CHS hockey teams declared co-state champions
By Jay Turner
Members of the CHS boys hockey team celebrate with the Div. 2 south sectional trophy after defeating Bishop Feehan last weekend. (Kristen Sasonoff photo)
Update: The MIAA Board of Directors announced on Thursday afternoon its decision to CANCEL the high school championship games scheduled for this weekend due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Teams that would have been participating in the state finals — including both Canton hockey teams — are being considered co-champions. The story below was published prior to the MIAA announcement.
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It will be the ultimate Garden party for fans of CHS hockey this Sunday as both Bulldog teams battle for their respective state championships in a Canton hockey doubleheader for the ages.
The action gets underway on Causeway Street at 5:45 p.m. with the girls taking on top-seeded Wellesley in the Division 2 finals, followed by the boys in the night cap at 7:45 versus D2 north champion Lincoln-Sudbury.
It will mark the fourth year in a row that a Canton team has competed on championship weekend at the TD Garden, with the girls advancing to the finals in both 2017 and 2018 and the boys winning the title and completing an undefeated season in 2019. Add the two upcoming trips on Sunday and Canton now has a whopping five hockey title-game appearances since 2017 — easily the most in the state during that stretch, ahead of Woburn and Wellesley with three girls finals appearances each. (Note: Pope Francis also has three following Wednesday night’s win.)
What is especially rare, however, is to have both varsity squads competing for a championship in the same season. In fact, over the past 15 seasons, that has occurred only other time — in 2019, when Tewksbury sent both of its teams to the big dance (Methuen/Tewksbury went on to capture the D1 girls title while Tewksbury’s boys team fell to the Bulldogs in the D2 final).
Now it’s Canton’s turn, and it’s a testament to the strength of the entire local hockey community that they find themselves together in this position, noted CHS boys coach Brian Shuman.
“It definitely speaks to the strength of our youth hockey program and the great job they have done under the leadership of [CYH President] Nick Maffeo, who’s also an assistant coach for the [CHS] girls team,” said Shuman. “I will tell you that since I’ve been coaching that our success for the boys has been tied to his ability to create a strong program that attracts players and keeps them here. We have a homegrown set of players that have played together for years and have reached the highest levels of the sport together.”
Shuman, who has two state titles and four finals appearances under his belt during his tenure with the Bulldogs, also marveled at the job that head girls coach Dennis Aldrich has done since taking over the program in 2013. “Three times in the state final in four years — that puts the program in the top of Massachusetts high school hockey, for boys or girls,” he said. “It’s relatively easy to have a little spurt, but to do it three out of the last four years, that’s culture, that’s an indication of the program and how well it is coached.”
Aldrich, meanwhile, said he’s been fortunate to be a coaching contemporary alongside Shuman, who he described as a “rare hockey mind” and one of the hardest working coaches he knows.
“I always look at coaches and programs by asking myself, ‘Would I want to play for them?’ and without question [Shuman] is one of those coaches you would just love to play for,” said Aldrich. “He is never unprepared; his teams are never unprepared. You give him some time and he’ll find a way to beat you, and I think his kids will go through walls for him because you know he’ll get it done.”
In terms of their current squads, “dominant” would certainly be an accurate descriptor, with the two teams having combined for a jaw-dropping 40 wins against just two losses (40-2-7) while outscoring the opposition by a combined margin of 183-50.
The boys are coming off a four-game sweep in the D2 south tournament that culminated with a 4-1 win last Sunday in the sectional title game versus an underrated Bishop Feehan squad. While the Shamrocks kept it close for two-plus periods and outplayed the Bulldogs for parts of the middle frame, Canton simply proved too strong and overwhelmed the 15th seeded upstarts in the third, fueled by the steady brilliance of senior captain and Hockomock MVP Johnny Hagan.
Hagan, who has had a hand in a number of linemate Chris Lavoie’s team-leading eight playoff goals, tallied all four goals against Feehan and was once again the “best player on the ice,” according to Shuman.
“After that second goal in particular — I’ve been coaching Johnny long enough to know that when he gives me a certain look, he’s wants me to keep him out there and then he goes out and scores 20 seconds later,” said Shuman. “That’s him in a nutshell. He knows in a key moment he can do something special. He’s a fierce competitor who’s going to do what it takes to help the team succeed.”
Members of the CHS girls hockey team are all smiles in the locker room after clinching a trip to the D2 state championship.
As the boys were sewing up their TD Garden trip at Gallo Arena in Bourne, the girls were headed off to Brighton’s Warrior Arena, where they punched their own ticket to the championship with a 3-1 victory over No. 2 Norwell (20-3-0).
While the Clippers proved to be a formidable foe, the third-seeded lady Bulldogs had superior depth and at times simply seemed to want it more — as evidenced by the staggering number of shots they blocked throughout the game.
“I do feel that we were the better team, but I think our girls were very committed to each other, and nothing explains that more than the amount of blocked shots,” said Aldrich. “And it wasn’t just one or two kids; probably seven or eight of them had huge blocks for us before the puck got to [goalie Carolyn Durand].”
For the second time in three playoff games, three different players scored goals for the Bulldogs, including freshman defenseman Maya Battista, who opened the scoring with her first goal of the season. All-star forward Lizzie Tassinari got on the scoreboard with a go-ahead goal in the second period, while standout freshman defenseman Olivia Maffeo — easily the Bulldogs’ MVP as well as their leading scorer — gave the team some much needed insurance with an unassisted goal late in the third.
Senior captain Meg Aldrich recorded her third assist of the playoffs in the win, while the vaunted lady Bulldog defense played an exceptional all-around game despite surrendering an earlier goal — just their fourth in the past 12 contests.
Despite the continued excellence of both Canton teams, incredibly, neither squad can be viewed as the favorite heading into the state final matchup, with both Wellesley and Lincoln-Sudbury currently ranked (slightly) ahead of the Bulldogs in multiple state polls.
But in addition to a likely raucous Canton crowd and the allure of a state championship win, both teams have a revenge narrative they could turn to for some extra motivation. In the girls’ case, two-time defending champion Wellesley is the same team that cost them a title in 2018, while for the boys, L-S beat them head to head back on February 12, snapping the Bulldogs’ state-leading 43-game unbeaten streak.
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=65136
Posted by Jay Turner
on Mar 12 2020. Filed under High School, Sports.
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