Sports 12-24-2015

CHS Roundup

CHS boys basketball

wins two, now at 3-0

The Chelsea High boys basketball team won both of its games this past week to improve to 3-0 on the season, the best start for a Red Devil squad in the past few years.

Friday evening CHS head coach Jay Seigal and his squad made the trek to Lynn Tech and came home with a 51-36 triumph. After Chelsea moved out to a 9-3 lead at the start, Tech battled back to leave matters even after the first period. However, Seigal directed his charges to institute a press to start the second quarter and the defensive pressure paid dividends as the Red Devils moved out to a 29-21 advantage at the half.

Chelsea continued to maintain its momentum after the intermission and the Red Devils lengthened their lead to 41-26 after three periods. Chelsea continued to add to its bulge in the final frame, pulling ahead by as many as 25 points with three minutes to go when Seigal began to use all of his players.

Jahro Marshall led a balanced CHS scoring attack with 12 points. Steve Lacey and Angel Alvaraez were next in the scoring column with nine points each, followed by Chris Torrez with seven, Balmeiro Daveiga with five, Misael Gratini with four, Guillermo Zelata with three, and Jaime Celorio with two.

Chelsea hosted Whittier Monday and claimed a 50-43 victory. The contest was a close, 24-20 affair in the Red Devils’ favor at the half, but Chelsea asserted control shortly after the intermission to open up a 10 point lead. Although the Red Devils never were able to fully shake the visitors, they maintained their advantage in the 7-10 point range to the final buzzer.

Lacey was high man on the point chart with 13. Marshall added nine, Zelata and Bissett chipped in six apiece, Alvarez hit for five, Celorio scored four, and Torrez, Cobi Molina, and Ralphie Otero contributed two points each.

“We’re receiving balanced scoring from a number of players,” said Seigal. “The team is playing hard and everybody is contributing. We’ve been making the usual mistakes for the beginning of the season, but our goal is to improve every week and with every game.”

Seigal and his crew travel to Medford Monday to take on their former Greater Boston League rival and then journey to Melrose Wednesday for another non-league encounter.

CHS girls, boys track

team impress at Festival

Both the girls and boys Chelsea High indoor track teams competed in the Winter Festival Track Meet held at the Reggie Lewis Track Center this past Sunday.  The meet featured over 1,500 athletes from all over the state.

On the girls’ side, the top Lady Red Devil performer was senior Mariama Kamara, who finished fourth overall in the dash with a state meet-qualifying time of 7.67. “This was a great start to the season for Mariama, whose fourth-place effort is even more impressive when you see that there were over 100 competitors in the field,” said CHS head coach Mark Martineau.

Also qualifying for the state meet was the girls 4 x 200 relay team of Kamara, Martin Simon, Awa Bajinka, and Katherine Cabral.  The foursome finished fifth overall in a time of 1:54.29.  Senior Katherine Cabral placed 11th (out of 112 competitors) in the 300 with a clocking of 44.31.  Freshman Jocelyn Poste continued to improve in the 1000, finishing 17th in a time of 3:30.92.  In the shotput, senior Jazmin Castallon finished ninth overall with a throw of 27’-2”.

“This was a great day for our girls’ team,” said Martineau. “This team has a great combination of veteran stars and young talent. The season looks very bright.”

For the boys, the highest-ranked individual finisher was Alezio DaSilva, who finished sixth in the long jump with a leap of 19’-3/4”, a performance that is just shy of the qualifying mark for the state meet. “What makes Alezio’s performance even more impressive is that we have no indoor facility for him to train for the long jump,” noted Martineau.

Junior Adriel Cedano also jumped well, finishing 14th among the field of 67 competitors, with a jump of 18’-6”.  Senior Jose Aguiar finished 17th in the 600 with a time of 1:30.42.  The highlight of the day was the 4 x 200 team of Cedano, DaSilva, Aguiar, and Junior Nick Ieng, who qualified for the state meet by finishing 12th in 1:37.98.

“The boys’ team continues to improve every meet,” said Martineau. “In a lot of ways we still do not know how good this team can be. Competing at Reggie Lewis really gives our athletes an opportunity to run on a premier track against premier competition.  For many of our younger athletes this is a great learning experience.  For our veterans this is an opportunity to run some good times early in the season and qualify for the state meet in some cases.

“A lot of credit needs to go to the coaching staff for the success we are having early in the season,” continued Martineau. “Coach Hillary Paul, with the help of Coach Weaver, has got the distance runners achieving personal bests every meet.  Coach Jenna Klemonski has been essential in running the sprint workouts and helping the younger runners find their way at meets.  Coach Aronson has the throwers improving meet after meet.  We have made lots of progress in the jumps with the guidance of recent Tufts All-American Coach Kanku Kabango.”

Next on the schedule for the Red Devils is the Speed Classic at Reggie Lewis and the GBL Freshman/Sophomore meet at Somerville High School.  Both meets are set for December 30.

Bruins Beat

by Bob Morello

Bruins Wrap Gift Streak

A tough 2-0 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday was disappointing to the Bruins who had hoped to finish off the pre-Christmas break with a victory, and capture the top spot in the Atlantic Division. It was not to be, but on the bright side, fans can reflect back to a week ago when the Bruins were preparing to face the Pittsburgh Penguins in a home-and-home series. They had the chance, as noted in Bruins Beat, to move up to second place in the Atlantic Division – plus the opportunity to climb two spots in the Eastern Conference standings – and thanks to an 11-1-3 streak in their last 15-games, that mission was accomplished!

As a result, they wake up this morning (Thursday) in the middle of a three-day Christmas break, knowing that they played the second-best team in the Central Division, the second-best team in the Western Conference, tough, before it all became unglued with two breakaway goals in the third period. Boston had their chances while putting 32 shots on St. Louis’ goaltender Jake Allen, who turned each one aside while earning his fifth shutout of the season. Vladimir Tarasenko secured the victory for the Blues’ with his 22nd goal.

If one was looking for an early Christmas present, they’d have to look no further than Boston’s resurgence in the standings. If you turn back the pages and look at what the state of the Bruins was six weeks ago, you would be very thankful. Many were clamoring for Coach Claude Julien’s dismissal, player movement and more, but the team played well enough to now be in good position at the break. Julien is aware that Tuesday’s loss was painful, and that moving into the top spot in the division would’ve been nice, and summed it up with: “I think one of the messages I gave the team, is that it’s not a fun loss, it stings. We knew what the opportunity was, but at the same time let’s not forget what’s happened here in the last month and a half or so. We’ve played some pretty decent hockey, so sometimes a loss like that just brings you back to reality and say, ‘Listen, we don’t get to where we are by accident, we gotta make sure that we play well and we do the things that we need to do to win.’ And we didn’t do that tonight, so maybe a little bit of a wakeup call to the guys, to say, ‘Listen, if we’re not gonna get our noses dirty we’re not gonna win games.’ But at the same time, I like the direction our team has taken in the last month and a half and we should take advantage of that and take those three days and get some rest and hopefully come back and be as hungry as we have been in the last while.”

         The day after Christmas will signal the return to action for Boston as they host the Buffalo Sabres with North Chelmsford, MA native Jack Eichel – #2 NHL First Round pick from Boston University -(Saturday 12/26 at 7:00pm), before beginning a home-and-home series with the Ottawa Senators – opening on Ottawa ice (Sunday 12/27 at 5:00pm), followed by the series back-end game (Tuesday 12/29 at 7:00pm) on Garden ice.

Chip Shots

 Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs was presented the 2015 Lester Patrick Trophy last week during the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Dinner. The Lester Patrick Award is named for the New York Rangers longtime coach and general manager, Lester Patrick, who during his five decades in hockey not only served as player, coach and general manager, but is also considered to be a pioneer in the development of hockey. Jacobs received the prestigious award following 41 years of Boston Bruins ownership, and his dedication to hockey has been immeasurable. Jacobs’ family’s involvement in sports includes ownership of minor league baseball and hockey teams, and his personal service to the NHL lists: Chairman of the NHL’s Board of Governors and a seat on the NHL’s Executive Committee.

Boston Bruins Announce Launch of New Children’s Television Series on NESN, “Bruins Academy”

            Boston Bruins President Cam Neely announced the launch of the organization’s new children’s television series “Bruins Academy,” a fast-paced, educational Black & Gold themed program created for youth who love the game of hockey. One 30-minute long episode of Bruins Academy will air per month on NESN, with the premiere episode having debuted on Sunday, December 20 at 3:30 p.m. on NESN. “Growing the game of hockey in our region is a top priority for the Bruins organization,” said Neely. “We hope that Bruins Academy is equal parts entertaining and educational for kids throughout New England, who love our game and want to learn more about it.” Wishing a ‘Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays’ to our Bruins Beat readers!

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