BY RYAN O’CONNORSitting at a youth hockey conference, watching what was likely to be another boring prerecorded training video, Kermit Brunelle sighed. On the screen, Don Lucia, coach of the national champion University of Minnesota ice hockey team, was giving a speech. “A lot of people think I have the best job in hockey, and I tell ...

BY JERRY LIPTAKIt began with some strong individual efforts in the winter – a trickle of championships earned by Bow, Hopkinton and Concord athletes on the slopes and the mats. It continued in the spring and summer, with various teams hoisting title plaques for their lacrosse, baseball and softball prowess. It concluded with the Hopkinton ...

BY RYAN O’CONNORGoffstown-area athletic successes in 2007 came at many levels, for teams and individuals. This was never more evident than the summer, when nearly every Goffstown youth baseball team, from Little League through Babe Ruth, finished tops in their district, among the best in the state and, in some cases, the region. Those ...

BY RYAN O’CONNORIt was a year of near-misses and so-closes on the 2007 Bedford sports landscape, though there were a few spot-ons mixed in. While dozens of local teams and individuals competed for the top prize in their respective class and/or division, from the youth level through high school and sometimes beyond, many went home empty ...

BY RYAN O’CONNORFor Hooksett-area teams and individual athletes, 2007 was a year in which the surprising became the norm, particularly at the high school level. Though squads such as the Central girls tennis team finished tops in Class L and Cawley Middle School collected multiple titles, other perennial contenders bowed out of the ...

BY MATT STOUTIt has the talent, a mixture of youth and experience, a nice balance of pitching and hitting. But the Derryfield School baseball team also has concerns. After starting the season on a 5-0 tear and outscoring their opponents a mind-boggling 79-12 in that stretch, the Cougars and their hopes of a double digit-win season were brought ...

BY SAPNA PATHAKHe thought about it all night. What would he say? What would he want someone to say to him had the tables been turned? Brandon Czaja still doesn’t know. The Central High first baseman said he’d remain quiet after coming up with a loud hit against defending Class L baseball champion – and Queen City rival – ...

BY SAPNA PATHAKDon’t let the 1-5 record fool you. It’s certainly not putting any doubts into John Graziano. No, the first-year head coach of Pembroke Academy’s baseball team isn’t worried about what the win-loss column shows. Indeed, he’s more concerned with what he sees on the diamond. “Our record ...

BY MATT STOUTThis time last week, Adam Lawrence’s Manchester West team was trying to figure out what a baseball diamond still looked like. Now, the Blue Knights are trying to discover themselves. Forced to cram its first seven games into eight days, West is using this early part of the season to determine what kind of team it will be. In ...

BY MATT STOUTAt this point, Manchester West baseball coach Adam Lawrence will take “interesting.” After losing eight seniors, including five pitchers, from last year’s 10-9 team, Lawrence chose that exact word to describe his expectations for the Blue Knights’ upcoming season. Sound defensively with several returning ...