Boisson grows game in hometown Lynn
Rafael Ortiz De La Rosa ,a sophomore from Lynn Tech, has only skated for two years.
A backup goaltender for the Lynn Jets who was inserted late into a Greater Boston League contest against Medford, Ortiz De La Rosa had the Connery Rink home crowd roaring as he made several saves during the third period of a 13-2 loss.
Despite the lopsided result, the Jets skated out every puck until the final whistle. The young group, with just one senior and seven middle-schoolers, collectively dripped in sweat from their effort as they sat in the locker room afterward.
“We’re growing — it’s not going to happen in a year or so,” said Lynn Jets coach Brian Boisson. “If you look at our roster, we’re the youngest team in our area and maybe in the state. It’s keeping the kids involved and wanting to show up every day. It’s a relentless group.”
Boisson, who took over Lynn Youth Hockey in 2021 and serves as its president, inherited a program that struggled to stay afloat.
Established in 2007 as part of a merger between Lynn’s three public high schools — English, Classical and Tech — Lynn Jets Hockey is a program that now includes a fourth high school (Salem), Lynn Tech Discovery (an eighth-grade program) and three middle schools (Breed, Pickering, and Thurgood Marshall).
“You get low numbers in a class, and you’re in trouble,” said Lynn English athletic director
Dick Newton. “A couple of low numbers and you might be co-oping with someone else. I think that Brian and the City of Lynn have done a great job trying to keep it together. Urban districts are struggling when it comes to the sport of hockey.”
A dozen youth players scampered around the rink in Lynn Jets jerseys, an homage to the future of the program with participation numbers stabilizing. A 1-11-0 record fails to dampen the excitement around the future and the pride that players have in putting on the jersey.
“I always used to come to these games and I looked forward to one day playing for the Jets,” said starting goaltender Nick DeNino ,a Lynn Tech sophomore. “It means so much to me that I can do this and it’s an honor that I got the chance to start this year and meet all of these wonderful guys.”
“I wouldn’t play for another team. I love this team with all my heart,” said senior captain Jayden Leblanc, also of Lynn Tech.
To raise youth hockey participation, Boisson distributed more than 10,000 fliers in both English and Spanish to the city’s 18 elementary and middle schools. To cut down on the cost of the sport, Boisson receives donations from local businesses and hand-medown gear to give to families.
A 10-foot-by-20-foot storage room at the rink holds enough new and used equipment to fit more than 50 youth players. Boisson describes it as a “Play-It-Again Sports,” with the equipment helping to mitigate the expensive outof-pocket entry cost to the sport.
“A lot of kids would rather kick a soccer ball or bounce a basketball than throw on a pair of skates,” said Newton. “A lot of kids need to pick it up earlier in life. It’s harder to pick up later in life and play varsity interscholastic sports.”
A St. Mary’s (Lynn) graduate (Class of 1999) who played hockey for legendary coach Mark Lee, Boisson’s passion for the sport shines through. A Lynn native, Boisson, alongside a committed staff, dedicates an incredible amount of time and effort into growing the game in his hometown.
“It’s in my blood,” said Boisson. “The program was dying 10 years ago, and someone had to step up. I love it. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
With a hands-on approach that balances coaching and teaching, Boisson cares more about his players giving maximum effort on each shift than the results of the game.
“Being a coach, you step up for these kids,” said Boisson. “It’s easy to coach a bunch of kids who you have been coaching all their lives and are elite players. It’s another to build a team from scratch, with kids that have never played before.”
Ice chips
R Less than two minutes after scoring the first goal of his varsity career Saturday in a 7-3 win vs. Needham, Archbishop Williams sophomore Dylan Cole found himself knocked to the ice by a hit along the corner wall.
Unable to get up, the game was delayed for nearly half-hour as Cole was carried off the ice on a stretcher and taken via an ambulance to Boston Children’s Hospital becuase of swelling in his spine, which caused him to lose some feeling in his extremities.
Fortunately, Cole is on the mend. The blueliner was released from the hospital a day later, diagnosed with a concussion, but is expected to make a full recovery. ”He’ll be out a few weeks, but he should be back to normal,” said Archbishop Williams coach Chris Cunningham.
The 10th-ranked Bishops (9-1, 4-0) were paid a visit by Cole prior to Wednesday’s 4-3 overtime victory against No. 7 Canton, Archbishop Williams’s fifth win in a row and second straight in OT. No team in Division 1 has scored more goals than the Bishops (56).
R Tewksbury has celebrated a pair of milestones in recent weeks, with senior forward Matt Cooke recording the 100th point of his career in a 7-3 win over Waltham on Saturday and coach Derek Doherty surpassing 300 career victories with a 7-0 win over Poland (Maine) on Dec. 28 in the semifinals of the Gorham (Maine) Holiday Tournament.
Other recent members of the 100-point club include Blue Hills senior Michael Repucci, who recorded a hat trick in a 5-2 win vs. Minuteman Saturday, and Grafton senior Zack Baker, who eclipsed the mark Wednesday in a 3-1 nonleague win vs. Auburn.