Highlights from the Reagan Hockey Summit return after a year’s COVID break

We didn’t know what was going to happen to the numbers because the schools were hesitant [COVID], said Waltham boys coach John Maguire, who has been the summit’s chief organizer since the beginning.

The only thing that differs is that we usually have some kind of workshop. Again, because of the protocol, we decided not to do it. But it worked out great.

Although the MIAA approved a rule change that will allow teams to play 17-minute periods starting this season, the summit followed its usual format of two 15-minute halves.

Maguire and others recognized WES Tuttle, NESC’s longtime executive director, who died in September 2020, but helped for years to ensure the summit’s success.

We miss Wes Tuttle. It’s not the same without him, Maguire said. But the management of the ice rink has been brilliant in the sense that it has allowed us to run it.

The number of participating 66 teams is just a small drop from the 68 teams that attended the 2019 summit, and is not much further than the all-time record of 72 teams in 2018.

Sunday’s line-up included 14 girl programs, the most in attendance since 2009.

Four teams of girls from Central Catholic, Malden Catholic, St. Joseph Prep and Stoughton skated at the summit for the first time, while Pope Francis had attended earlier when it was known as Springfield Cathedral.

Despite only 10 skaters, Central Catholic put their 6-1 victory over Stoughton on eight points. Kailin Sullivan, Cecilia Sinopoli and Megan Malolepszy each scored two goals in the Raiders.

On the boys ’side, five teams made their debuts in East / West Bridgewater, Foxborough, Gardner, Hopedale / Millis and Winchester. The summit also featured the general debut of St. Paul after the amalgamation of St. Peter-Marian and the Holy House.

Waltham’s boys and girls teams are among several who have been part of the Reagan Summit since its inception. Others include: Braintree, Burlington, Duxbury, Hingham, Malden Catholic, Marlborough, Marshfield, Newton North, Newton South, Pope Francis (formerly Springfield Cathedral), Reading and Xaverian.

Marshfield actually had two teams on the ice on Sunday. In one of the few attacks at this year’s summit, Bishop Stang was forced to retire late last week due to COVID protocols, so Marshfield coach Dan Connolly sent many of his younger players to Zone 5 to receive North Middlesex for half an hour. previously the rest of the university team was in Rink 3 against St. Johns of Shrewsbury.

It was great to go back to some of the things he was used to building a team with, said Connolly, whose team had rushed Darien (Conn.) The day before and stayed in Connecticut on Saturday night before stopping at Central Mass. on the way back to the south shore.

The Rams equalized both games on Sunday 1-1 against St. Johns and 0-0 vs. North Middlesex.

One of the tent matches was held at Rinka 4, where Lincoln-Sudbury and Hannover faced teams in battle that were declared state champions in 2020 when the state finals were canceled at the start of the pandemic.

Hannover, who handed out the Division 3 crown two years ago, showed it is still one of the teams to follow this season with a 3-0 win. Max DaSilva scored two goals for the Hawks, who also scored a goal from Quinn Brown.

After sharing the D2 crown with Guangzhou two years ago, Lincoln-Sudbury rose to Division 1 in this year’s lineup. The Warriors are one of those chasing the 2020 champions Arlington and Pope Francis, both of whom won fixed wins on Sunday. Arlington beat St. Marys 2-0, and Pope Francis won a steady 4-0 Duxbury that will drop to D2 this year under new coach Mike Flaherty (formerly of Rockland).

Of the five games played in the Rink 1 NESC main arena, the opening match between Xaverian and Hingham was perhaps the best goal of the day. Captain Bobby Falvey fired a kick from the point with 23 seconds left, leaving Harbormen 3-2.

Nonetheless, Xaveria coach Dave Spinale saw a lot of positive as his veteran team prepares to defend the Catholic Conference championship from behind the season.

Definitely a learning experience, Spinale said. We had a good level of competition. Hingham is a very good team, but I liked how hard we worked.

With teams still less than a week to start training, the summit was a welcome opportunity for most coaches to return to their normal preseason routine after a year.

Winnings and losses may not be as important in a fight as finding out who you are, what you are, and what you need to work on, Malden Catholic Boss coach Chris Kuchar said. I’m really happy to have these kids back in the trough, back in the locker room, team reunion. There were no spectators in our building last year. I’m just so glad these guys can come back, play high school hockey, and get back to some normal way, whatever it is.

Jim Clark can be reached at [email protected].