Zacha’s confidence keeps growing
When Pavel Zacha seized the puck behind his net in overtime on Tuesday in Dallas, he could not have been more assertive.
After shaking off Wyatt Johnston, Zacha busted into the open ice, gained the offensive blue line, handed it off to David Pastrnak, who in turn played a long-range give-andgo with Charlie Mcavoy before putting the cherry on top of one of the Bruins’ most emotional wins of the season.
Pastrnak’s game-winning goal would not have happened without Zacha’s decisive rush up the ice. It was an action that was indicative of a burgeoning confidence in the former Devil.
B’s coach Jim Montgomery estimated that compared to the start of the season, Zacha’s confidence level is up 70 percent.
“The exciting part about Pav is we think there’s so much more,” said Montgomery. “Like the Dallas game, I thought he was our most impactful forward in that game right from the start. He had an attack mindset and he won a lot of one-on-one battles. When he’s doing that and then you combine it with his natural skillset … everyone sees the shot that’s the tying goal, but he probably attacked the net three times to dangerous areas, where he just put a defenseman on his hip and tried to take it to the far post. When he’s doing that, I know that his game is really developing.”
Montgomery feels Zacha’s biggest area for future growth is in his mindset.
“Doing that consistently and knowing that he’s a goto player and expecting himself to be a go-to player every night. You’re not going to be that every night, but if you’re mentally engaged, we’ve seen that,” said Montgomery.
It stood to reason that Zacha would gain confidence with time. He was starting with a brand new team and, back in September, it wasn’t completely clear where he was going to fit into the lineup. He’s still a valuable Swiss Army knife at times, but he’s found a fairly regular home with his Czech mates David Krejci and Pastrnak. When Montgomery needed a goal earlier in the season, he would simply reunite Pastrnak with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. In Dallas, he reached for the Zacha-krejci-pastrnak trio.
You didn’t have to study at Quantico to draw a line to when Zacha’s production went into overdrive. After being obtained in a trade with New Jersey for Erik Haula, Zacha — an RFA last summer — signed a one-year extension and would have been a free agent this summer. Since signing his four-year extension worth $4.75 million a season on Jan. 14, he has been a point-a-game player, notching 7-5-12 totals in a dozen games.
Not bad for a player whose previous career high was 36
“We are excited to bring in such a gifted group of coaches to develop our players both on and off the field,” Saban said in a story on the program’s website. “Kevin, Tommy and Austin have a great mix of energy, enthusiasm and experience that will be a tremendous asset to our program. They are all excellent teachers of the game and fantastic recruiters who bring a wealth of experience and resources to our staff.”
Rees arrives in Alabama after coaching quarterbacks at Notre Dame for
11:42.43.
Also for the Westford girls, Audrey Smagula tied for second in the high jump by clearing 5-2, Vannesa Urizandi placed seventh in the long jump with a mark of 16- 04.25. Taking eighth places were Alin Aydogan in the 55-meter hurdles in 9.23 seconds, Emily Wedlake in the mile in 5:19.60 and Abby Hennessy in the 1,000 in 3:04.07.
Wedlake and Hennessy joined with Sydney Weiss and Ashley Vinith to finish eighth in the 4×800 relay in 10:10.66. Finally, the team of Urizandi, Katie Walpole, Tina Lin and Smagula finished seventh in the 4×400 in 4:18.49.
The most exciting race
and one run while graduate student Gerry Siracusa (Kinnelon, N.J.) and seniors Ryan Proto (Centerville) and Trey Brown (Rochester, N.Y.) had one hit apiece. Brown led the team with two RBIS, while Siracusa had one. Kelly and Siracusa doubled in the season opener.
Sophomore LJ Keevan (Holden) got the start for the River Hawks and threw 3.1 innings with two strikeouts and 10 earned runs.
Men’s lacrosse
LOWELL — Battling points. With 28 games remaining, he has 37 points.
“It was important to me,” said Zacha of the contract. “We talked before the season about staying with Boston for a while and when it came to the negotiations, it was really easy. They want me to be a part of this team for a while, too, so that gives you confidence that they believe in you moving forward. And signing it gives you the feeling that you’re going to be
the past six years (2017-22) and serving as the Fighting Irish’s offensive coordinator for the past three seasons (2020-22).
“I have the utmost respect for what Coach Saban has built at Alabama and the tradition of this program,” Rees said in a release. “I’m excited to have this opportunity, and I’m looking forward to getting in the meeting room and on the practice field with this team.”
After an outstanding playing career for the Irish, where he posted a 23-8 (.733) record as the
of the night was the boys two mile. Framingham’s Sam Burgess put the jets on with two laps to go to not only overtake Westford’s Paul Bergeron, who finished second, but break the meet record with a time of 9:06.34. The previous mark was held for the past 42 years by Woburn’s Mike Flynn, who ran 9:13.00 in 1981. Bergeron also broke the record with his time of 9:11.21.
Westford’s Jack Graffeo was fifth in the mile in 4:20.67 and teammate Owen Schultz tied for second in the high jump, clearing 6-0, and he was also fifth in the 600 in 1:24.60. Finally for the Ghosts, the team of Bergeron, Austin
rainy conditions at Cushing Field, Umass Lowell dropped an 11-3 decision to Umass Minutemen to open the home slate.
“I thought it was a good battle. I thought Umass was a heck of a team. I was really proud of how our guys took a step forward from last week. I thought we competed. I thought we battled. Obviously, we have a lot we have to get better at, but I was really encouraged by the step forward today,” commented UML head coach Drew Kelleher. a part of this team for awhile. The trust from the management and coaches that they want you to be here is important. Every player who signs an extension, a weight is lifted off of your shoulders. You can just focus on playing hockey and focusing on getting better with the team and nothing else. It was really important that we got it done mid-season and I could focus on the rest of the season and the playoffs.”
starting quarterback, Rees began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Northwestern in 2015. He spent the 2016 season as an offensive assistant for the San Diego Chargers before returning to his alma mater to coach quarterbacks in 2017.
Rees developed quarterbacks Ian Book, Brandon Winbush and Jack Coan at Notre Dame. That’s also where he met Aylward. Presumably, Aylward caught his eye since Rees is bringing the former Tewksbury High with him to Tuscaloosa.
Desisto, Schultz and Graffeo finished fourth in the 4×800 relay in 8:22.66.
For the Lowell boys, Nadlaire Olivier placed second in the 55-meter hurdles in 7.73 seconds, Evan Imasogie was fifth in the 55-meter dash in 6.59 seconds and Alex Wahpo was sixth in the 600 in 1:24.63. Also earning a fifth-place finish was the 4×800 relay team of Jarlen Arango, Wahpo, Raymond Edjeovwo and Schneider Pierre, who had a collective time of 8:22.77.
In the team scores, the Westford boys finished seventh and Lowell was ninth. On the girls side, Lowell was fifth and Westford was ninth.
Junior Jake Davis (Frankli), sophomore Riley Lawhorn (Amherst, N.H.) and freshman Ben Roberts (Tenafly, N.J.) all found the back of the cage for the River Hawks (0-2) against Umass with a goal each. Freshman Dean Jackson (Deer Park, Wash.) dished out the lone assist of the afternoon, connecting with Davis on the opening tally. Graduate student Zach D’amico (Wrentham) led the netfront defensive efforts with a team-high two caused turnovers.