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By Mike Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
Westwood High School hockey made major strides last season. The Wolverines lost just once during the regular season, compiling a 13-1-6 record to earn the No. 3 seed in Division II South.
Westwood took out No. 14 Whitman-Hansen (5-1) in the first round before a 2-1 quarterfinal win against No. 11 Bishop Feehan. The Wolverines defeated rival and No. 7 Medfield, 3-2, in the semifinals, coming from 2-0 down to seal a spot in the South Finals. Unfortunately, Westwood’s run would come to end in the form of an 8-0 defeat to No. 1 Canton, a team that was snubbed out of the Super Eight tournament.
With a new season on the horizon, Westwood High School hockey will look to capitalize on the momentum of last year’s playoff run, all while finding ways to replace a significant portion of their roster that graduated last June.
Leading Westwood in 2019-2020 will be four co-captains in senior goalie Ben Goodrich, junior defenseman Kevin McGough, junior forward Colin Fahey and junior forward Nick Horsefall.
“Our goals for the season are first to build up some team chemistry and learn how to play together, especially with so many new guys playing varsity for the first time,” said senior forward Colin Fay when asked about his team’s general goals. “Our most important goal every year starts with making the playoffs and everything falls into place after that. We hope to use the experience we have on the team to create a winning culture in the program from the first game and on.”
Replacing offensive talent such as Ryan Healey, Conor Donohue and Matt Hetnik will not be easy, but Fay says he and his fellow upperclassmen are confident in the group they have to figure it out.
“We lost 13 seniors from last year who had contributed a lot to the program,” said Fay. “But this team has plenty of talent in all phases of the game. We hope to use this talent and stick to our system and let all the scoring take care of itself.”
Westwood will begin their quest back to the state tournament on December 14 when the Wolverines host rival Holliston at Canton Ice House.
For funny and incisive sports analysis, follow Mike Flanagan on his personal Twitter and Instagram @flano0.
