Marty Pierce thought it was solely becoming to attend his granddaughter’s highschool softball recreation Wednesday afternoon, supporting her throughout a troublesome time.
Mount Alvernia confronted the St. Joseph Prep/Matignon co-op, during which the latter joined the opposite two on Tuesday as introduced Catholic colleges that may shut on the finish of the educational yr. Enrollment has been low, and Matignon is shutting down on account of an absence of funding.
It’s pure for the enduring former Matignon boys hockey head coach to be affected by the information, having orchestrated a dominant 40-year run that produced 10 state championships and 20 league titles. The program was nationally considered a juggernaut from the Seventies by way of the early ’90s. He can nonetheless describe with nice element the various moments that outlined the historic stretch earlier than he retired in 2004, and together with it, the various large names that got here by way of this system earlier than enjoying Div. 1 collegiate hockey. Many additionally superior to the NHL.
“I was shocked that they closed. I feel mixed emotions of the closings of all these Catholic schools,” Pierce stated. “I’m very, very proud of Matignon High School, I was there for 40 years. I had many great athletes, student-athletes. I was proud and honored, and considered it always, always a privilege to be their coach. All of those times were magical. Just magical times, just enjoyable times.”
While the listing goes on about what the neighborhood is shedding from the Catholic colleges’ closures, one of many greatest disappointments comes throughout the scope of boys hockey historical past. It’s been some time since Matignon rocked Boston Garden, however the impression of its accomplishments over three totally different many years beneath Pierce has an extremely far attain.
Very few might disrupt the Arlington reign beneath fellow teaching icon Ed Burns. Come the mid-Seventies, a brand new titan had arrived beneath Pierce. A big wave of expertise poured in, and his groups prompted chaos on the way in which to state championships in 1975 and 1977. Every different yr till the flip of the last decade, they have been the runners-up.
“Matignon was the first Catholic power in the mid-70s that went on one of those runs,” stated Arlington coach John Messuri. “I think one year, all nine of their forwards played Div. 1 college hockey. Other programs started to build off of that.”
With many extra highschool hockey video games being performed at Boston Garden than there are right now at TD Garden, aspiring hockey gamers stuffed the stands to witness this system’s greatness. “Marty’s Mohawks” enamored hockey followers with their distinctive hair model and overwhelming dominance, successful 5 straight state titles from 1980-84.
Not even the 1982 Acton-Boxboro workforce, loaded with future NHL gamers Bob Sweeney and Tom Barrasso, might cease them in that run. By 1984, a few dozen of Matignon’s gamers have been dedicated to Div. 1 faculties. When this system missed the state title recreation in 1985, it was the primary time it didn’t make it in 10 years.
“I went to those games (even before playing),” stated Suffolk males’s hockey head coach Shawn McEachern, Matignon class of 1988 earlier than enjoying at Boston University and spending 13 seasons within the NHL. “Incredible games. Incredible. The thing about playing at Matignon is that everybody that went there to play, that was the ultimate goal to play for Marty. Marty was a master motivator, he got guys riled up and excited to play the game.”
Watching his older brother’s Arlington workforce tackle Matignon as a teen impressed Messuri earlier than he launched into his personal well-decorated hockey profession as a participant and coach. Back earlier than legendary coach Bill Hanson’s Catholic Memorial Knights dominated the scene to ultimately assist declare essentially the most championships in state historical past, he was in awe of the opposing powerhouse.
“When I grew up coaching, I wanted to be Marty Pierce,” Hanson stated. “Everybody aspired to be him because he was a class guy and a great coach. To see something like that break down and close is disheartening.”
Arlington Catholic, beneath former longtime head coach Dan Shine, caught as much as Matignon all through that lengthy stretch to create some epic matchups. Hockey had develop into a big a part of each colleges’ identities, together with the opposite sporting occasions between the 2.
“We’re probably only three miles apart, it was the battle of Massachusetts Avenue,” Shine stated. “It was a great rivalry, the games would be sold out, two or three hours before game day. If you didn’t get there two hours before the game, you weren’t getting in.”
Both have been bumped right down to Div. 2 within the mid-80s purely primarily based on the dimensions of the college, and that set the stage for Matignon to win two extra titles in 1987 and 1988. Between the 2 of them, Catholic Memorial and the opposite Catholic Conference powers, the Catholic colleges’ reign compelled the creation of the Super 8 in 1991. Matignon by no means went on to win it, however reached the ultimate in 1992 and 1996, and gained the normal state title once more in 1993.
To suppose that Matignon performed a significant component in two main shifts throughout the sport’s native historical past, to now not have a college, is a tremendously tough capsule to swallow.
“It’s a sad day,” stated Merrimack College director of males’s ice hockey operations Bob Emery, Matignon Class of 1982 earlier than enjoying at Boston College. “My years in high school are my best hockey years, for sure.”
“It’s just sad to see it go because back in the 80s, it was such a fun place to be,” McEachern stated. “The school, they took such pride in the tradition of the hockey program. When you win the state title at Matignon, there’s no school the next day. We rode on two firetrucks through Cambridge to Matignon, where the whole student body would be waiting for us.”
What it achieved, although, won’t ever disappear. And Pierce has nothing however pleasure in offering such a historic identification for the small college.
“There certainly is,” he stated. “There was nothing like it.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com