CHS Roundup
CHS track teams perform well at GBL Meet
The Chelsea High boys and girls indoor track teams turned in fine individual and team performances at the Greater Boston League Meet held this past Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Athletic Center.
The Lady Red Devils capped a superb 2017 season with a strong third place finish in the team standings with 81 points, trailing only Somerville (85 points) and Malden (128 points) and well ahead of Everett (29 points), Greater Lawrence (25 points), and Medford (20 points).
“Finishing this close to second place is an amazing accomplishment for this group of girls,” said CHS head coach Mark Martineau.
Sophomore Amanda Dias continued her winning streak by taking first place in the two mile event in a time of 12:52.69. Junior Martin Simon took first place in the long jump (16′) and second place in the dash with a personal record (PR) time of 7.56.
Finishing fifth in the dash was freshman Isha Osman who ran a PR of 7.81. Senior Owliyo Mohamud took second place in an exciting 300 meter race with a PR time of 43.91. Senior Sylvia Agyewaa broke her own school record in the hurdles, finishing second in a time of 9.47. Sylvia also took fourth in the long jump with a leap of 13′-10″.
Sophomore Jocelyn Poste finished second in the 1000 meter event with a PR and new school record time of 3:27.06. Sophomore Yarid Deras finished third in the mile with a clocking of 6:45.40.
Senior Alex Martinez took sixth in the shot put with a toss of 26′-9″. The 4 x 800 relay team of Deras, Poste, Dias, and freshman Karina Avalos took second place in a time of 11:51.50.
The 4 x 200 relay quartet of Simon, Agyewaa, Osman, and Mohamud provided an exclamation point to the CHS girls’ performance with a dominant victory — by more than eight seconds — over all rivals in a time of 1:50.36 that shattered the CHS school record.
A number of Lady Red Devils will be moving on to the MIAA State Division 2 championship meet: Martin Simon (dash and long jump), Isha Osman (dash), Owliyo Mohamud (300M), Sylvia Agyewaa (hurdles), Jocelyn Poste (600M), Yarid Deras (mile), Amanda Dias (two-mile), and Alex Martinez and Masireh Ceesay in the shot put. The 4 x 200 foursome of Simon, Osman, Agyewaa, and Mohamud also have qualified for the D-2 Meet.
The CHS boys finished off the season by placing fourth overall behind Malden, Somerville, and Everett, and ahead of Medford and Greater Lawrence.
Senior Nick Ieng placed fifth in the 50 dash with a sprint of 6.99 seconds, a new CHS school record. Senior Adriel Cedano finished third in the 300, running a PR and setting a new CHS mark of 37.45.
Senior Walid El Mellouki placed sixth in the 1000 in a time of 2:56.53. Junior Jose Leclerc ran a PR of 4:53.12 for a fourth place finish in the mile. The 4 x 400 relay team of Cedano, Isaac Colcord, Kevin Umanzor, and Leclerc finished second with time of 3:44.91.
Advancing to the MIAA Division 2 championship are Jose Leclerc in the mile, Adriel Cedano in the 300, and the 4 x 400 relayers.
Bruins Beat
by Bob Morello
Former Bruins coach to Montreal
The definition of the title of the novel “You Can’t Go Home Again,” written by Thomas Wolfe, is explained as – “Once you have left your country town or provincial backwater city for a sophisticated metropolis you cannot return to the narrow confines of your previous way of life and, more generally, attempts to relive youthful memories will always fail.” In the case of former Bruins coach Claude Julien’s return to coaching Montreal, this statement is a misnomer… as he has returned once again to coach the Montreal Canadiens for a second time. His first term as head coach with Montreal was January 2003 to January 2006, where he posted a record of 72-62-10-15 in 159 regular season games.
Strangely, Julien replaces Michel Therrien for the second time, the first time he replaced Therrien was after 46 games into the 2002-03 season. This season Therrien made it through 58 games into the 2016-17 season, before being replaced, again by Julien. Having already coached 997 regular season games in his career, Julien will now hit the 1,000 games coached milestone, behind the Montreal bench.
The task of Julien’s job will be to get Montreal back on the winning track, as while the struggling Habs currently sit in first place in the Atlantic Division with a total of 70 points, maintaining a six-point lead over both the Ottawa Senators and the Boston Bruins, the Senators still have four games in hand. Also in the chase is the surprising Toronto Maple Leafs who currently trail the Canadiens by seven points, while holding three games in hand. Montreal’s last ten games show a poor 3-6-1 record, with goaltender Carey Price seeing more rubber than the employees at Goodyear’s tire factory.
The 56-year-old Julien is the fifth NHL coach terminated this season, along with Gerald Gallant (Florida Panthers), Jack Capuano (New York Islanders), Ken Hitchcock (St. Louis Blues), and Therrien. Montreal’s downward spiral caught many by surprise following their hot streak (13-1-1) to begin the season, to their mediocre follow-up record of 18-18-7. Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin spoke highly of Julien’s hiring during his press conference, announcing the reason for his hiring at this time, with the hope that the change will bring, “New energy, a new voice, a new direction to the franchise. Claude Julien is an experienced and well respected coach with a good knowledge of the Montreal market, Claude has been very successful as an NHL coach and he won the Stanley Cup. Today we hired the best available coach, and one of the league’s best, I am convinced that he has the capabilities to get our team back on the winning track.”
This coaching move will certainly spark the Montreal-Boston rivalry for years to come, or at least as long as Julien is behind the Canadiens bench. Some of the interesting things that evolved from this coaching change is the fact that Montreal needed Boston’s permission to speak with Julien, as he was still under contract with the Bruins for one more year. It is surprising that Boston did not at least make it difficult for Montreal to sign Julien, by requesting some sort of compensation. While it is understandable that the Bruins appreciated the job that the Bs winningest coach had done in his 10-year tenure, but when it comes to a divisional rival having the upper hand on you by signing your coach with no compensation, appreciation goes right out the window.
During all of this ‘changing places’ scenario, the fact remains that both Montreal and Boston are in the midst of their NHL mandated bye week. Players will be completely off with no practice during this break. There will be practice permitted after 4 p.m. local time on the fifth day if there is a game on the sixth day; otherwise no practice will be allowed on the fifth day. For Montreal, who will host the Winnipeg Jets on the sixth day (2/18 at 2:00pm), Julien will have a very small window in which to work with his new team before they play their first game under their new coach’s tutelage.
The Bruins’ next game will be Sunday, February 19 at 8:30 hosted by the San Jose Sharks, whom they recently beat 6-3 last week on Garden ice. San Jose is the first stop in Boston’s four games in eight days West Coast road trip which will include stops in Anaheim, Los Angeles, and Dallas.