Three championships were awarded at the Boston Garden last night in the
Massachusetts High School tournament.
 
KNIGHTS WIN THIRD STRAIGHT IN SUPER EIGHT
In the nightcap, Catholic Memorial beat Matignon, 3-1, to win the Super Eight
(1A) double elimination tournament.  It is CM's 3rd straight title, 6th in
the last 7 years.  Matignon, a Div2 entry that was selected for the Super Eight
tourney, had defeated CM on Saturday to stave off elimination and force last
night's winner-take-all final.  CM's goalie is headed to Wisconsin according
to earlier reports.  The winner of the Super Eight is considered the Mass
state champion; the tourney invites the top eight teams in the state
regardless of division.  Someone had ranked CM as the top HS team in the
country last I had heard, for whatever that's worth.
 
Following a tradition that dates back at least into the 70s, the Matignon
players all had Mohawks and several had an "M" shaved into the sides of their
heads.  The Warriors have done this every time they've played for a state
title - which is every year, more often than not.  This means that yes, Shawn
McEachern once (several times!) skated around the Garden ice with a Mohawk.
 
PARKER DOES IT AGAIN
Prior to that, 20th-seeded Framingham HS (which had defeated my alma mater in
the semifinal) pulled off the shocking upset of heavily-favored Burlington HS,
8-4, to win the Div 1 championship.  Framingham is led by first-year coach
Bruce Parker.  Parker was head coach and AD at Merrimack from 1978-83 and
hired current coach Ron Anderson as JV coach in 1980; Anderson succeeded
Parker three years later.  But what makes this win notable, is that with every
team at every level of hockey that Parker has EVER coached, he has won a
championship - from Montclair HS (New Jersey) to Methuen (Mass) HS to
Merrimack College to Framingham, and I know there are several more I've
missed - this dates back 25 years or so.  Parker is a coaching legend in the
state of Massachusetts, probably right up there with Marty Pierce of Matignon
or Ed Burns of Arlington.  Some college team out there would do well to make
him an offer.  He's been out of college coaching for 9 years.  Now he wins a
title with a 20th seed - that is unheard of.
 
One of the most incredible goals I've ever seen was scored by a Framingham
player.  He carried the puck through the neutral zone, over the blue line -
1-on-2 - and was forced wide right.  He lost control of the puck, bounced off
one guy, picked it up again and stickhandled through another couple of guys
across the slot, ended up at the bottom of the left circle and put a shot
on net that was stopped, but just before he was hit by a defenseman, he
pushed the rebound through the five-hole.  I wasn't at the game but saw the
highlights on the news, and it was something to watch this play develop.
 
HINGHAM TAKES TWO
In the first game of the day, Hingham HS (home of former RPI player Neil
Hernberg) got a goal early in the third to break a 1-1 tie and went on to
defeat St John's of Shrewsbury, 2-1.  That gave Hingham the state Div 2
championship.
 
 
- mike