The Varsity Insider from MassLive

Thursday, December 25, 2025

Jeff Lajoie

Hello, subscriber. Welcome to the Varsity Insider newsletter, an in-depth look at high school sports across Massachusetts from Jeff Lajoie and MassLive's high school sports team delivered exclusively to MassLive subscribers.

Merry Christmas!

Sports are an integral part of the holidays — think football on Thanksgiving, baseball on the Fourth of July. While both the NBA and NFL now battle for ratings on Christmas Day, the week(s) surrounding St. Nick's journey around the globe wind up with plenty of high school sport offerings across the Bay State.

Holiday tournaments provide a different dynamic for high school sports, and it's a wide-ranging catalog of offerings. There's the annual Phil Tomkiel Holiday Wrestling Tournament in Agawam on Dec. 29 with 20-plus schools in attendance. Malden Catholic will host its annual Boys Basketball Christmas Tournament along with Cathedral, Bishop Guertin (N.H.) and Trinity (N.H.) Dec. 27-28.

High school hockey loves a holiday tournament. There's the Michael Giordano Christmas Classic at Murphy Rink in South Boston, while Pope Francis, BC High, St. John's Prep and Central Catholic comprise a loaded field in the 11th Annual Pete Frates Winter Classic at Essex Sports Center (both tourneys run Dec. 26-27). Count Natick, Falmouth, Duxbury, Lynn and Gardner among the other places hosting holiday tourneys this weekend.

These events become tradition for players and their families. I covered sports in the Lake Winnipesaukee area of New Hampshire for many years, and the Lakes Region Holiday Basketball Tournament has been a fixture on the calendar there since 1973. The three-day event was always a prominent part of my holiday schedule.

So enjoy the next week of celebrating, spending time with family and friends. And make sure that these holiday sporting events become and remain part of your traditions for years to come.

Circle These Dates

Westfield's Katherine Aldrich, right, looks to drive past Minnechaug's Zahara Wilson (11) during the Falcons' win earlier this season. (CHRIS PUTZ / THE WESTFIELD NEWS) FILE PHOTO

In this section, we'll highlight the games and events we're watching each week. Consider this your heads up so you can clear that busy schedule and hit some of these games in person.

Boys hockey: Pope Francis vs. Central Catholic; St. John's Prep vs. BC High (Friday, Dec. 26): As mentioned above, the 11th Annual Pete Frates Winter Classic kicks off on Friday in Essex. The title and consolation games will be played on Saturday. These are probably four of the top 20 teams in Division I, and all four should be in the conversation come March.

Girls basketball: Springfield Central at Northampton (Monday, Dec. 29): A rematch of the last couple Western Mass. Class A championship games takes place at Feiker Gymnasium in Northampton on Monday. The Golden Eagles have dominated the series of late, but expect Northampton to give them as tough a challenge as just about anyone in Western Mass. this winter.

Boys basketball: Springfield Central vs. Hall (Conn.), Pope Francis vs. Saint Bernard (Conn.) (Monday, Dec. 29): Two local powerhouse programs will partake in Day 1 of the Coaches Advancement for Racial Equity (CARE) Challenge at Windsor High School (Conn.) on Monday. The two-day tournament (Central will play both days) features some of the top programs in Connecticut along with the WMass squads.

Girls basketball: South Hadley at Minnechaug (Tuesday, Dec. 30): Two of the top four teams in our most recent MassLive Top 20 Poll will meet in Wilbraham on Tuesday in a huge early-season Valley League showdown. The two programs haven't met since 2020.

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

Each week in this space, we'll highlight a piece of local high school sports history from yesteryear.

DEC. 26, 1975: This week 50 years ago, a wild third-period effort propelled the Cathedral ice hockey team to a 5-1 win over Amherst at the Eastern States Coliseum in West Springfield. Mark Gallagher, Dave Gaw and Dan Morriarty all scored goals within 60 seconds of each other to open up a 1-0 lead in the final stanza en route to a 5-1 win. Amherst's Curt Moner scored the lone goal to break up the shutout late.

All-Western Mass. selections underway

The Longmeadow field hockey team after beating Frontier to win the Western Mass. Class A title last month at Clark Field in West Springfield. JEFF LAJOIE

As the Fall 2025 season has come to an end, MassLive continues to roll out its All-Western Mass. selections. These honors are bestowed upon players for their achievements during the fall; picked by the MassLive staff, with nominations from high school coaches.

Field hockey (released 12/23): Another stellar field hockey season is in the books for Western Massachusetts schools. Find out which players made the list across Classes A, B and C.

Girls volleyball (released 12/22): An impressive lift of honorees fill up first and second all-WMass teams in Classes A, B, C and D. Click here for the full list of selections.

Other All-Western Mass. lists over the past week:

• Girls cross country (released 12/19)
• Boys cross country (released 12/19)
• Golf (released 12/18)

Stay tuned for the rest of the fall sports, with football closing out the selections on Dec. 29.

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