REGION — It was full steam ahead for the local high school athletic teams. Practices and scrimmages were taking place, preparation for the upcoming season was in high gear and anticipation for the season-openers was at hand.
But like the Titanic, the best-laid plans for the high school season were sabotaged by a awesome display of ice. Local towns were besieged by an ice storm that knocked out power, knocked down trees and forced residents to battle cold winter temperatures without the usual comforts that are often taken for granted.
Three days after the initial effects of the storm, most schools remain closed and the residents of the town are lodged with relatives, friends, in hotels or as the case of Harvard, at the Bromfield School.
“The most difficult part of this has been communication,” said Groton-Dunstable Athletic Director Dan Twomey. “We had a hockey game scheduled in Worcester on Saturday night and it was very difficult trying to find out what was going on.”
The IAABO Tip-off Classic at Monty Tech had a large slate of games scheduled over the weekend that were postponed due to the storm. The Groton-Dunstable boys basketball team was scheduled to play Doherty on Saturday night, while the Ayer boys basketball team was set to play Clinton on Sunday afternoon.
“I’m not really sure what is going to happen with those games,” said Twomey.
Both the Groton-Dunstable boys and girls basketball teams were scheduled to open against Oakmont Regional on Tuesday, but those games were called off. The boys next scheduled game is home on Thursday against St. Thomas Aquinas, while the girls are matched up against Algonquin in the Nashoba Tournament on the same night.
Groton-Dunstable did have some semblance of normality over the weekend.
“The varsity boys and girls basketball teams practiced on Saturday and the hockey team practiced on Sunday,” said Twomey. “The junior varsity, freshmen and middle school teams have all been off since Thursday.”
The Ayer girls basketball team was able to play their season-opener on Monday night when they hosted Parker School and have a pair of home games scheduled later in the week.
The Bromfield boys basketball team played their season-opener at South Lancaster Academy on Thursday night, but the girls basketball team had games postponed against Narragansett and Lunenburg.
Any postponements will be handled later, but with the interruption occuring this early, there should be plenty of time to get them scheduled.
“This would have been tougher to deal with later in the season,” said Twomey. “Some towns have been hit hard and the important thing is to get the power restored and for everyone to return to normalcy in their daily lives.”
“We were able to practice on Saturday and will practice again on Monday,” said Groton-Dunstable girls basketball coach Mark Hennelly. “The captains (Sandra Lanier and Mandy Woitowicz) called the girls and the turnout was good.”
