The Varsity Insider from MassLive
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Thursday, January 8, 2026 |
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Hello, subscriber. Welcome to the Varsity Insider newsletter, an in-depth look at high school sports across Massachusetts from Jeff Lajoie and MassLive's high school sports team delivered exclusively to MassLive subscribers. |
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Happy Thursday!
It's now officially, officially winter season this week. That's because the high school ski season (both alpine and Nordic) is underway across the Commonwealth. Add in wrestling, swimming, indoor track and swimming, and we've got a busy individual sports slate during these months.
Certainly basketball and hockey keep us plenty busy on the team-sport front, but those individual sports will now ramp up during the month of January before February brings about sectional and state championships.
I've covered big meets in all of those sports, and some of the best stories I've ever gotten came out of intense, championship-pressure performances from individuals with no one but themselves to rely on. At wrestling tournaments, you'll see grapplers come from the clouds via a third-period rally and pin to stun their way to a title. Same for swimming, where competitors charge back down the home stretch and touch the wall just in the knick of time. Those are the things we love about sports, watching history made before our very eyes — no matter what scale or level it may be.
So to all the competitors now grinding away in hopes they'll be peaking come February, we salute you. And I look forward to telling those stories in the weeks and months ahead. |
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Westfield's Brody Hollister and Cody Bard work to get the puck past Westborough goalie Tristan Krumsiek during action earlier this season. (MARC ST. ONGE, THE WESTFIELD NEWS) |
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In this section, we'll highlight the games and events we're watching each week. Consider this your heads up so you can clear that busy schedule and hit some of these games in person. |
Boys hockey: Minnechaug vs. Westfield (Saturday, Jan. 10): The top two teams in our most recent WMass Top 10 poll face off at Amelia Park Arena in Westfield. Westfield won a wild 5-4 game the first time the teams met back on Dec. 20.
Girls hockey: Braintree at Natick (Saturday, Jan. 10): Two teams with winning records meet in a Bay State Conference crossover game at Chase Arena in Natick. Natick won last year's meeting, 5-0.
Girls basketball: Pittsfield at Springfield Central (Monday, Jan. 12): Arguably the two best teams in WMass meet in Springfield, as the Generals look to win on the road after being the only team in the region to beat Central a year ago.
Boys basketball: Milton at Needham (Tuesday, Jan. 13): Two teams with Bay State Conference - Herget Division title hopes meet in Needham on Tuesday. Needham swept the two meetings last year. |
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THIS WEEK IN HISTORY Each week in this space, we'll highlight a piece of local high school sports history from yesteryear.
JAN. 9, 1996: This week 30 years ago, Holyoke's Larry Gilbert matched a career high with 28 points in the Purple Knights' 93-54 victory over Chicopee Comp in an independent boys basketball game in Chicopee. That output had Gilbert within 30 points of 1,000 for his career, which he hit a week later when he scored a new career-high 32 points in a win over Longmeadow. |
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Weekly hoop, hockey rankings return |
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Pope Francis' Sam Brigham dribbles against Chicopee Comp during the Cardinals' win on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026 in Springfield. DAVE HOSMER/REMINDER PUBLICATIONS |
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Now that the holidays are behind us, it's back to our regular weekly ranking posts for basketball and hockey across the state. Here's our latest batch of rankings, released on Wednesday. WMass EMass |
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