Basketball

Elks Hoop Shoot

Two state Elks Hoop Shoot champions from Nashua, 8-year old Trevor Labrecque and 9-year old Grace Cardin, will be among 36 state champions from throughout New England who will be competing in Portland, Maine on March 22, for the New England regional title.

The contest will start at 9:15 a.m. at Scarborough High School and is open to the public. The New England regional is one of 12 being held in the country to determine the 72 national finalists.

Each contest consists of 25 free throws. The six regional winners from the Maine competition will have a chance to stake their claim to one of six spots on the Elks Hoop Shoot plaque in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

This is the fourth level of competition. Eight years ago, the Greater Nashua Elks boosted its first National Hoop Shoot Champion when then 12-year-old Caleb Donnelly of Hudson won the 12-13 Boys Division.

Nashua Nighthawks

fourth grade boys

The Nighthawks won three playoff games to secure a spot in the fourth grade championship game, eventually bowing to Wakefield. But along the way the Nighthawks won 40-8 over Windham, 43-42 over Tewksbury, then 44-39 over Pelham.

The Nighthawks, who had a solid team effort, included Joey Champa, Nick Dahl, River Hart, Alex Hulfachor, Josh Kane, Aidan Lynn, Rhett Medling, David Mullaney, Michael Popik, Michael Rosatano and Jacob Taylor.

Nashua Nighthawks

seventh grade girls

The Nighthawks were named division champions as they ended their season in first place and eventually captured the River Valley League title.

In the playoffs, Nashua downed Merrimack in the preliminaries, 40-21. Peyton Ryan was named player of the game, scoring 10 points and controlling the defensive boards.

In the quarterfinals, the Nighthawks beat Pelham, 38-35 as Kathryn Lynn started the scoring spark with six quick points. Arianna Motivala had some great steals that converted to quick layups and finished with nine points.

Jasmine Sylvester had a fabulous second half scoring 10 points, including two clutch free throws with 10.6 seconds left to put Nashua up by three.

Nashua topped Salem in the sems with good defense and some key 3-pointers by Katie Carr and Julia Gagnon at the end to seal the win.

Julia Gagnon scored 13 and Arianna Motivala, 17.

Defensive pressure by Janessa Lofton and Sarah St Pierre and rebounding by Peyton Ryan, Kathryn Lynn, Jaden Smith and Julia Sullivan kept Nashua on top. The Nighthawks then topped Wakefield in the finals.

Lynn was named MVP of the tourney as she was a force on the boards and had several big hoops to keep Nashua on top.

Motivala, Jaden Smith and Julia Gagnon were named to the River Valley All-Star Team. The team is coached by Heidi Moore and Assisted by Sean Ryan.

Nighthawks fifth grade

boys white

Nashua wrapped up a successful season in the Merrimack Valley West Division, finishing second in the regular season out of 12 teams with a 14-4 record, and won two playoff games before falling 37-15 to Wakefield in the finals.

The Nighthawks defeated Tewksbury 39-28 in the quarterfinals and Chelmsford, Mass., 35-22 in the semis. In the Tewksbury game, Sid Dutta led the scoring with 13, followed by Stephen Norris with eight. Strong defensive efforts also came from Dutta with seven steals as well Sam McElliott with eight rebounds. Against Chelmsford, Norris topped the scoring with nine points followed by Sebastian Coelho with eight and Daniel Dockrill and Isaac Acorn with six apiece. Leading rebounders were McElliott and Dockrill with 11 each. Landon Moore also helped out defensively.

In the finals against Wakefield, balanced scoring came from McElliott, Norris, Dutta, Kyle Gauthier, Geoffrey Lynch, Dockrill, Nick Drew, Connor Dunning and Acorn. The team is coached by Bernard Dockrill and Geoff Norris.

Nighthawks fifth grade

boys green

The Nashua Nighthawks fifth grade boys green team finished their year as undefeated champions of the Merrimack Valley League, finishing their regular season 14-0.

The team participated in three tournaments over the winter, playing up to grade six for one of them, and winning both of their divisions.

In the league championship tournament, the Nighthawks downed eighth ranked Windham, 59-33, fifth ranked Billerica, 54-32, and in the finals, Methuen, 66-44.

The team has been invited to participate in the Massachusetts Travel Team State Tournament, an invitation-only tournament consisting of top teams from Massachusetts leagues.

Coached by Stephanie Kane and Aaron Lopez, the Nighthawks roster included Jalen Gilmore, Curtis Harris, Nathan Kane, Matt Keisling,

Jaden Murphy, Liam Novak, Mikey Robbins, Cody Rocheleau, John Sullivan, and Joshua Taylor.

CYO basketball

Jr. Mites

(third and fourth grade)

St. Christopher Green 33,

Resurrection Orange 21

The St. Chris Green Jr Mites (9-0) won their semi-final matchup as they shut out Ressurection 14-0 in the second quarter to lead 21-8 at the half.

St. Chris was led offensively by Trevor Lebreque (13 points), Bobby Cannaway (12), Sam Dufoe (seven) and Chris Prangley (two).

Nolan Ryan, Cameron Prangley, and Kate Daley played well defensively for St. Chris. Faith Sutton and Carlie Dufoe also displayed excellent ball handling. St. Chris plays for the championship on Sunday.

Girls Mites

(fifth and sixth grade)

Deanery Tournament

Semifinals

Ressurection 21,

St. Christopher 12

Anna Stawasz, Nicole Yeaton and Grace Wilson played well defensively for St. Christopher, and Ava Therrien and Claire LaPlante got key rebounds for the Huskies. Offensively, Kristen Coumas and Sophia Lathram had four points each, and Natalie Sheehy and Aliya Lewis each contributed two for St. Chris.

Boys Mites

(fifth-sixth grade)

Deanery Tournament

semifinals

St. Christopher Green 38,

Resurrection 16

St. Christopher’s transition game overcame the Resurrection full court press to advance to the finals. Leading scorers for St. Chris were Chase Nickerson (18 points), Emeka Okorie (nine), Matthew Thibault (four), Alex Williams (three), Toby Therrien (two) and Manny Mendoza (two).

Biddy basketball

Wildcats finish 15-1

In the Nashua Junior Biddy league, the Wildcats, coached by Antoine “Rosie” Buckmire and Steve Beaulieu finished the year at 15-1 in regulation competition.

Buckmire, known as”Coach Rosie” has been the Wildcats coach for several years, has received much gratitude from parents and player, and is expected to return to the Wildcats next year.

Hockey

Nashua Panthers win title

The Nashua Panthers Squirt AA team won the Tier 4 state championship in dramatic fashion at Ham Arena in North Conway.

In the first game, the Panthers suffered their only loss of the tournament against a great Henniker team by a score of 3-2. Javin Manfield tallied first for Nashua, assisted by Brian Chisholm and Eric Bragg. Ryan Cavanaugh added the second but it wasn’t enough to overcome Henniker’s tough defense.

In the team’s second tourney second contest, the fourth seeded Panthers tied second place Twin Valley 4-4. Cavanaugh scored twice, and Connor Ludford and Chris Skelley each added one.

With both teams sporting identical records in the preliminary round, they went to the tiebreakers to determine who would go to the semifinals. With goals for and against being the exact same for each team, it went down to the fourth tiebreaker – least penalty minutes.

The Panthers had only two penalties in the first round compared to Twin Valley’s 10.

Nashua then defeated top seed Upper Valley 3-2 in sudden death overtime on a Skelley goal, assisted by Cavanaugh.

Scorers in regulation were Cavanaugh and
Chisholm, with Beckstein and Skelley earning assists.

Nashua then topped Mount Washington Valley,3-2, in the finals on a late Beckstein goal.

Goaltender Matt Licata, who had already played a spectacular game earlier, picked up right where he left off, keeping Nashua close to set the stage for another impressive comeback win.

Chisholm scored first, with a hard shot from the circle, aided by Shaun Marion’s net front presence. The Panthers tied it at two with yet another Skelley-Beckstein-Cavanaugh combination.

With just over three minutes left, Skelley sent the puck to Cavanaugh in the corner, who made a perfect feed to Beckstein in front, who slammed home the one timer to take a 3-2 lead. The defensive corps of Ludford, Kyle Dunn, Mitchell Lynch, and Titus Tieman held the blue line with vigor to keep MWV from getting close in the final minutes.

Southern NH

Cavalier Squirt Blue

win two

The SNH Cavaliers topped Newburyport, 3-2 behind the goaltending of Ben Foley.

Forward Aidan Rowe along with defensemen Matthew MacBean and Thomas Cahill took double shifts, maintaining a short Cavs bench. Scoring for the Cavs were Will Dodge, Ryan Kelly and Nate Bizier (each with a goal and an assist), plus Jack Conmy and Ryan Bizier, one assist each. The Cavaliers then went on to beat the Sharks 4-3 as Matthew D’Ortona got the win in net and the team rallied from 2-0 down to start the second period.

Andre Ducharme scored the first of his two goals, (assisted by Kelley) and Dodge assisted on the tying goal by Nate Bizier. Ducharme’s second of the game came off a touch pass from Ben Foley putting the Cavaliers on top 3-2.

Late in the third, with the Cavs shorthanded, Dodge stole a pass at the Sharks blue line and scored on a quick wrist-shot for a 4-2 lead.

The Sharks pulled their goalie with 58 seconds remaining in the game for the extra skater and scored closing the gap by one but the Cavs held on.

Cavaliers Squirt 2

White wins two

In the first Valley League game of the week against the Hudson Cyclones, the Cavaliers were missing defensemen Sinead Macaraeg and Michael Spinazzola due to sickness and injury.

Chase Devins and Jacob Roy filled in and played well alongside Kevin Sullivan for a first period shutout. The first goal of the game belonged to Jesse Gertz during the power play and the second by Sal Vella assisted by Ty Soule just seconds after Hudson’s Jack Simmons returned to play.

The Cyclones charged right back in the second period with a pair of goals by Sebastian Zeman to tie the score. Just two minutes later though on the third power play of the game for the Cavs, Kevin Sullivan quickly got the puck to a speedy Gertz who scored for a 3-2 lead.

Goalie Ryan McInnis kept the Cavs in the game and Gertz scored an insurance goal with 12 seconds left. Next, in a 6-1 win over the Agawam Chiefs, the forechecking of Sullivan, Soule and Gertz led to a Soule breakaway rebound goal. Devins later scored on a rebound of a McInnis shot, with an assist also going to Vella.

Just a minute later, McInnis scored, assisted by Gertz and Sullivan. In the third period Vella scored quickly assisted by Gertz followed by the first Agawam goal of the game. Soule and McInnis added two additional goals for the Cavaliers.

Spirit

Elm Street team

wins five straight

The Elm St. Junior High cheerleading team recently won five straight competitions: Cheer Madness at Nashua High School North, the Astroblast at Pinkerton Academy, the New England Cheer Association Open held in East Haven, Conn., the Tri-County Competition at Sanborn Regional High School, and the Bishop Guertin Winter Classic.

Elm Street is now two-time Tri-County champions, and also, as a result of the NECA win, they are invited to attend the NFL Pro Bowl in Hawaii in January, 2015, and will soon begin fundraising efforts for the trip.

Members of the team include: Tri-captains Miguel Morales, Samantha Martin and Lauren Grabeau; Alexis Tyler.Pauline Hardiman, Kayla Silva, Marissa Trombley, Abbie Colebrook, Meredith Kime, Brittany Henderson, Kayla Armstrong, Vanessa Ault, Sami Blais, Izzy Bolduc, Emma Pucillo, Mikayla Brown, Makayla Emmons, Thayna Vargas, Kaelyn Smith, Paige Brooks, Amanda Kime, Lexi Moore, Olivia Paulson, Maddy Simpson, Haley Stantoln, and Anna Wozniakowski.

The team is coached by Robyn Jolicoeur, Catherine Morales, and Sheri Smith.

Announcements

Hollis Brookline Youth

Softball registration

Signups are now open for Hollis Brookline Youth Softball. There are teams available for 10U Rookies/ 12U Minors and 12U Majors and 16U Juniors.

Registering online is available by visiting sports
manager.us/HollisNHRec.

Registration closes March 20. Minors and Majors evaluations will be March 22.

Nashua girls

field hockey clinic

There will be a girls youth field hockey clinic for girls ages 6 and older held at Nashua High School North on March 22 from 3-5 p.m. Admission is free.

Girls will need a stick, goggles and mouth guard, although some mouth guards will be available for purchase and there will be extra sticks and goggles for newcomers to the sport.

Instructors will be coaches and players from Nashua North, South, and Bishop Guertin. The clinic will focus on the basics of the game and starter skills for beginners as well as strengthening advanced skills and techniques for prior players.

For information and to register, contact North varsity coach Kristine Tingley at 765-6600 or ktingleynnp@yahoo.com.

Nashua Youth Soccer

League registration

Registration for the Nashua Youth Soccer League is open to boys and girls in Nashua and surrounding towns born between Oct. 1,1994 and Sept. 30, 2008.

Online registration is available at NashuaYouthSoccer.org. Registration closes on March 25.

Registrations received by that date will be guaranteed a spot on a team. Registrations after March 25 may be put on a waiting list.

The season is tentatively scheduled to start on April 12. Coaches and other volunteers are needed.

Hudson Youth Baseball

Spring registration for Hudson Youth Baseball is now open.

HYB features six divisions (T-ball, Rookie, AA, AAA, Majors, and Babe Ruth Division) for boys and girls ages 4-15.

Registration and more information is available at hudsonyouthbaseball.com.