Pictured last season against Medfield, senior center Nick Horsfall (22) will serve as one of three Westwood High School hockey co-captains in 2020-2021 for the second straight year. Photos by Mike Flanagan.
By Mike Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
Like every other high school winter athletics team, Westwood High School varsity boys hockey is going to have to adjust to the current times in 2020-2021.
This season, the Wolverines will play a condensed 10-game, TVL-only schedule with no state tournament - along with adjusting to a plethora of rule changes, such as wearing a mask at all times and not getting dressed in locker rooms.
Despite the challenges ahead, head coach Matt Sebet says his team looks forward to making the best out of the situation and that they appreciate the opportunity they are being given.
"I told the guys at our team meeting last week to take a good look around and appreciate the opportunity that is ahead of us," said Sebet. "We saw what happened last spring with all the spring athletes not even being able to play at all. So, our guys know that this is something they need to take advantage of. We're looking forward to getting back out there this week in tryouts and competing. It's been a while since we were all able to be together and I know that our captains are doing a great job of getting the rest of the team ready for the season. For our seniors, this is their last opportunity to play high school hockey and be together so we definitely want to do everything we can to ensure that's able to happen. It's time, and we're ready to play hockey."
Westwood's three captains in 2020-2021 are all returning from last season: defenseman Kevin McGough, right winger Colin Fahey and centerman Nick Horsfall. Along with his three captains, Sebet says there are some other key names returning for the Wolverines in 2020-2021.
"We've got 11 forwards back and three defensemen from last year's team," said Sebet. "We're definitely going to be leaning on [Colin] Fahey and Nick [Horsfall] to produce for us up front. I think Johnny Nolte is another senior that will be leaned upon to produce offense, and another senior we are expecting a lot out of is Declan Guarino. Danny Sullivan played a big role for us last year as a freshman. He tied the game up against Norwood in the first round of the playoffs with a minute left and we went on to win in double overtime, so he's definitely a guy we are high on as we head into the new year. On defense, Robert Dyson played a big role last year and will be relied upon to play a lot of minutes with Kevin McGough on the top pairing. John Techiera is going to see a lot more time than he did last year, too, and will be a big part of our back end."
Westwood will open up their season at Medfield on January 6.
For funny and incisive sports analysis as well as video highlights of games, follow Mike Flanagan on his personal Twitter and Instagram handles @flano0.
