It wasn’t supposed to end this way.
Arlington High School was going to play for a state championship this weekend at TD Garden. It was supposed to be the culmination for a senior class that has been together since they were seven years old.
But instead, word came down on Thursday that the championship was canceled, along with countless other events, including the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball. The NCAA basketball and hockey tournaments were also canceled, all due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Spy Ponders finished the season 19-1-4 (including three Super 8 wins).
“I’ve had this group of seniors, in some form or other, since they were seven years old,” said Arlington head coach John Messuri. “They have been coached up for this moment. This was their moment. This was their game and during the entire tournament, they were accomplishing every single goal. It just stinks. I can’t blame the MIAA. They were in a tough spot.”
At one point there was hope that the championship game would be played. While the NHL, NBA and MLB had to worry about multiple games in multiple cities, and the college tournaments being canceled had the same concerns, the MIAA hockey tournament was down to just one game remaining. However, late in the day, plans for the cancelation were made official.
The MIAA released a statement through Twitter that simply said, “The MIAA Board of Directors has voted to cancel the basketball and ice hockey championship games scheduled for this weekend in lieu of the COVID-19 outbreak.”
Later, it was announced that the spring sports season will be delayed until at least March 30.
“We were hoping we would be OK because we just had to play one game,” Messuri said. “The kids are obviously upset. They’re upset about not playing at the Garden as much as they are not playing for a championship. But I don’t think the MIAA had any choice with everything going on around them. But we had some hope because Hockey East and the other college tournaments were all still starting their tournament and we were right at the end, so we were hoping we’d be able to finish it.
“When we told the kids, there were a lot of tears for about 15-20 minutes. Maybe in a few days, or maybe in a year or two it will sink in what they did this year.”
Arlington’s seniors will go out with Middlesex League championships in each one of their four years. This will, maybe technically, be their second Super 8 title. In some way or form, this class has been in the Super 8 in each of their four seasons, becoming the first class in Arlington history to accomplish that feat.
“We don’t take anything away from Pope,” Messuri said. “We have a great relationship with Pope Francis and Coach Foley. But, we’ll put up a banner that says we were the winners of the winner’s bracket. And at the end of the day, we didn’t get beat. That’s just the reality. We will finish as the No. 1-ranked team in the state.“
Late Thursday, Neutral Zone received the following video, documenting the moment that Messuri told his team they would not be playing the Super 8 championship game …
This is heartbreaking. @_Neutral_Zone we were sent this video tonight. This was the moment earlier today that Arlington head coach John Messuri told his team that they would not be playing in the Super 8 championship this weekend. pic.twitter.com/qjlMnULNPc
— Mike McMahon (@MikeMcMahonCHN) March 13, 2020
