Sports 05-03-2018

CHS Roundup

CHS TRACK TEAMS COMPETE VS. WHITTIER

Last Tuesday the Chelsea High girls and boys track teams traveled to Whittier and came home with a split.

The boys were on the short end of an 83-53 score.

“Whittier is a tough and well-coached program and our boys fought really hard,” said CHS head coach Mark Martineau.

Winners for Chelsea included Wilfido Hernandez in the 400 hurdles ( 66.92), Jose Leclerc in the two mile (10:24), Justin Turner in the mile (5:02), and David Bui in the triple jump (36’8″).

Senior Alex Pedrero had a good day, taking second in both the 400 hurdles (68.08) and 110 hurdlers (18.56).

The Lady Red Devils girls improved to 3-0 with a 99-37 triumph.

Sophomore Stephanie Simon won four events: high hurdles (16.53), 200m (26.53), triple jump (34’6″), and high jump (5’4″).

“Stephanie’s height in high jump places her as one of the top high jumpers in New England early in the season,” noted Martineau.

Senior Martine Simon won the 100m (13.04) and the long jump (15’1″).  Jocelyn Poste was a triple winner in the 400 hurdles (78.38) and the javelin, as well as the 800m.

Other winners included Amanda Dias in the two mile (15:17), Yarid Deras in the mile (6:05), Ana Chang in the 400m (67.41), Masireh Ceesay in the shot put, and Jessica Martinez in the discus with a state-qualifying mark of 91’10.”

“It was a good day for this team,” said Martineau.

On Saturday the team traveled to the MSTCA Division 1 relay meet at Lincoln Sudbury High School.  The discus team of Jessica Martinez, Masireh Ceesay, and Xiana Hersme placed sixth out of 36 schools.

“This was a very tough field,” noted Martineau. “We had great representation for Chelsea.”

This week Chelsea hosts Northeast and Mystic Valley as CAC competition picks up.

KIM HUFFER RECOGNIZED BY MIAA FOR DEDICATION TO FEMALE ATHLETES

Chelsea High assistant track coach Kim Huffer has been recognized by the MIAA for her longtime contributions to female athletics.

Huffer will receive the prestigious Massachusetts Women in Athletics Distinguished Service Award at a ceremony to be held at Gillette Stadium on the morning of May 15.

According to the press release from the MIAA, the award is being presented to Huffer “to recognize the contributions made by a few special women who have devoted their time and energy to guide and nurture female athletes.”

Mary Bourque, the superintendent of the Chelsea Schools, issued a letter to the staff of the schools in which she said, “We absolutely agree with the MIAA’s choice to receive the 2018 award and I know the female athletes whom Ms. Huffer has mentored and coached through the years are also in agreement! Please join me in congratulating Ms. Huffer on this prestigious award!”

Mark Martineau, the CHS head track coach, reiterated Bourque’s praise for Huffer. “Kim is truly an amazing coach and a longtime supporter of the student athletes here at CHS,” said Martineau.

Huffer was nominated for the award by Chelsea High Athletic Director Amanda Alpert.

 

Bruins Beat

By Bob Morello

Bruins need consistency

On Saturday, the Bruins played a game in which they made winning look easy. But Monday night Boston started the game by making it look very hard to win against their second-round opponent, the Tampa Bay Lightning. The locals couldn’t score a goal, let alone get a shot on net. Something that took the team over 14 minutes to create, an attack that would produce a shot on net. But, keep in mind…you have to have the puck before you can produce a shot on goal. That was evident in Game 2 during which the Boston faceoff wins were miniscule, many times due to the fact that the Boston faceoff master, Patrice Bergeron was constantly getting thrown out of the faceoff circle on multiple occasions.

The first game of Round 2 last Saturday, had the Bruins flexing their scoring muscles while running up a 6-2 score, and finding the back of the net easily, Monday night’s Game 2 showed another side of Tampa’s physical team, as they pushed Boston around on the ice on their way to a 4-2 Bolts win. The rumbling about lack of offense from Boston’s top line in Game 1 (Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and David Pastrnak) was quickly answered by the line’s showing of offensive prowess. Game 2 not so much, although they did post assists on both Boston goals. It appeared that the ‘Zip’ line had no gas in their tanks. They had problems solving Tampa’s defense, and they found difficulty in getting into attack mode for a sustained periods of time.

Full speed ahead to Game 3 of Round 2 (Wednesday) was played in the friendly confines of TD Garden. The home ice advantage is a definite plus, with the loud crowd providing the impetus, and Boston having the last change, it should’ve stimulated the team, and perhaps created some early first-period goals – and not have to play so much ‘come from behind’ hockey. They needed to find a way to get more pucks to the net with more consistency to start with, from there it needed to be finding lanes to work the puck towards the net, and most importantly, avoid the turnovers. Coach Cassidy showed his loyalty regarding roster changes going into Game 3, as he continues to go with the troops that got the Bruins to the playoffs.

While the offense struggled in Monday’s Game 2, the defense scored both goals (Torey Krug and Charlie McAvoy), with assists to the first line, and Tuukka Rask was the dominator on several occasions, keeping the score close enough to give the Bs the chance to win. At the end of the day, the Bruins said they were happy in having been able to split the two-games and head home for Game 3, tied 1-1.

When the freshly printed Record hits the streets on Thursday morning, the Wednesday game will hae already been played and a winner decided. That means the Bruins will have another day to prepare for Game 4 (Friday at 7 p.m.). A victory by Boston on Wednesday would put the Bruins in a strong position with a lead in games 2-1. While a loss by the Bs would create a pressure situation for the host Bruins’ Friday Game 4, but likely not one they couldn’t recover from, as they have been able to bounce back with resiliency throughout the season.

Once again, I remind the readers of ‘Bruins Beat’ to please keep in mind this column was written before the Bruins-Lightning faced off for Wednesday night’s Game 3. Coach Cassidy’s summation: Start fast, eliminate turnovers, and produce! Sounds simple enough, eh? This series likely will not be a short one, nor does it appear that it will be for the faint of heart, but it is Playoff Hockey, and that is always exciting!

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