On Sunday, March 8th, The 6th-seeded Hingham Harbormen Hockey season came to an unfortunate end in the final four with a 5-4 against 7th-seeded Pope Francis. The game concluded a wildly successful run for Team 91, finishing with an impressive 16-7-2 record and so many memories for which to be thankful. 

While the end of a playoff run as successful and intense as the Harbormen’s run can be heartbreaking for everyone, the greatest pain and sadness was felt especially by the eighteen seniors who led this team through all the ups and downs to deliver one of the most successful and memorable hockey seasons of the last decade for Hingham.

Hingham vs. Pope Francis

The final game of the Harbormen Season kicked off with a 3:15 puck drop at the Boston College Rink, Conte Forum, in front of a roaring crowd of Hingham fans and parents. 

“I love to see a lot of people from our school and town be able to come to the game,” said Senior Director of Hockey Operations Luca Greco. “I remember going to Hingham games when I was younger and always dreaming of being a part of big varsity games, so to be helping out in front of that huge crowd was really cool and something that I will remember for a long time.” 

The boys got off to an electrifying start, after a rebound from Cam McKenna’s shot fell to the stick of Quinn Allen, who promptly found the back of the net to give the Harbormen a 1-0 lead less than a minute into the first period. 

“Scoring the first goal against Pope was just an awesome feeling and probably the biggest goal I’ve scored in my career,” admitted Allen. “Before the game, I was talking to both my linemates Cam McKenna and Nick Bigelow saying we were so due to score our first shift after the past couple of games, so getting that was a huge momentum booster for the team.”

The remainder of the first period saw an exciting clash between two evenly-matched teams, with physical and energetic play keeping the game very level. Pope Francis fought their way to two goals, ending the first period up 2-1. 

When I talked to one of Hingham’s top fans Luke Hamilton about the experience at the hockey game, he replied, “the student section’s boisterous and unwavering advocacy for their team was an auditory spectacle, a veritable symphony of impassioned cheering.”

During the second period, Pope Francis extended their lead with two unanswered goals, putting them up 4-1. Nick Bigelow answered back with a nice goal to put the Harbormen back in reach, while James Whitmore and the defense locked in to make some big penalty-kills and keep the Harbormen in fighting distance. 

“The resiliency we had to show in that last game against Pope was a product of the work we put in everyday starting in the fall,” exclaimed Senior Captain Colman Donohue. “No matter what we showed up, whether to boxy [Boxygen] workouts, B-Rink Battles, 5:00 AM practices, or regular afterschool practice, with the mindset to compete and push each other. There were ups and downs all year with injuries, but we never let that get to us. We played until the final buzzer, and that shows the type of team we are.” With fifteen minutes of hockey remaining, the Harbormen still had a fighting chance.

Straight out of the gate in the third period, Team 91’s motive was clear: outwork Pope to get back into the game. The Harbormen promptly killed the remaining 1:44 on the Pope Francis powerplay, then pushed the puck relentlessly into the attacking zone. However, after some good saves by the Pope goalie and unfortunate shot outcomes from the Harbormen, Pope Francis capitalized on what they had done best all night, pushing the puck in transition and scoring to put the Harbormen down 5-2 with 7:41 to go. 

In that moment, the roar of the Hingham crowd felt stifled as the game began to feel out of reach and the possibility of losing set in, but the Harbormen refused to quit. Sean Carroll fired a narrow shot off of the bar into the goal, cutting the deficit to two. A few minutes later, another Harbormen goal from Nick Bigelow put the boys down by one. The energy from the Red Army was palpable; the chants suddenly had new-found life as the momentum shift gave the Harbormen a few more minutes to defy all-odds and make a legendary comeback.

Tragically, the furious comeback proved to be too-late, as Pope Francis survived a last-minute six-on-five effort from the Harbormen to propel them to a state championship berth in Division I, where they will face Saint John’s Shrewsbury for the MIAA title. 

The Aftermath: Remembering the Good and Looking Forward

Professional photographer and videographer Bernie Perisie, more well known by his instagram handle berniejpvids, worked alongside the Harbormen capturing Team 91’s journey from start to finish. 

“What struck me from day one was how tight-knit the group was,” Perisie said. “The skill level and enthusiasm they had you can only find with a group of kids who have played together their entire lives, and that undoubtedly played a huge role in their success this year.” Perisie will be releasing a multi-part documentary for the new season of his series: “The Long Road: A Hockey Series” around mid-May.

“This season was awesome,” said Senior Colin Garrity. “We made it farther than any Hingham Hockey team has in the last ten years, being the last public school left in the tournament. The memories I made with this group I will never forget, as I grew up playing with all of them for the last fourteen years. Everyone bought into the Hingham Hockey culture and made this winter one of the best times of my life.”

Even though the season’s ending is bittersweet, the friendship and comradery formed by the boys this year really shines a light on how they were so successful. 

“Despite not winning that game and bringing the end to a lot of seniors’ careers on our team, it was still an awesome season,” added Allen. “I’ve been playing with many of these kids since I first learned to skate, so I couldn’t ask for a better way to finish my high school career than with these boys on my team this year.”

For the juniors and underclassmen especially, the experiences from the Harbormen’s deep playoff run have given the boys an incredibly valuable experience that will make them a disciplined team going into next year. 

“Leaving behind all the younger guys is going to be tough, but our success this season is going to make them an experienced group of guys next year for sure,” noted Senior Goalie James Whitmore. “We had younger guys making serious contributions all across the board, and I know that the program is going to be in good hands with those guys at the helm.”

Although for the eighteen seniors, their high school hockey careers have ended, the unforgettable times and success of Team 91 will live on long into their adult lives. Hingham has a long-standing reputation for having one of the best public school hockey teams in the state, and the fantastic showing of sportsmanship and athletic performance from Harbormen Hockey this year has represented the reputation of the team and the town to the highest degree.