Every year, the senior hockey players with the best statistics across every team in the division are chosen by a congregation of coaches to play in one final showdown: the Hockey Senior All-Star Games.
Two games took place on March 24, with captains Aidan Fitzpatrick (I) and Matt Carrara (I) representing the Boston Latin School hockey team in the Massachusetts State Hockey Coaches Association (MSHCA) Hockey Night in Boston (HNIB) Boys’ Game. Following their game was the Girls’ Game, which saw captains Maeve Murray (I) and Maeve Greeley (I) compete for the Wolfpack. On March 30, another senior boys’ captain , Bobby Banks (I), and standout forward Ava Enright (II) played in the CT-MA Border Challenge All-Star Game.
Fitzpatrick ended off the season with 13 goals and 24 assists for a total of 37 points, and Carrara had 21 goals and 16 assists, also for a total of 37 points. The two have been friends and teammates for 12 years, playing on the School’s team together for four of these years.
Fitzpatrick and Carrara each played for the South team along with students from South Shore teams such as Braintree, Catholic Memorial, Hingham, Marshfield and Xaverian Brothers High School. The opposing North team consisted of players from Concord-Carlisle, St. John’s Prep, Tewksbury Memorial High School and Winchester and others.
Despite having defeated Tewksbury in the state championship game and Concord-Carlisle in the third round of playoffs, Fitzpatrick notes that there was no hostility in playing against captains from those teams. In fact, he says, “they were congratulatory towards us and there was lots of mutual respect.” As the game concluded, the South Team won the game 8-7 with both Fitzpatrick and Carrara individually scoring two points.
It took time to adjust to these new teams. In the Boys’ Senior HNIB All-Star Hockey Game, the South team ended the first half with a 4-1 deficit. Nevertheless persevering, they outscored them 7-3 the rest of the game. Fitzpatrick used the term “settle in” when describing the change that occurred between the team members that allowed them to come out victorious.
Impressively, Murray and Greeley played for the North Team in Winchester, winning 4-3 against the South Team. Greeley also remarks on the adjustment players made: “It was a little challenging to play with girls I’d never played with before and only played against.” Regardless, Greeley believes it gave her a different perspective on the girls she had been playing against all year, seeing them as “familiar faces rather than old enemies.”
Banks’s game resulted in an overtime 6-5 win over teams from Connecticut. This MA-CT border challenge instills a sense of pride in players representing their states and is a big motivator for performing well in this game. Banks experienced the same challenge as Fitzpatrick and Greeley, mentioning how it “took a few minutes to get used to […] but [they] figured it out quickly [as they] were all chosen for [their] talent and how well [they] work with [their] teams during the season.”
The Senior Hockey All-Star Games were a chance for athletes to showcase their skills. Each person chosen displayed hard work throughout the entire season and were able to play without any pressure. Greeley reflects on the experience, saying it was a “perfect opportunity to get recognized by college coaches.”
