23 Jan 2026 6 min read Newsletters

Newsletter #31...Hockey season chugging along

After doing a deep dive into the basketball landscape in last week's newsletter, let's take a peek at where things stand on the hockey front.

The girls' regular season comes to an end at the end of next week and the postseason is right around the corner.

Once again, Cheverus and Yarmouth/Freeport are title-worthy.

Yarmouth/Freeport suffered a close home loss to the Edward Little co-op team Monday and as a result, dropped from first to second behind the Red Hornets in the North Region. Yarmouth/Freeport's only losses have come to the Red Hornets and those teams appear to be on a regional final collision course and if Yarmouth/Freeport can reverse its fortunes, it would reach the state final for the third time in four seasons.

In the South Region, Cheverus, the three-time reigning state champion, is in the top spot, but the Biddeford/Thornton Academy co-op could leapfrog the Stags if it beats the Stags in Portland a week from Saturday.

Gorham will likely be the third seed, while Falmouth/Scarborough and the Beacons co-op squad are jockeying for the No. 4 spot and with that, home ice in the quarterfinals. Greely is currently seventh in the region.

The boys' hockey story is becoming clearer at the midway point.

Thornton Academy, the reigning Class A state champion, takes a 9-1 record and an eight-game win streak into Saturday when it faces the Hampden Academy co-op. The Golden Trojans already have timely and key wins over Lewiston, Falmouth and Cheverus/Yarmouth, which won Class B each of the past two seasons and is now in Class A. All of those squads figure to be among the last teams standing when all is said and done.

Scarborough was in the No. 7 spot in Class A at press time, while the Trailblazers, the Westbrook/Windham co-op team, have some work to do to make the playoffs.

In Class B South, Gorham is in the top spot at 8-2 and has a pivotal showdown against Scarborough Saturday afternoon (Hoffer's High School Sports will be there).

Greely was ranked fifth and Cape Elizabeth sixth at press time.

The boys' hockey regular season still has a month to go and its playoffs go into March.

That means there's still plenty of excitement to come on the ice.

Stay tuned.

Call him Mr. Fitzy

Last Sunday afternoon, Thornton Academy's Connor Ayoob was named the winner of the 54th James J. Fitzpatrick Trophy at a banquet in Portland.

Ayoob, who was previously named Maine's Gatorade Player of the Year and Hoffer's High School Sports Football Player of the Year, ran for 2,102 yards and 31 touchdowns this fall, helping the Golden Trojans win the Class A state championship.

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"It was so awesome because I had 25 teammates and my whole family there," Ayoob said. "It's just a dream come true. Before the season, I told my friends (winning the Fitzy) was my goal and I was just so excited."

"It doesn't happen very often," said longtime Thornton Academy coach Kevin Kezal. "I've been head coach here 26 years. Connor was our fifth finalist since I've been here and only our second winner (in that time). It's quite an accomplishment for Connor."

Look for much more reaction from Ayoob and Kezal in next week's podcast.

Yarmouth's boys surging

Back to basketball for a moment, the Yarmouth boys are coming off a seismic win last week at York. The Clippers have won nine of 10 heading into Friday's home tilt versus rival Greely.

Here's a look at the squad, which is exceeding expectations under first-year coach Connor Hasson:

In case you missed it...

Game stories from the past week...

Portland boys roll at Gorham

Khaelon Watkins goes off in Cheverus' win at Scarborough

Yarmouth/Freeport falls at home Red Hornets

Windham girls down Westbrook on Senior Night

Beacons earn timely win over Penobscot

Cape Elizabeth boys need overtime to beat rival Greely

Media

Tuesday's WGAN spot with Matt Gagnon:

https://wgan.com/morning-news/hoffers-high-school-sports-18/

On Saturday, Feb. 7, I'll be joining Travis Lee for the 11th annual Hoops8 Basketball Tournament Preview. Looking forward to that!

Prediction

My popular, prescient Patriots pick (13-6 for the season).

This week's guess (AFC Championship Game edition):

Broncos 20 Patriots 17

There's a paved yellow brick road for the Patriots to march into Santa Clara for the Super Bowl, but unfortunately, it goes through the worst possible location, Denver. Nothing good ever happens to the Patriots in Denver in the playoffs and while it appears they have a huge advantage going up against the Broncos' backup, I just have a bad feeling about this one. Drake Maye's been turning the ball over way too much and that could prove fatal.

I certainly hope to be wrong and rest assured, I often am.

Go, Pats!!

Features

Hoffer's High School Sports, in conjunction with cPort Credit Union, named Yarmouth junior boys' basketball standout Evan Oranellas our Athlete of the Week Monday.

Tuesday brought the latest Super-Six polls for basketball and hockey:

Thursday's Hoffer's High School Sports Podcast featured Maine Baseball Hall of Famer and longtime coach Matt Rogers talking about his new book, "The Recipe for Being a Great Coach-It's More than Wins and Losses:"