Sports
Franklin steals a win
Despite Saturday's snow storm, the Franklin Panthers kept their appointment with the Vineyard varsity hockey team at the Martha's Vineyard Arena. Their constancy was rewarded with a win, undeserved as it may have been.
The Martha's Vineyard hosts scored first just two minutes and nine seconds into the game when Colin Hurd found the net, assisted by Tad Gold. Five minutes later Franklin's Joe Fernandez's goal tied the score and two minutes after that, Brett Learner scored what proved to be the decider on a power play. The Martha's Vineyard infraction was the only one in the period. Joe Fernendez and Mike Iacobucci were credited with assists.
Things got a bit chippy in the second period; five players were sent to the sin bin: three Panthers and two Vineyarders. No one scored but the Islanders were clearly in charge, taking 15 shots on goalie Jeff Kaplan as Martha's Vineyard's Mike Capen was handling the five that tested him.
The third period was also scoreless. Shots on goal favored Martha's Vineyard again, but not by much - 7-5.
The loss was the Vineyard's first of the season and its record thus far is 2-1.
Photos by Ralph Stewart
Sports Highlights
Hoopsters outlook
Both of the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School varsity basketball teams' scheduled games with Canton (boys) here and Wareham (girls) there were canceled by the storm Friday that dumped up to a foot of snow on southern Massachusetts.
During the Christmas break, weather permitting, the boys will play at Cape Cod Tech on Friday, Dec. 26, and at Harwich the next day. On Monday, Dec. 29, the boys will be home to Wayland and play at Sandwich, Saturday, Jan. 2.
The girls schedule called for a home game with Norwell yesterday and a game at Abington, Saturday after Christmas. Wayland visits Monday, Dec. 28, and Sandwich beckons on Tuesday.
Coach Stewart is pleased with her team's improving efforts, especially as six of the ten roster players are sophomores.
Master strokes
Rainy Goodale and Les Cutler, both members of the Mansion House Masters swim team, competed in the New England Short Course Meters Championships at Boston University, a week ago.
According to Les, both his and Rainy's times were better than predicted times based on previous races, an improvement attributed to the swim clinic held at the Mansion House pool in October.
Les wrote, "Rainy was incredible. She competed in eight events over two days and was second in her age group in the 50, 100, and 200 meter breaststroke events as well as getting a third place finish in the 100 meter individual medley in her age group. She was an 'ironwoman' and her race times were faster than her 'seed,' or predicted, times in seven of eight events."
Les competed in four events improving his predicted time "substantially" in three of the events, proving to Les, at least, the value of the type of technical approach to training to which they had been introduced in the October clinic.
Clipped
The Martha's Vineyard Regional High School girls varsity hockey team was defeated at the Falmouth Ice Arena, Thursday, 7-1. It was their second loss in as many starts.
Both Mikala Sweeney and Shay Callahan scored twice for the Clippers. Also scoring: Ashley Jessman, Jackie Sartell, Mollie Copeland.
Gillian O'Callaghan scored for the Vineyard assisted by Maggie Johnson in the third period. Jamie Forend was the busy Vineyard goalie.
Grads alert
The annual alumnae and alumni hockey games will be played at the Arena on Friday, Dec. 26 at 1:15 and 2:30 pm. Skaters planning to participate should call Kurt Mundt at 508-693-5329 or reach him by email: mundt@vineyard.net.
Curling news
The U.S. Paralympics Curling Team, which won Bronze in the 2008 World's Wheelchair Curling Championships in Switzerland, will take on the Cape Cod Paralympics team at the Curling Club at 37 Highfield Drive in Falmouth on Wednesday, Dec. 31, at 3:30 pm. The public is cordially invited to attend. No admission fee will be charged.
The visiting team is the same that will represent the U.S. in the Wheelchair Championships at Vancouver, B.C., in 2009 and again in the same city in the 2010 Paralympics.
Jennifer's just deserts
Jennifer Murphy of Vineyard Haven, a 2006 graduate of Martha's Vineyard Regional High School and now a junior at Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y., has been named to the Empire Conference all-star team and recognized by the National Field Hockey Coaches Assn. by placement on the North Atlantic All Region second team. Jennifer was outstanding on defense and led her team in assists. She was chosen by her teammates as Most Valuable Player and will be team captain next year.
He just keeps rollin' along
Friends of Bill - Brown, that is - helped him celebrate his 100th marathon last October 26 by convoying him through the Cape Cod Marathon wearing shirts that read "We are running with a legend" and partying afterwards at the home of Larry Johnson. It was quite a departure for the self-effacing insurance salesman who, earlier in the year, had achieved the goal of running a marathon in each of the 50 states.
On November 9th Bill quietly ran marathon number 101 from Nags Head to Roanoke Island, North Carolina. Next is the New Orleans marathon on Sunday, Feb. 1, a warm up for the Mount Everest marathon in Nepal in late May.
Youth hockey
Almost all of last weekend's Martha's Vineyard Youth Hockey scheduled games were canceled by the snowstorm but the Martha's Vineyard Squirts made it to Foxboro to play Tri County. They lost in squeaker, 6-5.
Getting there was at least half the work: boarding an early ferry, catching a bus to Foxboro to play a 50-minute game beginning at 11:50 am. Because of the storm the bus ride alone took two and a half hours. They do this every weekend. That's called dedication by coaches, players and parents.
Island roots of the game
Robert Hughes of Oak Bluffs graduated from the Oak Bluffs school (first through 12th grades) in 1931, then matriculated at Springfield College from which he graduated in 1935. He recalls hearing a lecture by Dr. James Naismith about how he invented basketball there in 1891. The following information was reported by Mr. Hughes.
James Naismith was born in Ontario, Canada in 1861, the son of Scottish immigrants. He attended McGill University from which he received a Doctor of Divinity degree. Soon after he joined the faculty of Springfield College as a physical education teacher.
He was assigned the task of inventing a game that could be played indoors in winter. After several sleepless nights he concluded that the new game should have three features: no running with the ball, no physical contact, points to be scored by throwing a ball in an arc or curve.
He asked the janitor, Pop Stebbins, for two 18" boxes for goals. Stebbins said he did not have boxes but he did have two peach baskets in the storeroom. So the peach baskets were nailed to the wall of the gym 10' high. Dr. Naismith decided to use a soccer ball for his game. Players were divided, nine to a side, three forwards, three centers, and three backs.
When a basket was scored the game stopped as someone climbed a ladder to retrieve the ball. Later a hole was cut in the bottom of the basket and pole replaced the ladder. Still later, the bottom of the basket was removed and the game became much faster.
The first game was played on December 21, 1891.
In that same year, Dr. Naismith attended the Martha's Vineyard Institute, the first summer school in the USA. The school was located on a hill in Oak Bluffs opposite the East Chop Beach Club.
The game quickly caught on and became popular.
Dr. Naismith left Springfield College to become director of physical education at the University of Kansas. He died at Lawrence, Kansas, on November 18, 1939, at the age of 78.
