I still remember standing somewhere between the blue line and the top of the face-off dots. St. Mary’s celebrated in front of their fan section. Helmets, sticks and gloves lay all over the ice on one side. Photographers followed like paparazzi.
That’s when it hit me — it was all over. My teammates and I on the 2017 Framingham team had lost the state championship game. But for me, as a senior, hockey as I knew it was finished. A pit sank to the bottom of my stomach and the lump in my throat became a boulder.
Even though the final was 4-2, we battled back hard in the final 10 minutes to try and tie it. Thoughts of losing didn’t set in until that famous TD Garden siren sounded.
These are the feelings of disappointment that dozens of boys and girls across Massachusetts woke up to Monday morning after six MIAA championships were decided on Sunday.
All those years with the same teammates. The early morning practices when we were Mites. The hockey tournaments when we were Squirts. Losing a state championship as PeeWee A’s. Getting ready for high school hockey as Bantams. Hockey after high school wasn’t in the cards for most of us, so winning a state title for the hometown was the North Star.
And then to get there — yes, right there — as seniors just to fall short. Brutal.
Those thoughts never entered throughout the week. No one enters a championship game thinking they’ll lose. The whirlwind of the weeks-long ordeal that is the MIAA Tournament prevents that. You’re so focused on the next game and the next game and the next game and “Oh my God, we might just freakin’ do this thing,” that those thoughts never come close to the surface.
You’re too shocked to be on this wild ride to be thinking about anything else.
Half of the players who arrived at TD Garden on Sunday left with smiles on their faces and lost voices. The other half boarded their buses with tear-soaked jerseys.
But that other half spent the previous week with the same dreams and aspirations the winners had. Only theirs didn’t come true.
They were the talk of the school. Classmates who never went near regular season games were suddenly driving an hour to Gallo Arena to watch them play. Teachers gave them passes on assignments until after the championship.
MIAA GIRLS HOCKEY TITLES: St. Mary’s wins Division 1 | Duxbury wins Division 2
They daydreamed of what it would be like to win in front of their family, friends, girlfriends and boyfriends. What it would be like to score the game-winning goal or make the game-saving stop. What it would be like for their student section to be complete bedlam. What it would be like to toss their sticks, helmets and gloves in the air. What it would be like to be a state champion.
Imagine the Instagram posts.
Instead, the opposite happened. The other team got out to a hotter start. The opposing goalie made multiple “How on Earth did he do that?” saves. An unlucky bounce here, an unlucky bounce there. Maybe it was an overtime dagger. Maybe it was a goal that shouldn’t have counted.
While the winners shed their equipment in celebration, the seniors from the other side refused to take off their jerseys until the last possible second, wanting to soak in being a Hanover Hawk, or a Falmouth Clipper or a Framingham Flyer one last time.
So, what happens to the losing team?
The Monday morning wake-up isn’t particularly fun. Maybe Mom and Dad let you go to school late. I remember thinking I’d sleep until 11 a.m. Instead, my alarm clock blared at 6 a.m. like always. Reality works in funny ways.
They will move on with life. The freshmen, sophomores and juniors will think they’ll be back in the final the next year. Occasionally that’s true, but it’s rare. This was probably their only chance at a state championship. They don’t know that yet.
The seniors, however, will move on to college. That was their last taste of competitive hockey. Maybe they’ll play club. They’ll certainly play men’s league. When they’re making new friends at college, they’ll bring up how they went to TD Garden senior year — they’ll just try not to mention what happened.
But it’s the bond with their teammates — the old friends — that will be unbreakable.
See, even though they lost in the state championship game, their unforgettable run isn’t rendered invalid. They’ll think it is, falsely believing that because they didn’t hoist a trophy, nothing else matters.
MIAA BOYS HOCKEY TITLES: St. John’s Prep wins Division 1 | Boston Latin wins Division 2 | Marblehead wins Division 3 | Dover-Sherborn/Weston wins Division 4
Years later, however, they’ll meet back up with their old teammates. The guys or girls they used to see every day that they now might not see twice a year. Maybe it’s the night before Thanksgiving at the local dive bar or when people flock home for Christmas. Eventually, they’ll lace up the skates and play again. It could be at a pond or in an organized adult league.
They’ll ask about each others' new lives. But after a few minutes, the conversation will quickly shift to that run. Memories will come flowing back. The victory over Xaverian they had no business winning. The double overtime win over a rival to land a spot at TD Garden. The funny stories from practice and the locker room.
All those good moments come back to the surface. Each of them can barely let the other one talk, as they try to name them all.
Suddenly it’s like they’re back on the team.
