in the book! sigh See, you can’t look into the light for too long in this movie, can you? Before you know it, you will be burned. Also, hey! Milos also got the whole Nurse strangulation thing right too, another MAJOR plot point… That happens just before McMurphy is sent up to be lobotomized. How ironic. The Nurse feels weak at that point, all (probably) because she’s lost her dignity and pride, all because she refused to send McMurphy up when she could’ve earlier on in the story.

 At least the director got the ending right! It’s a miracle! Yes, the whole “Chief smothering McMurphy” thing wasn’t ignored after all. I mean, I understand if you don’t think that McMurphy should live after being lobotomized, but let the man die on his own. That took some dignity out of McMurphy for me to be honest. I am still happy that the Director incorporated the correct ending, and didn’t fade to black or something.

In fact, let me end the review by saying this: This movie was okay. I mean, it wasn’t crystal clear in terms of getting some details correct… like some major dialogue! But, the acting was well done, Forman at least carried over a majority of the scenes correctly, and the movie was in the right spirit. Although mental hospitals are completely different nowadays, I still got goosebumps before I even get to the ending!

 Overall Rating (IMDB Based):  7.5/10

Boys Basketball Shows Heart in Tough Season

By Steve Ryerson
By Steve Ryerson

The boys basketball team finished 8-13, but according to Coach Nick Hannigan, that record does not reflect the hard work and strong performances of his players.

Jack Buckley, a junior, was the team’s lead scorer, averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds per game. He was named a Patriot Ledger All-Scholastic and a Patriot League All Star. Ryan Kelleher, a senior, was “a big rebounder and a vocal captain,” Coach Hannigan said. Seniors Brian Wheeler and Dylan O’Neill joined with junior Jack Phelan to move the ball well on the court, and seniors Matt Sointu and Gerard Wynn had “big contributions off the bench.” Senior Alex Harper was strong on defense.

By Steve Ryerson
By Steve Ryerson

“We persevered through a lot of ups and downs,” said Dominic DiPietro, one of three senior captains along with Kelleher and O’Neill. “We definitely stuck together.”

Teammate Dave Griffin, a senior, agreed. “The team chemistry was strong.”

A highlight of the season, according to Griffin and DiPietro, was beating Rockland to clinch a spot in the state playoffs. The victory was particularly sweet because it followed a loss to Rockland at the buzzer earlier in the season.

The Indians fell in the first round of playoffs to Cardinal Spellman, who went on to win the Division 3 state title. With nine seniors set to graduate, the team looks to returning young players to make another run for the championship next year.

Officials: School Website Hack No Risk to Confidential Info

First Hack
A screenshot of the Hanover Public Schools website when it was hacked

Much like any other high school student who obsessively checks their grades every twenty minutes, I am frequently on the Hanover Schools website.  Needless to say, I was utterly surprised one day in February to see that the website had been hacked.  Not only surprised, I was spooked by the message left on the website.  It informed its readers that, “We do not forgive, we do not forget.”  It also assured us that they will be back, which they were, less than a month later.  That time, a red screen appeared showing a Turkish flag and words in a foreign language.
Each time, the hacker’s page was taken down by Hanover technology officials fairly quickly.

According to district Director of Technology Brian Ciccolo, the school’s confidential files and students’ private information was never at risk. Although hanoverschools.org is hosted at the Salmond School, the district’s Aspen site, which contains student grades and personal information, is hosted by Follett Corporation at a separate facility and was never in danger of being breached. The district technology team has since reviewed and updated security for the hanoverschools.org website to prevent future hacks.

The website hacker claimed to be Anonymous Jordan, who has tackled some other websites in its conquests as well. Anonymous Jordan can be found on Facebook and Twitter, wearing the mask from the movie V for Vendetta in each profile picture.  This “Jordan” appears to be based out of the country Jordan.  However, because this hacker tackles things quite a bit bigger than the Hanover Schools website, I think it can be assumed that our “Jordan” is some sort of a copycat.  The original Anonymous Jordan is a kind of vigilante.  For example, recently he hacked the website of the United Nations for ignoring Palestinian hunger strikes.  “Jordan” did this in order to draw attention toward the fate of these hunger strikers, several of whom are dying.  After this major takeover, the Anonymous Jordan twitter page vindicated its actions and posted, “because ignorance is not bliss.”  Additionally, they hacked the official website of Jordan’s prime minister.  On this page, they left a message reading, “Hi uncle, how are you? We are sorry, we hacked your website. Are you upset? We feel much worse when you raise prices. The people know this feeling but you do not.”  It seems as if this hacking group is providing a voice to those under persecution.

It is fair to assume that we have not been hacked by the original Anonymous Jordan.  Perhaps this was an average teenager who lives in town, who has an above average ability in computer sciences and felt that he could make his day more interesting by hacking the school’s website, or perhaps it was something more.  Perhaps, much like the original Anonymous Jordan, this hacker had other intentions.  Maybe he had a purpose in stirring up trouble.  Yet, it seems that all we will know is that these goals remain anonymous.

Boys Hockey Makes Strong Statement in Drive to State Title

The boys hockey team brought hope to Hanover High School this winter with its first trip to the state championship game in years. After winning the South Sectional Championship for Division 3, they won five 5 playoff games to make it to the state title game at the T.D. Garden in Boston. The Indians fell short in that game, losing 7-1 to Shrewsbury, and although it was a tough loss, it was a big step in the  right direction for the team.

“I don’t think anyone expected us to get that far,” said senior captain Pat Nevins. “With our hard work ethic and really growing into one big family, that was a big part of it. We loved being together.”

“Of course a win would’ve been better,” Nevins added, “but to have my last game at the Garden … we couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

This season’s finish was a big improvement over recent years. The 2011-12 team lost three of four games to end the season and miss a chance at the playoffs, and last year’s team finished with a 5-11-4 record.

Hanover finished this regular season with 13 wins and 7 losses, winning the last four games of the season. The players worked extremely hard this season and the time and effort paid off for the Indians, coached by Jonathan Abban.

“We were a close group, there was more team chemistry,” said junior Andrew Zwart. “Sometimes (in past seasons) the seniors would disconnect, but that didn’t happen.”

The five senior captains included Nevins, Matt McDougall, Drew Caldwell, Matt Randall and Mike Proctor. McDougall was  the team’s leading scorer with 30 points and Nevins had 27 points. Both McDougall and Nevins were named Patriot Ledger All-Scholastics.

A tragedy occurred in the middle of the season,  when Hanover youth hockey player Matthew Cox was seriously injured in a ziplining accident. The team showed a great amount of support for Matthew and dedicated their season to the boy. Players would wrap their equipment in blue tape in support of Matthew while he was still in critical condition and attended his funeral when he passed away. The loss motivated the team to win games not just for themselves but for Matthew as well.

As the 2013-2014 season closes for the Indians, the team prepares to come back next year and go all the way to win the state Division 3 title. Despite losing 11 seniors, strong performances by young players give the team hope for the future. Sophomores Landon Hasenfuss and Colin Mahoney contributed 20 points each in the season.  In net the team was lead by Sophomore Noah Clapp and Zwart. Junior Cole Methot and freshman Mike McGlame were strong on defense.