Memory of late coach
motivates Hingham hockey
in win over Weymouth
The Hingham hockey head coach for the last 26 years, who died of a heart attack in June, was more than there in spirit: A few days before the game his picture was hung above the red locker room door where painted red letters paid homage to Reagan’s favorite phrase “… ready to go.”
“You got enough incentive to play, that’s for sure,” Messina, Reagan’s 24-year assistant, told his team before the 4-0 season-opening victory against Weymouth. “… Get ready to go out in two minutes.”
Unfortunately, a little thunder was taken from Messina’s “Win one for the Gipper” speech. The coach immediately double backed into the dressing room to tell his guys the refs had not arrived for the 6:30 p.m. face off.
The 7:21 p.m. start almost made a prophet out of Weymouth coach Matt Cataldo, a second-year coach who played for Hingham from 1991-95.
“I tried to tell him the game started at 7:40, that didn’t work,” Cataldo said. “Last year was my first year coaching, anytime an issue arose (Reagan) was the guy I called for advice. It was comforting to know he was there.”
The delay, however, didn’t take any thunder from Hingham’s offense as the Harbormen scored two goals in the first period. First, junior forward Jeff West took a pass from junior defender Jake Quinn and beat Weymouth senior goalie Chris Daugherty with 8:23 to play in the opening period.
“I saw the shot coming from the corner and I just kind of tipped it in and it went through the goalie’s five hole,” West said of his first varsity game. “I was kind of nervous, but after I scored the goal I wanted to get back out there and score another.”
A two-goal night didn’t happen for West, but it did for Jamie Wilson. With 25 seconds left in the first period the senior forward scored a short-handed goal thanks to an assist from junior defender Conor Coveney. The duo hooked up again on a power play with 3:19 to play in the second period. Coveney rifled a point-blank shot from the top of the crease that deflected off Daugherty’s pad before Wilson knocked it home to go up 3-0.
“It’s motivation,” Wilson said afterward of Reagan’s death. “When we walk out there’s a picture of him and we know we’re playing the game for him.”
And while the goal came after Weymouth (1-1) junior forward Kevin Walsh was called for hooking, it was the Harbormen (1-0) who were docked in the box for most of the night, committing seven penalties compared to Weymouth’s three. Last season Hingham set a school record by averaging only two penalties per game.
On the bright side, Hingham’s penalty kill was in order.
“That’s one way to look at it,” said senior goalie Nate Eagan, who collected 28 saves. “But we prefer to work on that in practice.”
Weymouth also had 10 more shots on goal than the Harbormen with 50. Nevertheless, Hingham had no problem finding the back of the net. Its final goal came with 50 seconds left in the second period. Sophomore forward PJ Falvey was assisted by sophomore defender Tim Driscoll.
