Winter’s Finest

Junior captain Colleen Kelleher led the Bulldogs to the brink of a state championship. (Michael Tureski photo)

The Canton Citizen is pleased to announce its 2016-17 winter all-star selections. The full list, featuring 30 CHS athletes from 10 sports, appears in the April 6 issue as part of the Citizen’s annual winter sports wrap-up.

Boys MVP

Sebastian Melendez (Swimming)

Arguably one of the best athletes to come out of Canton High School in recent memory, Melendez capped off his historic swim career with a brilliant showing at the MIAA Division 2 state championship meet, defending his title in the 200 free with a personal-best 1:40.27 while also adding a second gold medal in the 100 free. A four-time state champion for his career and the unquestioned team MVP, Melendez also led the Bulldogs to a first-ever Hockomock Davenport Division championship; a second-place showing at the league meet; and a sixth-place finish out of 44 schools at the state meet, including a pair of top-five relay finishes in the 200 and 400 free relays.

Girls MVP

Colleen Kelleher (Girls Hockey)

A junior captain and a three-time SEMGHL All-Star selection, Kelleher solidified her standing as one of the best hockey goalies in the state with a season for the ages, leading the squad on a magical postseason run that culminated with a trip to the TD Boston Garden. A true workhorse-type player, Kelleher logged over 1,100 minutes in net and faced 573 shots, stopping all but 31 of them for an overall save percentage of .946. She is also widely respected in girls high school hockey circles and will be representing Canton at the upcoming Shriner’s All-Star game, which will be played at the Canton Ice House.

Girls Hockey

Rebecca Eckler

A senior captain and a two-time league all-star, Eckler was a standout winger on the lady Bulldogs’ top forward line and an indispensable leader both on and off the ice. She finished as the team’s fourth leading scorer in the regular season with 13 points (5g, 8a) and also had two huge goals in the team’s 3-2 quarterfinal win over Winchester, including the game winner with 10 seconds remaining — arguably the defining play of the girls’ historic season.

Maggie Malloy

An All-SEMGHL selection, Malloy was Canton’s top line center and best overall player in just her second high school season, averaging over a point per game on a team that reached the state finals. She was the runaway team scoring champion in the regular season with 16 goals and finished tops on the team with 26 total points (17 g, 9 a). She was also the lady Bulldogs’ leader in plus/minus with a plus-21 for the season.

Lauren Fitzpatrick

One of two sophomores to earn league all-star status this season along with Maggie Malloy, Fitzpatrick was the team’s second leading scorer and only seemed to get better as the season wore on, finishing with 14 goals and 11 assists. She saved some of her best games for the playoffs, where she was far and away the most productive player on the ice, tallying a team-best six goals, including a hat trick against Norwell in the postseason opener …

See this week’s Canton Citizen for the full list of winter all stars as well as summaries of every CHS winter sports team. Click here to subscribe today.

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