In reflecting on the past year of high school sports, Lynn has plenty to celebrate. The English boys basketball team won the Division 1 state championship. St. Mary’s continued its run of success with a Division 3 state championship in golf and state championship game appearances in football, girls basketball and boys soccer. The English girls basketball and Tech volleyball teams are moving in the right direction after trips to the state tournament. Tech’s Rob Wallace, St. Mary’s Jalen Echevarria and English’s Alonzo Linton scored their 1000th career points in boys hoops. Classical football quarterback Keith Ridley will continue his career at Boston College, adding to a rich legacy paved by Lynn natives on Chestnut Hill. His English counterpart, Matt Severance, wrapped up a tremendous career in which he set the program’s all-time mark for passing yards and will play at Division II Bentley. Classical baseball has qualified for the postseason, while English and St. Mary’s are knocking on the door. Those are just some of the highlights of a terrific year of Lynn high school sports.
I tip my cap to longtime Lynn TV- 15 sports announcer John Hoffman, who’ll celebrate the accomplishments of Lynn’s student-athletes Sunday evening (6 p.m. at Classical’s auditorium) at the 12th annual Lynn all-star party. I spoke with Hoffman earlier this week and he made it a point to stress that organizing the event is a true team effort. Taso Nikolakopoulos at John’s Roast Beef and Kevin Harrington at Harrington Trophy have sponsored the event with unwavering support. Also sponsoring are Wayne Alarm, Salem Five and Lazy Dog. Kudos to the sponsors for pitching in.
Another impressive point that Hoffman made during our conversation was that he doesn’t view his duties with Lynn-TV 15 as a job. Hoffman said he enjoys arriving at games without knowing what’s going to happen next. That’s one of the beauties of sports and competition. And we should strive to say the same in our respective professions.
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Everything’s coming together for the Bruins at the right time. And the more I follow this team, the more I realize how they’re everything the Cetlics weren’t. They have grit, they have heart, they’re determined and they’re resilient.
I don’t want to look past the San Jose Sharks or the St. Louis Blues, but these Bruins have checked off all the boxes on what it takes to win a championship. Tuukka Rask has played out of his mind outside a few tough games against Toronto. Brad Marchand has been an unbelievable playmaker for his teammates. David Pastrnak gave Carolina headaches during in the Eastern Conference Finals. And although Zdeno Chara looked (very) slow and (extremely) overmatched against Columbus, the fact that he’s even out there at 42 years old is impressive. You always hope they win one for the longtime veteran on the roster.
Which Celtic earned similar praise? Nobody played the way Tuukka’s playing (it should’ve been Kyrie Irving). Nobody stepped up as an incredible playmaker like Marchand has (again, this should’ve been Irving) and nobody gave Milwaukee a headache outside of Game 1.
I’d go as far as arguing that the Celtics, comparing apples to apples, had more talent on their roster than the Bruins. But as the Celtics learned the hard way this postseason, talent alone wins you nothing. You need grit, heart, determination and a “never quit” attitude. The Celtics lacked all of those.
After following the Celtics’ painful rollercoaster ride of a season and their (expected) collapse at the hands of the Bucks, it’s refreshing to see a team that plays with the necessary intangibles to achieve something special. This Bruins team is well on its way.
