Sports 10-29-2015

CHS Roundup

CHS boys soccer

team stands at 15-0-2

The Chelsea High boys soccer team remains undefeated after taking the measure of two more opponents this past week. Coach Mick Milutinovic’s squad now stands at a lofty 15-0-2 for the season with one game remaining. The Red Devils will seek to conclude an undefeated season when they host Winchester today (Thursday) at 4:00.

After the previous week’s encounters with some of the toughest opponents on its schedule, Chelsea suffered a letdown in its contest last Thursday on its home turf against Mystic Valley. Derilson DePina gave the Red Devils an early 1-0 lead, but MV struck back for two goals before the first half ended to take a 2-1 lead, an uncharacteristic position for the Red Devils, who not only were trailing. but also for allowing two goals in a game (Chelsea entered the contest with just 13 goals-against in its previous 15 matches).

However, after some timely words from Milutinovic at the half, the Red Devils revved up their offensive engines and soon took control. Carlos Cruz, assisted by Yefferson Padlla, brought Chelsea back to level shortly after the intermission.

DePina, assisted by Padilla, and then unassisted, reached the back of the net twice, giving himself a hat trick and his team both the lead and some insurance.

“We came out flat,” said CHS assistant coach Evan Protasowicki, “but we got it together in the second half and dominated from there.”

This past Tuesday the Red Devils hosted Northeast Regional Vocational, a Commonwealth Athletic Conference rival for whom Chelsea never needs to get  motivated to play.

Although Chelsea controlled the action, they managed only one goal in the opening 40 minutes, that coming from captain Wilber Tejada. The goal was set up when a header by Kevin Umanzor-Torres off a nice crossing pass just went wide of the goal. However, Tejada, who was breaking down the wing, saved the ball from going out and then beat the NE keeper.

“It was a true hustle play by Wilber,” said Protasowicki. “It was only his second goal of the season, but it was a big one.”

The Red Devils continued to dominate the play after the intermission and soon enlarged their lead, with Carlos Cartagena breaking away on a through pass from Derilson DePina and then DePina blasting a shot into the upper corner  from about 20 yards out.

For Derilson, the tally marked his eighth goal in three games. “Derilson has been amazing for us,” said Protasowicki. “He seems to have a sense for where the keeper is at all times and makes these shots that seem to come out of nowhere, but which always find the mark.”

After the Winchester encounter today, Milutinovic and his crew will await word of their seeding and first round opponent in the Division 2 North Sectional of the state tourney. A win or tie with Winchester will all but assure the Red Devils of the top seed in the D-2 North.

CHS cross-country

teams defeat Everett

The Chelsea High boys and girls cross country teams took on two former, long-time rivals from the Greater Boston League last week with both teams beating Everett, but narrowly losing to Medford.

In the Everett race, the girls took the first six spots to win the meet, 15-50.  Senior captain Wendy Becerra outraced all competitors in her final meet on the CHS home course in a time of 22:20, which was just three seconds off Wendy’s personal record (PR).

Freshman Jocelyn Poste was second overall, running 23:53 and bettering her previous PR by 1:27.  Junior Melanie Nguyen was third, also turning in a PR by seven seconds with a clocking of 24:02.

Senior Cynthia Guzman was fourth with a 46-second PR. In fifth place was Yarid Deras, who ran 25:17 to knock 1:40 off her previous PR.  Sophomore Jennifer Navarro ran her best race of the year, finishing in sixth place with a PR of 25:28, over a two-minute improvement from her previous best.

In the Medford meet the girls lost by the closest of margins, 27-28.  Once again Wendy Becerra was the overall winner and Jocelyn Poste finished in second place.  However five of the next six spots went to Medford.  Melanie Nguyen ran a very gutsy race and passed two Medford girls in the last quarter mile of the race to finish sixth, but it was not quite enough.  Cynthia Guzman and Jennifer Navarro finished in ninth and 10th respectively to complete the scoring for Chelsea.

“We had a very tight meet and we ran as well as we could,” said CHS head coach Don Fay. “Unfortunately, we just came up on the short end.”

The Lady Red Devils ended their regular season with a 7-3 record in the Commonwealth Athletic Conference and  8-5 overll. “Three of our losses were very competitive,” noted Fay. “We have done very well for a small team and are running really strong going into the league meet Saturday on the 31st.”

Last Saturday the girls also competed at the first annual John Kent relays, which is named in honor of the former cross country coach who passed away over the summer.  The Chelsea team, consisting of Jocelyn Poste, Melanie Nguyen, and Wendy Becerra, finished second as a team behind Greater Lawrence.  Each leg was approximately 1.4 miles that each girl ran on the Gr. Lowell course.

On the boys’ side, last Monday the Red Devils raced to a 22-36 victory over Everett in their last home meet of the year.  Senior Jose Aguiar ran a 58-second PR to secure the victory at 18:23, beating the Everett runner in the last half mile.  Jansel Claudio finished third and also set a PR by over a minute in 19:27.  Senior captain Johnny Gomez was right behind in 19:31 with a 34-second PR.  Jose Cintron finished in sixth place in a time of 20:10.  Diego Estrada and Adriel Cedano finished in the same time at 20:22.  Diego’s effort was a PR by 1:28 and Adriel’s clocking was a 27 second improvement over his previous PR.

“The boys ran very well and most everyone had a significant improvement on their time,” said Fay. “We are getting near the end of the season and are beginning to peak and reap the benefits of all our hard work this season.”

Against Medford the Red Devils lost a very close contest by the score of 26-29.

“It was a little disappointing because we did have a good chance against them,” noted Fay. “We let a couple of close races get away from us at the end.”

Jose Aguiar once again won in a close battle to the finish, winning in a time of 14:48, beating Medford’s top runner by two seconds.  Johnny Gomez and Jansel Claudio finished fourth and fifth for the Red Devils.  However, the next three spots went to Medford.  Sophomore Diego Estrada was ninth for Chelsea and Adriel Cedano was 10th to finalize the scoring for Chelsea.

The boys finished 5-5 in the CAC and 6-7 overall. They will be traveling Saturday to Gr. Lawrence to run the league meet. Aguiar will be seeking to crack the top nine to earn all-conference at the league meet.

Bruins Beat by Bob Morello

Bruins playing with confidence

Boston fans celebrated an early Thanksgiving on Tuesday night with an abundance of goals – six in all, on their way to posting an impressive 6-0 shutout win against the Arizona Coyotes. Impressive in the fact they showed consistency! in all three zones, and, for a full 60 minutes. The apostrophe on the word ‘consistency,’ evidenced by their scoring – one goal in the first period, two in the second, and three in the third, in dismantling a slow, obviously tired Coyotes team playing their fifth game in eight days.

Starting with a steady performance in net from Tuukka Rask who faced a total of 24 Coyote shots, on a night he really wasn’t tested much, while posting his 27th career shutout, tying him with Ed Johnston for 4th all-time team history. The B’s defense was able to provide Rask with strong support, forcing the Coyotes to execute their attack with low-percentage scoring chances. The defense stepped up despite the loss of blue liner Kevan Miller who did not play in the third period due to injury. The five remaining defensemen shared the minutes, with Zdeno Chara (24:57), Torey Krug (22:05), Adam McQuaid (20:57, with Joe Morrow and Colin Miller both picking up just under 19 minutes each.

Some stats of note include: the 23-man roster shows 19 players with points, while the goal scoring efforts are shared by 14 different players. That’s a nice balance through the first eight games of 2015-16. The score sheet stats jump out with the steady work of David Krejci, who currently sits near the top of NHL Scoring Leaders with 14 points (7-7), and an eight-game scoring streak. Jimmy Hayes put up three points against the Coyotes (1-2), joined by Matt Beleskey and Loui Eriksson with a pair of goals each, plus a goal and an assist for Brad Marchand, and Joe Morrow notching his first NHL goal, as Brett Connolly continues to score with his third. As always, confidence creates consistency, and the team’s performance on Tuesday night was a bright sign of what is possible for this team’s future, now having taken nine of the last ten points available.

Boston has a two-game road trip with back-to-back games against the Florida Panthers (Friday, 10/30 at 7:30pm), and Tampa Bay Lightning (Saturday, 10/31 at 7:00pm), before returning to Garden ice to face the streaking Dallas Stars – currently 7-2-0 in their last nine games, led by Jamie Benn (8-7=15) and former Bruin Tyler Seguin (4-9=13).

DRESSING FOR VICTORY:

The Boston Bruins have unveiled their 2016 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic uniform. To celebrate this historic rivalry matchup, Reebok designers looked to the early days of the Bruins franchise. The inspiration for the design of the full uniform and the crest generally came from the first uniform ever worn by the Bruins during their inaugural season in 1924, under legendary coach Art Ross.

The striping pattern recalls this uniform, but has been updated in the Bruins current identity colors of Black & Gold, connecting the past and current Bruins color identity. A unique crewneck collar was developed for this uniform reflecting a more literal interpretation of the “sweaters” worn from that era. With the Boston word mark arched over an illustrated bear and Bruins, the crest varies only slightly in layout from the 1924 original.

The crest colors celebrate both the beginning and modern day color palette of this historic franchise, and are executed in felt and chenille materials, similar to the original crest. The number system was developed to mimic numbers worn in these early days of the franchise. A new version of the spoked “B” was developed to better connect with the aesthetic of the historic crest.

Fans can pre-order the 2016 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic jersey at the ProShop powered by Reebok at TD Garden (bostonproshop.com) add the code ‘Winter 10 thru 11/15) and receive a 10% discount. Fans will receive free shipping if ordered before 11/30. All NHL Winter Classic jerseys pre-ordered through the ProShop will come adorned with the official NHL Winter Classic shoulder patch and will arrive in a commemorative jersey box.

PASSING OF FORMER BRUIN:

Sad to hear of the passing of Fleming Mackell (1929 – 2015), the former Boston Bruin and Toronto Maple Leafs star passed away peacefully October 19, 2015 at the age of 86. Fleming was a fierce competitor. In his thirteen-year NHL career (3 with Toronto, 10 with Boston – 1951-1960), he won two Stanley Cups with the Leafs (1949 and 1951) and was named first team center All Star in the 1952-1953 season with the Bruins. He was the youngest player to play on an NHL All Star team at 18 in his rookie season with Toronto.

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