The Hopkinton High School boys ice hockey team has had to adapt and roll with the changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. At one point, ice hockey was shut down in the state as cases of the virus began to rise. But with an abbreviated 2021 season having begun last week,...
Chris Villani
HHS adds defense to girls hockey co-op team
The Dover-Sherborn/Hopkinton girls ice hockey co-op will get a significant boost from several Hopkinton High School athletes this winter, especially on the defensive end of the ice. The program, which draws athletes from six schools, has six HHS players on the roster...
Brown caps XC career with TVL pod MVP
The 2020 cross country season presented plenty of challenges for Hopkinton senior Nick Brown. The pandemic resulted in new rules and smaller practices, and his season began with an injury that kept him out of the Hillers’ first dual meet. But the Bates College-bound...
Waldman ready for new challenge after 15 years at HCA
After a decade-and-a-half building Hopkinton Center for the Arts, Kris Waldman will step down as the nonprofit’s co-director at the end of this year. “I am ready for a fresh challenge in my life,” Waldman said. “I have been with the center for 15 years in various...
HHS aims for most complete winter sports season possible
After navigating the return to school and the return to high school sports during the fall, Hopkinton High School athletic director Rich Cormier said the lessons learned from that season will inform the winter slate scheduled to begin Dec. 14. Hopkinton plans to offer...
Mural project celebrates Hopkinton’s history, diversity
In a year defined by challenges and division, a few local artists are hoping to use their talents to bring people together. Passersby might have noticed the murals being painted on the fence leading to EMC Park. The art is part of a larger project being sponsored by...
HHS’ Jones set to run off to Florida
Hopkinton High School senior Olivia Jones was looking for a big school with a thriving athletic program that would allow her to continue her running career and kickstart her professional career in dentistry. And she found it all in the northern Florida city of...
Resilient HHS girls soccer finds success
Coming into a season having graduated 12 seniors from the previous year would be a challenge for any team. But the Hopkinton High School girls soccer team also has had to deal with the new rules and a compressed schedule foisted on it and every other school during the...
Hillers boys soccer enjoys chance to compete
There is no sectional tournament or league title for the Hopkinton High School boys soccer team to compete for this year, but that has not stopped the Hillers from making the most of the season they get to have. “You don’t have that playoff element, but it’s still...
Hopkinton’s MacDonald earns spot with TCU football
When Christian MacDonald stood in the tunnel, just moments before kickoff, what he had accomplished really started to hit him. The Hopkinton High School graduate, a sophomore at Texas Christian University, made the football team as a walk-on this fall and was about to...
HHS field hockey adjusts to new rules
The motto for the Hopkinton High School field hockey team this year: Play smarter, not harder. The ongoing pandemic has imposed changes on many high school sports this fall, but perhaps no sport has been as upended as field hockey. Not only do players have to wear...
HHS girls XC prepares for unusual 2020 season
In a normal year, the Hopkinton High School girls cross country team already would have started by the middle of September and would spend the fall gearing up for the big meets at the end of the season. But nothing is normal about 2020, and instead Hopkinton will run...
Hillers boys XC ready to run
Despite not having a league or district meet to look forward to this fall due to the pandemic, the Hopkinton High School boys cross country team is determined to make the most out of the modified and shortened fall campaign. “I think a lot of them came in with a...
New era for HHS golf as Phaneuf takes reins
For the first time since the beginning of the Hopkinton High School golf program, the Hillers will not have Dick Bliss as coach when the 2020 campaign begins. Bill Phaneuf is taking the reins after Bliss guided the team to multiple state titles and sent players to the...
McCann’s virtual Boston Marathon debut long in works
Kayla McCann has been thinking about running the Boston Marathon ever since her family moved to Hopkinton and she started seeing the seminal racing event depart from her town each spring. With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the race to a virtual format, she had to...
Hopkinton moms prep for Boston Marathon
A Boston Marathon turned virtual has not kept a pair of Hopkinton moms from continuing to train and fundraise for youth sports as if they’d be running down Boylston Street this fall. Ali Balster and Amy Dorfman are running to raise money for Hopkinton Boys Youth...
HHS adjusts to new sports schedule
The governing body for high school sports in the state unveiled its plan for competition in the 2020-21 academic year, putting forth a four-season sports schedule that moves football to the late winter and aims to get everyone in action during the COVID-19 pandemic....
Departing HHS players cap summer baseball stint with title
Hopkinton’s foray into the Central Mass. Senior Babe Ruth League may be short-lived, but for this summer the season has given Hopkinton High School 2020 graduates who saw their final baseball season scrapped by the pandemic a chance to take the field one more time....
Army’s Simoes swings big bat in short summer stint
After having his college season cut short and amid a busy training schedule at West Point, Hopkinton’s Tim Simoes was more than willing to drive halfway across the country for the chance to get in a couple weeks of summer baseball. Simoes spent two weeks with the...
Uncertainty abounds in preparing for post-pandemic sports season
Hopkinton High School athletic director Rich Cormier is not entirely certain what high school sports will look like when they return in the fall — assuming they do — but he’s confident there will be significant changes compared to when the last HHS teams suited up...