Sports
By Don Lyons
Published: December 24, 2009
Two games in, girl's hockey coach resigns
Sam Sherman, Martha's Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) girls varsity ice hockey coach, resigned Friday two games into the start of the team's regular season.
Sam Sherman, MVRHS girls hockey coach, speaks to his team in this 2008 file photo. Photo by M.C. Wallo Mr. Sherman began the program 13 years ago and has coached the high school team since its inception. This week school athletic officials and Mr. Sherman would say little about what precipitated the unexpected announcement.
In a brief telephone conversation Tuesday, Mr. Sherman told The Times it was his decision to step down. "It wasn't sensationalized or scandalous," he said. "I just want to keep it between the team and I."
The resignation followed a private meeting between a small group of players' parents and MVRHS athletic director Sandy Mincone earlier this month at which the parents discussed their concerns about the future of the program.
Gillian O' Callaghan breaks out toward the Sandwich goal with two Blue Knights in tow. Photo by Ralph Stewart Mr. Sherman submitted his resignation to Ms. Mincone Friday morning, two days after the Vineyarders lost at home to Sandwich, 7-0. Assistant coach Andre Bunnell coached the team in a 6-0 loss at Duxbury on Saturday.
On Tuesday, Gene Townes of Edgartown, who has a long association with Island hockey programs, was named the new girls coach.
In a telephone conversation Tuesday, Ms. Mincone said that Mr. Sherman arrived at the decision that he needed to step down on his own. "There is nothing that I'm holding back," she said. "He got to the point where he did what he needed to do and I accepted his resignation."
Ms. Mincone praised Mr. Sherman's long dedication and service to the team. "If it wasn't for Sam, we might not be having this conversation because there may not have been a program," she said.
Jim Kelleher has two daughters in the girls hockey program. He said the meeting with the athletic director was to talk about ways to bolster the future of the girls program. He said he was surprised to hear that Mr. Sherman resigned.
"It was a shock," Mr. Kelleher said. "He always did a good job. But it's such a commitment, maybe he had just had enough."
Mr. Kelleher said Mr. Sherman was more than just a coach. "He was like another father looking out for the kids," he said. "I never worried about my daughters being safe."
Mr. Sherman started the program 13 years ago and coached the team at the club level for the first two seasons and for 11 varsity seasons thereafter.
"We've had some great times," Mr. Sherman said. "It's been a lot of games and a lot of fun watching young women mature and be empowered by the fact that they have successfully played a tough sport and succeeded by my standards. I've seen girls go from being freshmen to visiting when they come back from college, and then helping out with the coaching. It's been great seeing the impact that hockey has on young people. It's been a good run."
Darren Gazaille scores his fourth goal of the game with this sizzler against Quincy. Photos by Ralph Stewart Two out of three for Vineyard icemen
The Vineyard boys varsity hockey team capped off a busy first week of the season by roaring back from an early two-goal deficit to throttle Quincy 9-4 at the Martha's Vineyard Arena, Tuesday.
Darren Gazaille was unstoppable, pumping in five goals. Tyler Araujo notched a goal with two assists, Cody Pachico and Chris Davies chalked up one of each, and Jock Cooperrider had a pair of assists. Nelson Dickson, Connor Chisholm, Daniel Serusa, Charles Goldthwait, Colby Gouldrup, Max Davies, and Alex Bilzerian earned an assist each.
Tyler Araujo locks horns with a Quincy High player in period three.The Vineyarders got themselves down 2-0 six minutes into the game, but Darren Gazaille's second goal in succession had the home side up 3-2 after one.
M.V. put the game out of reach in the second session with three more goals, including the score of the night when Gazaille weaved his way through four Quincy players and rifled a wrister into the roof of the net.
Louis Jacobs-Walsh started in goal, but left after the second Quincy goal with an apparent injury and was replaced by Alex Dorr who did yeoman work in relief.
The Purple outshot the Presidents 26-23.
Chris Davies steals the puck from the Bourne goalie to set up the first goal.Saturday night, the Islanders won their home opener over arch-rival Bourne, 4-0.
Colby Gouldrup scored twice, adding one assist, while Louis Jacobs-Walsh earned his first varsity shutout.
The Vineyarders swarmed the Canalmen from the start, applying almost unending pressure in front of the Bourne net. The scoreboard showed a 0-0 stalemate after the first period, but the shots on goal were more telling of the home team's dominance: M.V. 19, Bourne 1.
The second period told a similar tale, but this time, the Vineyarders were rewarded for their efforts.
Colby Gouldrup opened the scoring at 4:14, graciously accepting a gift goal.
With Bourne's goalie trying to play the puck along the corner boards, Chris Davies stole it and centered a pass to Gouldrup, who slapped a shot into the yawning cage.
Gouldrup got his second of the night, courtesy of Darren Gazaille and Conor Chisholm at 10:34.
The Vineyarders increased the lead to 3-0, 2:28 into the final period when Cody Pachico fired in a perfect feed from Ted Kram.
Darren Gazaille closed out the scoring at 8:54, popping in a rebound, stick-side. Chris Davies and Colby Gouldrup earned the assists.
M.V. finished with a monstrous 44-6 shot advantage.
The home victory was a good tonic for a tough opening night loss at Franklin on Dec. 16.
M.V. held a 3-0 lead, but the Panthers roared back with four unanswered goals, including the game-winner with 2:20 to play.
Tyler Araujo scored twice, Darren Gazaille had a pair of assists, and Chris Davies chalked up one of each.
The MVRHS alumni/ae games are this Saturday. The girls game is at 1 pm, and the boys at 2:15.
Nimrod Ned Casey fells two in one
Ned Casey of Edgartown poses with two bucks he shot Monday afternoon while stalking deer in deep snow up-Island.
Photo by Nelson SigelmanMr. Casey said he shot the first deer and reloaded his black powder rifle. He looked up and saw the second deer and assumed it was the one he had just shot at so he shot again.
The eight-pointer, the heaviest of the pair, weighed 160 pounds. For Mr. Casey it was an early Christmas present after a lean hunting season.
Massachusetts regulations allow hunters to take two bucks. There is no limit on does in Dukes County.
Island hunters have one more week to fill the freezer with venison. The black powder season and deer hunting ends one half an hour after sunset on December 31.
Environmental Police Sergeant Matt Bass said that in contrast to the shotgun season, the black powder season has been very quiet and free of complaints. "It's been night and day," he said.
Hunters took approximately 300 deer during the two-week shotgun season. That figure is down considerably from the 418 deer checked in 2008.
Hunters took 81 deer during the 2008 muzzleloader season. Steve Purcell at Larry's Tackle in Edgartown, an official deer check station, said he had checked in 31 deer taken with muzzleloaders as of yesterday morning.
A Rainy day at B.U. marked by record-breaking swims
The Mansion House Masters, the four-member swim team that practices at the Mansion House pool in Vineyard Haven, competed in the New England Short Course Meters (25-meter pool) at Boston University the weekend of December 11-13.
Only Rainy Goodale was available for the whole meet, and she was magnificent. She was first in her age group in the 50m breaststroke. Then she set a New England record winning the 100m breaststroke in 1:18.29. Then she informed the judges that she would attempt to break the record for the 50m breaststroke in the first leg of the 200m breaststroke race. And she did it! She set a new New England record of 35.97 on her way to winning the 200m event in near record time.
Rainy also placed third in the 50m butterfly, the 100m individual medley and the 200m individual medley. She also was fifth in the 50m freestyle.
Three of the four Vineyard swimmers were only available for one of the three days of the meet: Leslie Craven, Liz Fox, and Les Cutler. That trio swam in the 800 meter freestyle event on Friday.
Leslie was third in her age group. Liz placed fifth in her age group. Les was also fifth in his age group and pleased that, despite a torn ankle ligament and a sore back, he completed the course 17 seconds faster than he did in last year's meet.
Roundball round-up
The MVRHS boys varsity basketball team employed a fast break and a full-court press to defeat Bourne on the Canalmen's court, Friday, 74-60.
After watching his squad squander a 17-point lead in a 64-61 win over Sandwich on Dec. 15, Coach Mike Joyce got the four-quarter effort he was looking for.
The Islanders wasted no time asserting themselves. They led 30-13 after one quarter, increased the margin to 51-33 by halftime, and built their lead to 25 points in the third period, before Bourne mounted a small run.
Ten Vineyarders contributed to the final count led by Steve Handy's 18 points and Justin Mercier's 15. Lamar Moreis, Del Araujo, and Ben Ciciora had seven points each for M.V., who improved to 2-1.
Interscholastic roundball
The Oak Bluffs boys basketball team kept rolling after a big victory over West Tisbury last week, with wins over the Charter school and the Tisbury Tigers. The varsity's winning margin against the Charters was 41-36 in what was perhaps the first co-ed contest in the middle school ranks. The O.B. junior varsity followed suit, 18-0. Charter coach Tim Penicaud was buoyed by the play of Colin Cameron, Cyrus Breeze, David DaSilva, and Miranda Tokarz.
Against Tisbury, the Blazers posted a 52-40 win, paced by Ben Wadleigh and Alex GordonBeck, each with 13 points. GordonBeck pulled down as many rebounds (13) off the boards.
West Tisbury's boys downed the Edgartown Eagles 53-26. Kane Araujo posted 26 points for the victors.
Zac Wannamaker drained 19 points for the Eagles and Shane Schofield scored eight. First-year Eagles coach Darren Belisle praised his squad's effort. "Zac Wannamaker did a good job driving the ball to the hoop and Spencer Schofield had an endless amount of energy diving for loose balls."
West Tisbury won the JV tilt as well, 26-22. Curtis Farrell led the Eagles with 11 points.
In girls action, Edgartown defeated West Tisbury 42-26. Lucy Hackney was the high scorer for the Hawks. Rae Filley and Sam Hargy both had 10 points for Edgartown.
Oak Bluffs defeated Tisbury in the other girls contest.
RCBL week three
The Suns beat the Heat, 128-112, in a run-and-gun early-season showdown of unbeaten teams Monday night at the Martha's Vineyard Boys and Girls Club.
The Suns put up a whopping 41 points in quarter one to claim a 12-point lead they would never surrender.
Sterling Bishop led the winners with 29 points. Tim Scott was unconscious from long range, hitting four three-pointers in the opening 12 minutes and finishing with 17 points on the night.
James Holenko scored 23 points and was 7 for 10 from the charity stripe. Mike Baptiste (19 points), Matt Brown (16), and Adam Rebello (13) also had a sure touch for the Suns.
The Heat got hot hands from Jason Dyer (39 points) and Brant Silvia (31). Damon Mello scored 19.
The Suns improved to 3-0, while the Heat dropped to 2-1.
In the early game of the twin bill, the defending champion Lakers got into the win column with a 103-85 win over the winless Hornets.
All six Lakers reached double figures. Heath Estrella led the way with 24 points, Jeff Labell had 23, John Healy 19, D.J. Dolan 16, Noah Hazelton 11, and Jared Silvia 10.
Ryan Kurth (23 points), Tyson Lippincott (17), Joe McCormick (17), and Jeremy Scheffer (15) were the top Hornets.
