Louis Jacques writes:
>The University Of Maine goalie, Greg Hirsch, played high school hockey for
>Chelmsford High School, Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Not known as a hockey power
>house.
 
Whoa, Louis!  I have to step in to defend the honor of the Merrimack Valley
Conference here. :-)  Chelmsford may have struggled a little recently and
certainly wasn't of CM's caliber (HS hockey in Mass. is now "the
Catholics and everyone else"), but they were ranked very highly in the
state during much of the 1980s and until recently were one of the top
public school teams in Mass.  Among their claims to fame, Chelmsford has
produced Jon Morris, the all-time Hockey East leading scorer, and also Rob
Tobin, who was outstanding for a season at Army before transferring to a
DivIII school (I'm thinking Babson) since Army turned out to not be for
him.  Morris now plays for New Jersey although I think he may be in Utica
now.
 
The Chelmsford-Billerica matchups in 1983-84 featured Morris for Chelmsford
and none other than Tommy Glavine for rival Billerica HS.  I believe Morris
finished with 85 points that year while Glavine had 91 and was the
recipient of the award for best HS hockey player in Mass.  Everyone knows
what happened to Glavine now, Cy Young winner for the Atlanta Braves, but
it is interesting to note that after being drafted by the Braves (and LA
Kings), Glavine chose to turn down a scholarship offer from Lowell to play
pro baseball.  It is frightening to think what could have happened had he
gone to Lowell along with Morris.  He would have been nothing short of an
outstanding college hockey player, at the least, and was a candidate for
the 1988 US Olympic Team (which Morris turned down an invitation for).
Morris had 97-134--231 from 1984-88 with Lowell.
 
I know all this well because I graduated in 1985 from Central Catholic HS,
which beat Chelmsford and then Billerica in the season's final two games
to vault over both and win the MVC with a 16-2-2 record. :-)
 
 
- mike
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Mike Machnik    [log in to unmask]   Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors
(Any opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.)    *HMN*