CHS Roundup

Red Devils fall in tourney opener

The Chelsea High boys basketball team’s season came to a conclusion Monday evening with a 68-43 loss to Boston Latin Academy on the latter’s home court in Dorchester in the opening round of the Division 2 North Sectional of the MIAA state tournament.

The Red Devils trailed from the outset, though matters were close at 15-9 in the opening frame. However, Latin opened up an 18 point advantage, 35-17, at the half. Although Chelsea would draw within nine points in the third period, they never were able to mount a serious challenge to the Latin lead.

“Latin had some terrific outside shooters for which we could not come up with an answer,” said CHS head coach Jay Seigal. “We tried to press them full court, but even when they broke the press, they looked for the three pointer instead of taking the ball to the basket. They were 7-2 on their home floor, but 2-7 away from it, so they obviously felt very comfortable there with that strategy.”

Chelsea, which qualified for the state tourney in the final week of the season with a dramatic victory over Shawsheen to overtake Shawsheen in the Commonwealth Athletic Conference standings, entered the D-2 North as the 18th seed with an 8-12 record. Latin was the 15th seed with a 9-9 mark.

Red Devil Carlos Vazquez concluded a superb senior year and CHS career with an 18 point effort against Latin to pace Chelsea in the scoring department. Jorge Ramos hit for nine points, followed by Oscar Sabillon with five, Hector Sarmiento and Eddie Irizarry with four each, Albert Alicea with two, and Faisal Nasimi with a free throw.

Although the Devils’ exit from the tourney was a quick one, Seigal said he was very pleased with his team’s performance this season. “This team worked hard and overachieved,” said Seigal. “We overcame an 0-6 start and pulled off some huge wins to finish in second place in the Large Division of the CAC to get into the tourney. We won three of our four games against the top two teams in our division, Whittier and Shawsheen. I’m very proud of what this team accomplished.”

Bruins Beat by Bob Morello

Bruins standing tall

The Bruins are feeling pretty good about themselves, coming off a five-game road trip in which they posted four victories (Winnipeg, Tampa Bay, Florida and Islanders). When the team hits the Garden ice tonight (Thursday), to face division-rival Ottawa, the compacted schedule becomes even more hectic, as Boston will play 32 games in just 58 days. With one-third of the current season behind the B’s at press time, they find themselves a mere point behind the Montreal Canadiens for first place in the Northeast Division, and by a single point for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, and Boston has played three fewer games than the Canadiens.

Buoyed by their four-game win streak, plus the energizing stay in the Florida sunshine, the Bruins are exuding strong signs of some indicators for success – confidence, consistency and focus! Goaltender Tuukka Rask has filled the net with yeoman efforts, putting up ten victories, an impressive goals-against-average 1.89, and a very solid .930 save percentage. The question of being able to fill the void left by Tim Thomas’ “no-show,” is being answered by Rask’s strong performances. Despite a rather weak showing by the Boston defense during Tuesday’s 4-1 victory over the New York Islanders, Rask again managed to come up with the big saves, stopping 36 of the 37 shots he faced.

Wins have a way of creating confidence in both a team and a player, and that is beginning to show in the play of Tyler Seguin, whose assist on McQuaid’s first-period goal was his 100th career point. Another would be Chris Bourque who is showing that he can help this team, with his dedicated work ethic. Brad Marchand continues to impress, notching his team leading 10th goal versus the Islander, followed by David Krejci who earned his fifth goal in the Islanders win.

Boston’s brief three-game homestand following tonight’s (Thursday) game will also include encounters with Tampa Bay Lightning in a Saturday matinee (1pm), and the highly-charged Monday night (7:30pm) contest with long time division rival Montreal. The Canadiens Tuesday night, swapped right wingers, sending Erik Cole to the Dallas Stars, for former Canadien and Bruins sniper Michael Ryder, and the Stars’ 3rd round draft pick in 2013. Ryder tallied a career high 35 goals with Dallas last season, and was on the scoresheet this season with 6 goals/8 assists in 19 games.

According to TSN in Canada and ESPN reports on Tuesday, the NHL is rumored to be working on designing a realignment plan for next season, which would consist of two conferences that will have two divisions in each. The NHL has been working with the Players’ Association on this matter for three weeks. The divisional playoff format would have the top three teams in each division, plus four spots filled with wild-card teams, the top two in each conference. Eastern Conference would continue to play the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup Finals. In a proposed Eastern Conference, the Bruins would be in the Central Division with: Buffalo, Detroit, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, and Toronto. The major plus for Boston fans is the proposed lineup would include four of the ‘original six’ teams. The NHL Board of Governors must approve the ‘tentative’ plan.

MassEquality (a grassroots advocacy organization working to ensure that everyone across Massachusetts can live without discrimination and oppression based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression) has chosen to honor the Boston Bruins for their proactive efforts to ensure equality, respect and safety for all athletes. Several Bruins have made videos for the You Can Play Project, which is dedicated to improving the climate for the LGBTQ community in professional sports. The award marks the first time a professional hockey team has been honored by an LGBTQ organization and only the second time any professional sports team has been honored by the community. The Bruins will be honored tonight (Thursday) at Boston’s Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel.

Boys & girls clubs of Boston promotes literacy with Boomwriter Technology Heroes Program

BoomWriter Media, Inc., an education technology company focused on collaborative storytelling and book publishing, today announced that the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston is participating in the BoomWriter Technology Heroes Program, an initiative that helps educators become “Technology Champions.” The program brings together enthusiastic educators, local celebrities and corporate sponsors to promote literacy and inspire kids to become master storytellers through collaborative writing projects. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston will offer the Technology Heroes Program to members of their Clubs in Boston and Chelsea.

Starting in February, members from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston will have the opportunity to collaborate and write stories using the BoomWriter platform. Members can select story starts written by authors, athletes or celebrities, including the latest one authored by Pebbles from Pebbles’ Reading Rockstars and Hot 96.9 Boston FM Radio. Story starts are first chapters that spark the imaginations of kids and inspire them to write the subsequent parts of the story with their peers. Using the generous support of corporate partners, BoomWriter will convert these stories into published books. Each participating club member will receive a free copy and the thrill of their name in print with their peers.

“Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston partners with hundreds of organizations throughout the community to bring high-quality programming to the children we serve,” said Dan Buckland, Senior Education Director, Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston. “We are excited about the opportunity to pilot this innovative program designed to help our members improve their creative writing skills.”

BoomWriter inspires children to bring their stories to life online and in print. The creative process starts with the first part of a story written by a professional writer. Students then are encouraged to write what they think should happen next in the story. After submitting their work online, students read the chapters of their peers and then vote for the most appealing chapter. Once the winning chapter is selected, it is added to the story and the process continues until a book is completed.

“We are proud to partner with Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston,” said Chris Twyman, founder and CEO for BoomWriter Media. “Our company is committed to promoting literacy and providing thousands of young people the tools they need to thrive in a tech-savvy society.”

The BoomWriter Technology Heroes Program is available nationwide and invites school districts, youth organizations and corporations to get involved. Get more information at www.boomwriter.com/Home/TechnologyHeroes.

About the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston

Since its founding in 1893, Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston (BGCB) has been helping young people, especially those who need us most, build strong character and realize their full potential as responsible citizens and leaders. We do this by providing: a safe haven filled with hope and opportunity, ongoing relationships with caring adults, and life-enhancing programs in six core program areas. BGCB serves more than 15,000 young people ages 6-18 in 10 Clubs, and through Camp Harbor View and YouthConnect. BGCB is an affiliate of Boys & Girls Clubs of America and The United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley. For more information, visit us on the web at HYPERLINK “http://www.bgcb.org/”http://www.bgcb.org.

About BoomWriter Media

BoomWriter Media of Cambridge, Massachusetts is a digital education company that engages children and educators in collaborative storytelling. Our innovative Web-based publishing platform brings passionate educators, technology experts, corporate sponsors, enthusiastic parents, and students together to promote and develop creativity, writing, reading, and other essential 21st Century skills. BoomWriter partners with authors, celebrities, and educators to provide first chapters, also known as story starts, that spark kids’ imaginations and inspires story collaboration with classmates and children worldwide in competition for publication. Teachers and students from more than 2,000 schools in 20 countries have already joined the BoomWriter community. For more information, go to HYPERLINK “http://www.BoomWriter.com/”http://www.BoomWriter.com.

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