By Christopher Tremblay

Staff Sports Writer

The Hopedale boys’ ice hockey team is one that is made up of all-star players, and also players who have the potential to be. The Blue Raiders may not have that one superstar, but they do have a bunch of hard-working athletes who are looking to get the best out of their abilities on the ice. 

Griffin Paquette began his career on the defense and was moved up to a forward position last year. Courtesy photo

After grabbing a number 31 seed in last year’s Division 3 State Tournament, Hopedale took out Somerville 3-0 in the first round and then lost to Shawsheen Valley Tech 3-1 in its next game. Coach Mike MacQuarrie is hoping that, despite graduating some talented seniors, the Blue Raiders can get back into the tournament and get past the second round.

“It is a little bit of a rebuilding year where we are looking for the kids to step up and fill in the vacant roles,” the coach said. “As it always is, we are looking to qualify for the tournament, win a game and go from there. It may be a lofty goal, but we have done it in each year that I’ve been here, and I want to keep that going.”

Being that the team already plays a tough schedule against a lot of teams that end up in the playoffs, things are going to get a lot tougher this winter as the MIAA has been shifting schools around and putting them into new leagues. 

“With the redistricting, we are going to see a lot of new teams – so I am not sure what is going to happen once the season gets underway,” MacQuarrie said. “Usually, by the time that we get to the tournament we have already played many teams that are over our weight class. This year, we will hook up with Taunton, a team we haven’t seen in three or four years, and two new unknown teams in Greenfield and Westfield, to name a few.”

Junior Noah Smith and senior Griffin Paquette are going to be looked upon to be the defensive stalwarts in front of the net. As a sophomore last year, Smith, a very athletic individual, got a ton of minutes on the ice and with that experience MacQuarrie is hoping that he can take the next step and lead the team in the defensive zone.

Paquette, who began his career on the defense, had to be moved up to a forward position last year to help stabilize the team’s lack of offensive players. This year, the coach is going to be relying on Smith and Paquette, one of whom will most likely be on the ice at all times.

Another individual on defense will be Vance Garvin who does the little things on the ice. Hopedale will also have a handful of freshmen, whom MacQuarrie has not seen much of them playing the position on the varsity level, trying out for the squad. One of them will eventually become the Blue Raiders fourth d-man.

 Ricky Nashawaty, the team’s senior captain, will be a key piece in the playmaking aspect of the game as he has great vision on the ice. Josh Balzarini is most likely the team’s best goal scorer and, along with Nashawaty, will be looked upon to lead the Blue Raiders on the offensive side of the ice. Mike McGrath, a hard-nosed player, will also be looked upon to put the puck in the back of the net while stepping up his game.

Between the pipes, Hopedale has two goalkeepers with neither having seen all that much varsity action in the past. Brandon Mills was last year’s third string goalie with the varsity who only got into one game. The other keeper is freshman Hunter Letendre, who had dressed as an eighth grader last year to see what the varsity experience was like. As an eighth grader, he was ineligible to play and MacQuarrie doesn’t believe that he’ll see a lot of minutes this year with the varsity squad.

“We are going to rely on Brandon, who saw a lot of junior varsity action last year and played pretty good on that level,” the coach said. “He has been working his butt off while attending a lot of goaltending clinics. He is foaming at the mouth to play and show what he can do.”