Matt Porter explains why some players did not make the cut
For the love of frozen rubber, this was a difficult list to cull.
Remember, players had to be named Globe All-Scholastics to qualify. A player with a borderline case for the Hockey Hall of Fame, Keith Tkachuk, was just below the All-Scholastic cut line while starring at Malden Catholic. He made the second team in both 1989 and ‘90. Winthrop’s Mike Eruzione — his credentials, of course, are widely known — was a second-teamer in ‘72. Power forward extraordinaire Kevin Stevens (Silver Lake) was a league all-star (’82, ‘83) but not an All-Scholastic.
The Globe began recognizing prep league MVPs as All-Scholastics beginning in 1986 (Greg Brown was the first). Among prep school stars, All-Scholastic super team honors eluded Bruins center Charlie Coyle (who starred in Weymouth’s Super 8 run as a freshman before transferring to Thayer); Cory Schneider and Chris Kreider (Phillips Andover); Mark Fusco, Scott Fusco, and Matt Grzelcyk (Belmont Hill); “Ironman” Keith Yandle (Cushing Academy); Noah Hanifin (St. Sebastian’s); Bill Guerin (Wilbraham & Monson); and Scott Young (St. Mark’s).
In the early ‘70s, future NHL fixture Mike O’Connell left Braintree’s Archbishop Williams for Canadian juniors before he could be selected by the Globe. Left out for similar reasons: US Hockey Hall of Famer Larry Pleau, who was an Essex County League all-star as an underclassman at Lynn English in 1963 before playing juniors in Montreal. Mike Milbury, a scrappy defenseman at Walpole High, did not make the All-Scholastic cut.
Jack Eichel attended Chelmsford High but played for the Junior Bruins and later the US National Team Development Program (other program products include Grzelcyk and Hingham’s Matty Beniers). The trend of “The Program” snatching the best high school talent from the Bay State continues, with likely 2024 NHL first-round draft pick Cole Eiserman (Newburyport) among the latest star defectors.
Old-timers shouted for Melrose’s Paul Hurley — he was the area’s premier blue-liner in the early ‘60s — but he played just one game in the NHL (for the Bruins, in March 1969). The aforementioned Hebner would have been in Bobby Orr’s rookie class had he taken the Bruins’ contract offer, but he went into baseball stardom, like Billerica’s Tom Glavine (the Globe’s 1984 Player of the Year).
Those with long memories noted the feats of Paul O’Neil, who starred at Malden Catholic in the early ‘70s; fellow stars of that time like Mike Fidler and George Hughes (Malden Catholic) and Bob Sunderland (Braintree); and others who had memorable NHL careers, like Bob Sweeney (Acton-Boxboro), Bob Miller (Billerica), Shawn McEachern (Matignon), John Carter (Woburn), Andy Brickley (Melrose), Mike Sullivan (BC High), Jay Pandolfo (Burlington), Jay Miller (Natick), and Joe Sacco (Medford).
www.bostonglobe.com
For the love of frozen rubber, this was a difficult list to cull.
Remember, players had to be named Globe All-Scholastics to qualify. A player with a borderline case for the Hockey Hall of Fame, Keith Tkachuk, was just below the All-Scholastic cut line while starring at Malden Catholic. He made the second team in both 1989 and ‘90. Winthrop’s Mike Eruzione — his credentials, of course, are widely known — was a second-teamer in ‘72. Power forward extraordinaire Kevin Stevens (Silver Lake) was a league all-star (’82, ‘83) but not an All-Scholastic.
The Globe began recognizing prep league MVPs as All-Scholastics beginning in 1986 (Greg Brown was the first). Among prep school stars, All-Scholastic super team honors eluded Bruins center Charlie Coyle (who starred in Weymouth’s Super 8 run as a freshman before transferring to Thayer); Cory Schneider and Chris Kreider (Phillips Andover); Mark Fusco, Scott Fusco, and Matt Grzelcyk (Belmont Hill); “Ironman” Keith Yandle (Cushing Academy); Noah Hanifin (St. Sebastian’s); Bill Guerin (Wilbraham & Monson); and Scott Young (St. Mark’s).
In the early ‘70s, future NHL fixture Mike O’Connell left Braintree’s Archbishop Williams for Canadian juniors before he could be selected by the Globe. Left out for similar reasons: US Hockey Hall of Famer Larry Pleau, who was an Essex County League all-star as an underclassman at Lynn English in 1963 before playing juniors in Montreal. Mike Milbury, a scrappy defenseman at Walpole High, did not make the All-Scholastic cut.
Jack Eichel attended Chelmsford High but played for the Junior Bruins and later the US National Team Development Program (other program products include Grzelcyk and Hingham’s Matty Beniers). The trend of “The Program” snatching the best high school talent from the Bay State continues, with likely 2024 NHL first-round draft pick Cole Eiserman (Newburyport) among the latest star defectors.
Old-timers shouted for Melrose’s Paul Hurley — he was the area’s premier blue-liner in the early ‘60s — but he played just one game in the NHL (for the Bruins, in March 1969). The aforementioned Hebner would have been in Bobby Orr’s rookie class had he taken the Bruins’ contract offer, but he went into baseball stardom, like Billerica’s Tom Glavine (the Globe’s 1984 Player of the Year).
Those with long memories noted the feats of Paul O’Neil, who starred at Malden Catholic in the early ‘70s; fellow stars of that time like Mike Fidler and George Hughes (Malden Catholic) and Bob Sunderland (Braintree); and others who had memorable NHL careers, like Bob Sweeney (Acton-Boxboro), Bob Miller (Billerica), Shawn McEachern (Matignon), John Carter (Woburn), Andy Brickley (Melrose), Mike Sullivan (BC High), Jay Pandolfo (Burlington), Jay Miller (Natick), and Joe Sacco (Medford).
Meet the Globe’s all-time All-Scholastic hockey teams - The Boston Globe
The Bay State has produced some greats on the ice. Here, we honor those players — men and women — who were named All-Scholastics in their youth and went on to big things as professionals.
www.bostonglobe.com
