CHS winter sports season gets underway this week
By Jay Turner
CHS seniors Chris Lavoie and Tommy Ghostlaw during last year’s state championship game. (Michael Tureski photo)
The Division 2 state champion Canton High boys ice hockey team will officially begin their title defense on Saturday in Franklin as a new season of high school sports gets underway this week.
The Bulldog icemen are one of nine varsity teams to begin regular season play this week with a 10th team, the CHS gymnastics squad, slated to open their season next Wednesday, December 18, at Metro South Gymnastics Academy on Revere Street.
The girls ice hockey team, coming off a 12-6-5 season and a second place finish in the Hockomock League, will get things started with a home game Thursday night against Sandwich starting at 5:20 p.m. at the Canton Ice House. The following night at 6:30 p.m., Canton’s two varsity basketball teams will tip off for the first time this winter with the boys hosting Attleboro in the Masciarelli Gym and the girls traveling to Attleboro to face the Blue Bombardiers. The Canton boys hoopsters are two-time defending champions in the Davenport Division but will have to replace the all-around production of Massachusetts “Mr. Basketball” and Hock MVP Devin Foster. The girls, meanwhile, are coming off a 14-7 season and have the look of a team on the rise, powered by a trio of talented sophomores.
Also scheduled to open the season on Friday are the CHS indoor track and swim teams, who will both face the Sharon Eagles. The boys and girls track teams head to the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston for a 7:30 p.m. meet time while the two swim squads — who placed first and second in the Davenport last season — travel to Randolph High for a 4 p.m. meet against the Eagles.
Opening week then wraps up on Saturday with two more away contests, starting with a 10 a.m. quad meet in Burlington for the CHS wrestlers. For the nightcap, it’s on to Pirelli Veterans Arena in Franklin for a marquee matchup between the Canton and Franklin boys hockey teams. The Bulldogs, who made history last year as unbeaten state champions (25-0-1), return several key pieces and are poised to once again be top contenders, while the Panthers (11-10-4) enter with high hopes of their own after an exciting run to the Division 1 south title game.
The two longtime rivals have owned their respective divisions in the Hockomock League over the past several seasons and nearly always play each other close. Last year, Canton managed to sweep the season series but needed some late-game heroics to do so — scoring three unanswered goals in the third period to stun the Panthers 3-2 in a January barn burner on their home ice.
Check out next week’s Canton Citizen for winter sports opening week coverage as well as a look back at the fall season in our annual Fall Sports Wrap-Up.
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Posted by Jay Turner
on Dec 13 2019. Filed under High School, Sports.
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