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Another year is in the books in the local sports scene.
2025 was filled with mind-boggling achievements, Cinderella runs and the passing of some inspirational coaches. Here’s a look back at the Lowell area’s top 10 stories from an interesting year.
1. Plenty of Hart
He wasn’t heavily recruited when he arrived at UMass Lowell in the fall of 2012. But the lanky kid from Commerce, Mich., put his head down and went to work.
He produced two memorable seasons at UMass Lowell which included Hockey East titles and the 6-foot-4 netminder leading the River Hawks to the program’s lone Frozen Four appearance. Thanks to Connor Hellebuyck, UML was an overtime goal away from advancing to the national title game.
As a pro, Hellebuyck has developed into one of the goalies in the world for the Winnipeg Jets. But his 2024-25 season was a cut above. Not only did he win his third Vezina Trophy for being the NHL’s top goaltender, Hellebuyck was named the Hart Trophy winner as the league’s MVP.
Hellebuyck, the pride of UMass Lowell, captured the most prestigious individual honor the hockey world presents after leading all NHL goalies in about every important category. He went 47-12-3 with a 2.00 goals against average and .925 save percentage.
Think about it. The best hockey player in the world wore a UMass Lowell jersey for two seasons. He won the Hart Trophy. Not Connor McDavid. Not Leon Draisaitl. Not Sidney Crosby. Not Nathan MacKinnon. Not Nikita Kucherov. Not Cale Makar.
A couple of days after winning the Hart and Vezina trophies, Hellebuyck played golf at Long Meadow GC in Lowell/Tewksbury.
2. Spinners return
Gone are the days of LeLacheur Park lying dormant in the hot summer months. The Lowell Spinners are back.
The Spinners were synonymous with family summer fun until the New York-Penn League disbanded in 2021 as part of a realignment period throughout Minor League Baseball. The 5,000-seat park was sold out more often than not, treating fans of all ages to a top-notch baseball experience and a front-row seat to the Boston Red Sox stars of tomorrow like when a baby-faced Mookie Betts dazzled at second base along the banks of the Merrimack River.
After a letter of intent was signed in July to revive the franchise as a member of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League, a new ownership group was announced in the fall ahead of the team’s debut season this spring. The FCBL is one of the premier summer baseball leagues for collegiate standouts chasing their dreams.
Lowell will play 31 of its 62-game season in Lowell, which is set to begin this spring. The team recently started to announce various players from its inaugural roster. Matthew Hall, a Chelmsford High standout who is set to play at Assumption this season, was one of the initial signings released by the team. Ownership stressed a lot of local talent will take to the field this summer. Not bad for a new spin on a lost but not forgotten summertime treasure.
3. Drew dominates
The Lowell City Golf Tournament began in 1923.
Two players through the years recorded three-round totals of 208: Doug Parigian in 2003 and Brandon Gillis in 2023. Anything lower seemed implausible.
Then Trevor Drew went out and made history. The sweet-swinging Tyngsboro native won his second straight title, but this time he did it record-breaking fashion, carding a 66-69-70-205 total to break the record by three shots.
He birdied 17 of the 54 holes, an eye-popping achievement.
Unless he turns pro down the line, the Cities field will have to contend with Drew, a Long Meadow member who has every shot in the bag, for many years.
The Cities has produced great players like Chick Grasse, Dick Harris, Larry Martin, Mike Buva, Phil Smith and Parigian, a 10-time winner. But no one has ever strung together three rounds at Mt. Pleasant, Vesper and Long Meadow like the cool-as-a-cucumber Drew.
4. Female power
What’s in the water in Westford?
The question must be asked after examining the exploits of three Westford Academy female athletes.
Kassidy Carmichael, Abigail Hennessy and Maddie Smith added to their trophy cases by dominating their respective sports in 2025.
Carmichael, now at Ohio State, led the Ghosts to the Division 1 state championship lacrosse game by scoring at a dizzying pace. She graduated after setting program records with 417 goals, 173 assists and 590 points. Also a top-flight hockey player, Carmichael has dreams of representing the U.S. in the Olympics. Don’t bet against her.
She’s a rare two-sport athlete at Ohio State. In hockey, she has six goals and six assists in 17 games for one of the nation’s top teams.
Hennessy emerged as one of the top cross country runners in the nation. After ruling Massachusetts, she easily captured the regional championship to qualify for nationals in San Diego.
There, competing against the top high school runners in the country, Hennessy hung with the lead pack before finishing fifth in a terrific time of 17:21.9. She will take her talents in the fall the University of Washington.
Smith emerged out of the shadows of her sisters Morgan and Molly on the golf course and staged a memorable 2025 campaign.
To the surprise of no one, the Westford Academy senior was recently named Mass Golf’s Girls Junior Player of the Year.
Her year was highlighted when she captured the New England Women’s Amateur in Haverhill. Smith also won the Massachusetts Girls Junior Amateur for the second time, reached the Round of 16 in match play in the Massachusetts Women’s Amateur and helped Team Massachusetts clinch the New England Junior Amateur title.
In the fall, Maddie Smith will attend Memphis University.
5. Gridiron greats
This fall yielded one of the best high school football seasons from area high schools in recent memory. Just ask the players, coaches and fans at Shawsheen Tech, where the Rams might need to start thinking about a more spacious trophy case.
Shawsheen rallied to its second straight 13-0 season that resulted in a Division 5 Super Bowl win. Under the direction of veteran head coach Al Costabile, Shawsheen has pocketed consecutive titles over Foxboro at Gillette Stadium that capped off undefeated seasons. Sun Player of the Year Jake Banda totaled 2,046 yards with 25 touchdowns on the ground and was a force at linebacker.
And just a day later, Tewksbury was a part of what many have tabbed the best Super Bowl game in recent memory, a 42-41 slugfest defeat to Scituate. The loss is no damper on Tewksbury’s incredible season that saw the Redmen roll to an 8-0 regular season behind a myriad of playmakers. Jonny Sullivan finished the season with 13 interceptions, including two at Gillette Stadium.
How about Scott Boyle’s Red Raiders? Ever since his team impressed at 7-on-7s over the summer, the MVC was put on notice that Lowell meant business this fall. Lowell played to a 9-2 record and edged Methuen, 29-21, in a Division 1 playoff game before falling to a perennial power in Springfield Central. It marked Lowell’s second winning season in the last 10 years and broke a program record with 383 points scored.
Head coach Rob Beaudette’s Tyngsboro Tigers also impressed, posting a 7-0 regular season before coming up short in the Division 7 state tournament at the hands of Rockland. Tyngsboro (9-1) averaged 30.8 points per game and was led by dynamos Nico Faretra and TJ Bradford.
6. Coaches salute
Tom Severo, Steve Scanlon and Dave O’Hearn will forever be remembered for their laundry list of achievements beyond the bench. But the three head coaches were even better people.
Severo, a Westford resident, died at the age of 77 in May. He was a legendary soccer coach at Shawsheen Tech and Billerica High, coaching 737 games and amassing a 440-188-109 all-time record in 41 years. He won seven league titles at Billerica as the girls coach and one at Shawsheen as the boys coach. The Indians turned in undefeated seasons in 1991 and 1992 under his direction. He stepped down in 2013 before leading Shawsheen to 10 straight state tournament bids.
Scanlon, another familiar face on the soccer pitch for many years, passed away in October at age 63. Coaching boys soccer and hockey at Wilmington High, Scanlon totaled a 595-452-145 record in both sports that yielded two state championships in the rink and four league titles on the soccer field. His career saw him coach 1,473 total games at Methuen High and Westford Academy. While battling throat cancer, he coached two teams during the 2024-25 calendar year.
O’Hearn also stayed put on the bench during his battle with cancer. His fight against pancreatic cancer ended in July at the age of 48. O’Hearn was a longtime assistant coach on the highly successful Methuen/Tewksbury girls hockey team before taking over on an interim basis in 2022-23. The respected coach led the Red Rangers to their first league title since 2019 last winter amid a 19-2-3 season that came just one win shy of reaching TD Garden. Even while undergoing treatment, O’Hearn never lost his desire to show up to the rink every day for his players. He was 47-13-7 all-time as head coach.
7. Banner year
It was a year filled with ring ceremonies for the many area high school teams that captured state titles. The student-athletes from Billerica and Chelmsford know a little about what a state championship can do for the community.
The Indians revitalized their hockey program last winter, turning in an impressive 23-1-1 season en route to hoisting the Division 2 state title for the first time since 1977. The season produced countless memorable moments, including knocking off Tewksbury twice. The second meeting between the neighboring rivals is still talked about in the depths of the Hallenborg Ice Pavilion.
After Tewksbury tied the Final Four game at 1-1 with 0.9 seconds left — yes, less than a second remained on the jumbotron at the Tsongas Center — Billerica’s Ryan Johnson called game in overtime to send Billerica to the big dance with Canton. Nolan Dawson’s golden goal in double OT will forever live in Billerica hockey lore.
And Billerica kept on winning. That spring, its lacrosse team — composed of a lot of hockey players still relishing in their glory on the ice sheet — was purely dominant. Billerica rolled to a 22-1 season that culminated in a 17-16 win over Reading in the state final at Mass Maritime for the first time since 2001.
There was a similar feeling of baseball magic across the border in Chelmsford. The 14th-seeded Lions roared their way to Polar Park, where Matt Stuart went the distance in a nine-inning thriller to best Braintree, 8-2, for the Division 1 state crown — Chelmsford’s first since 1966. The improbable and exciting run produced wins over No. 19 Shrewsbury (1-0), No. 3 Bishop Feehan (12-3), No. 11 Wellesley (1-0) and No. 2 Saint John’s (5-3).
8. Eichel soars
Jack Eichel is a Hobey Baker winner and a Stanley Cup champion. Add Olympian to the North Chelmsford native’s sparkling resume.
While Team USA is set to release its full roster on Friday for the looming 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, Eichel is a member of the select group of American standouts who have already been named to the roster.
Fans got a sneak peek of what Team USA might look like in last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off event in Boston. Players raved about the importance of representing their country, and the games were intense. The pace of play was reminiscent of a Game 7 playoff contest. Eichel recorded four assists in four games as USA fell to Canada in the final and was at the forefront of the USA offense.
Expect no different in February from the 29-year-old who learned to skate at area ponds and worked at Zwickers in nearby Bedford. After a career-best 94-point season in 2024-25, Eichel is dazzling with the Vegas Golden Knights with 12-29-41 in 31 games but has been sidelined since Dec. 13 with an injury.
9. Paige persists
She almost fell, but Makayla Paige showed the type determination that doesn’t surprise folks who watched her run at Tewksbury High.
Stumbling at a turn just 28 seconds into the 800-meter final at the 2025 NCAA Indoor nationals, the University of North Carolina senior was nearly parallel to the track when she right herself. Paige didn’t just get back into the race — she won it to become a national champion.
She gathered herself before turning on the jets and flying to the finish line in the facility-best time of 2:00.39 to claim the national title in Virginia Beach, Va., in March.
Paige became the University of North Carolina’s first national women’s champ since Nicole Greene in 2018. Paige thought she had fallen to the ground. She heard the crowd react. But she refused to quit. Tewksbury tough.
10. Pirates ship out
After two seasons of calling the Tsongas Center in Lowell home, the Massachusetts Pirates announced they were leaving the city for a new home.
The 2024 inaugural season went smoothly on the field, as the Pirates advanced all the way to the Indoor Football League championship games. This past campaign was far rockier. The team underwent a coaching change early in the campaign and missed the playoffs, a rare stumble for a franchise with a proud history.
In the end, though, the team was unable to draw enough fans to the Tsongas. Fans enjoyed being close to the action and the Pirates did their best to get involved with the community. In the end, pro sports is a business and the Pirates decided to continue their journey in a much larger market as the Orlando Pirates in Orlando, Fla.
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Jason Cooke
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