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 Good Times at Alumni & Parent Hockey Game - Saturday, December 4, was the date for this year's Sixth Annual Alumni Parent Hockey Game. Alumni, faculty, and current parents traveled from throughout New England to participate in this annual event, which for many of them has become tradition. This classic battle of black jerseys versus white jerseys began at 3 p.m., proving to be a fight to the finish for both teams. The white team ended up the victor with Tony Greeley '96 as the goaltender. Other members of the white team included Keith Wilson '90, Paul Carlow '90, Jeff Ray '90, Eric Green '90, Paul Albano P'11, Bill Dalton '90, Gerry Sullivan P'11, Tom Bowers '04, Bob Boyle '79, Chris Travis '06, Mike Gillis '87, Aaron Izaryk, and Patrick Taylor '01. With Joe Daley '77 at the goal, the black team fought hard with a line-up including Tucker Prudden, Jon Lounsbury '01, Jimmy Olson, Sr., Jimmy Olson, Jr. '99, Johnny Olson, Dave LePage, Marc Branchaud '85, Alison Vigneau, Richard Harris '71, and Frank DiCristofaro '74. Traveling the furthest distance was Randy Ruggieri, son of the late Ray Ruggieri '61, who flew in with his wife, Terri, from Florida for the honorary puck drop. The game was dedicated Ray, who sadly passed away earlier this Fall.
Following the game, many of the players gathered in the new "Wolverine Den" for a fabulous Italian meal. With the 20-ft Christmas tree as the backdrop, a great time of fun and feasting was had by all in attendance. Jon Lounsbury, Head Hockey Coach; Headmaster Grady Vigneau; and Jessica Priola, Director of the Annual Fund each spoke a few words before the evening was completed with a door prize drawing. Thank you to everyone who came out for this great event and we look forward to holding another Alumni & Parent game next December. If you play hockey and haven't participated in this event yet - there are no excuses - come on up next year! To view more pictures from the game, please visit BA's Facebook page. |
| Dean's Council Announced - Bridgton Academy Dean of Students and Residential Life, Rich MacDonald, recently introduced the Dean's Council program. The purpose of the Dean's Council is to create a group of BA students that will serve as student body leaders, as well as liaisons with the BA faculty and administration. Faculty were asked to recommend students that they felt were exemplary in both character and example for the ten Council positions. The students that received recommendation interviewed before members of the faculty, and were ultimately chosen for this leadership role. BA is proud to announce our 2011 Dean's Council members as: Brett Smith (Bloomfield Hills, MI), Chris Barney (Cheshire, CT), Taylor Pamplin (Plano, TX), Adan Ali (North Brunswick, NJ), Jacob Grills (Niantic, CT), Tom McDonnell (Durham, NH), Jeff Pearce (Stonington, CT), Richard Jenkins (Bow, NH), John DelPadre (N. Providence, RI) and Todd Brow (Winslow, ME). The Council held their first meeting in early December. |
 Finishing Touches Put on Basketball Locker Room Renovations - Coach Lesure, along with the help of the Development Office, has spent several months reaching out to basketball alumni, parents, and fans, to help cover the costs of renovating the team's locker room. The much improved space will be a welcome sight to the basketball team and coaching staff as they return to the Wolverdome later this month to begin 2011 portion of their season. A special thank you to all of the donors who made this project a reality - we wouldn't have succeeded in this effort without your support. |
| Online Holiday Auction Thank You - The Office of Alumni & Development would like to extend a special thank you to everyone who participated in our first ever Online Holiday Auction. Thanks to the donors, bidders, and item winners, BA was able to raise over $14,000 in Annual Fund donations from this effort. We hope that we also supplied some wonderful holiday gifts for the winning bidders. The feedback we heard is that the Auction was a fun and exciting way to give back to BA, and, as a result, we've already decided to plan to continue the tradition next year. The 2011 Online Holiday Auction dates have been set as November 23rd - December 4th. Hope to see you online! |
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 Coach Tom Austin to be Recognized by Gridiron Club - BA legend Tom Austin will be recognized this Thursday, January 13th, with the John Baronian Award for Lifetime Contribution to Football by the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston. The honor will be bestowed to Coach Austin at the Westin Hotel in Waltham, MA, next Thursday at their annual awards banquet. Tickets are available for purchase via the Gridiron Club's website.
Tom Austin coached BA football for over fifteen years. During that time he served in various other roles at the Academy, including as an administrator, advisor, dorm parent, lacrosse coach, and more. He currently works as a member of the Alumni & Development staff, as well as a student adviser and resident expert in all things Bridgton. In 2004, Tom was inducted into the BA Hall of Fame.
Coach Austin's years away from Bridgton were spent as the Head Football Coach at Colby College. Tom spent eightteen years as Colby's coach, retiring in 2003. During that time, the Colby College team won twelve Colby-Bates-Bowdoin (CBB) titles. Congratulations to Coach Austin! (Pictured are (L-R) Coach Weeks, Coach Austin, and Coach Avery.)
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 Bridgton Alumnus Elevated to United States Army Colonel - BA faculty members Tom Austin and Joe Daley '77, along with former football coach Chuck Hamaty, traveled to Washington D.C. this December to attend the promotion ceremony of Lt. Col. David Brigham, a member of the Class of 1986. Colonel Brigham was joined at the ceremony by his wife, children, parents, and brother, John, a BA graduate from 1986.
Colonel Brigham, who has served for over twenty years in the U.S. Army, now works as the Pakistan Division Chief of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Coordination Cell on the Joint Staff. Brigham is a member of both the BA and Norwich University Hall of Fame. His military awards and decorations include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal (with Four Oak Leaf Clusters), the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Army Commendation Medal (with four Oak Leaf Clusters), the Joint Service Achievement Medal, the Army Achievement Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster), the GWOT-Service and Expeditionary Medals, the NATO Defense Medal, the Expert Infantryman Badge, the Special Forces Tab, the Ranger Tab, the Master Parachutist Badge, and the Military Freefall Badge. Congratulations Col. Brigham! |
 Hunt for the Right Tree - Headmaster Grady Vigneau took a group of 2011 students out to cut-down their own Maine holiday tree before the start of the winter break. After taking some time to find the perfect specimen, the group brought a twenty-five foot balsam that was set up in the new Wolverine Den. A few days later students, faculty families, and staff took time to decorate the tree. |
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First Semester Athletic Wrap-Up - With exams and athletic competition over for the semester, every Bridgton Academy student was looking forward to the winter recess. In the final days of the semester, hockey and basketball were still working harder than ever. The Basketball team started off the week with a 74-64 win over Maine Central Institute (MCI) on December 8th. Later in the week, the wolverines faced South Kent and lost with a score of 95-83. They made up for the loss and beat Lee Academy 76-60 on December 12th . The Jr. A Hockey team started off with a mid-week game against Kents Hill which they won 2-1. After a few good practices they beat the Boston Jr. Rangers 5-2. The Jr. B Hockey team also had a full weekend. They started off with an exciting 4-3 overtime win over the University of New Hampshire's Club team on the 10th, then split a pair of game with Academy St. Louis, losing the first 6-4 and winning the second 2-1.
 The basketball team played with visible passion and urgency on the defensive end of the court and rode a great team effort to their first league win of the young season against MCI. The two in-state rivals played an even first half with the Wolverines earning a 29-23 advantage at the break. Kareem Canty (New York, NY) and Donnie Hale (New Albany, IN) led the first half offensive attack with ten points apiece. In the second half BA continued to play a solid game at both ends of the floor. Canty finished with a game high twenty-six points and Hale added twenty-three of his own, with guard Cory Spence (Baltimore, MD) contributing fourteen second half points. Coach Lesure was emphatic about the team's play at the defensive end of the floor and the overall chemistry that was on display for much of the basketball game. "I thought we established a good posture in the first ten minutes with our effort. After that, we received some terrific contributions off the bench and did not skip a beat on either end of the floor," Lesure said.
Later in the week, the visiting South Kent Cardinal roared back from a 12 point halftime deficit to spoil a strong Wolverine effort 95-83 on Saturday afternoon. BA jumped out early to a 9-0 lead and remained in control of much of the first half settling for a 35-23 lead at the break. Aleks Dobrovic (Podgorica, Montenegro) led a solid attack on both ends of the floor with ten points and several defensive steals. South Kent cut the Bridgton lead to five at 67-62 with ten minutes remaining and the two teams were tied with five minutes remaining.
South Kent utilized a balanced inside-outside offense to secure the victory in the final minutes. Coach Lesure saw some good and bad play in his comments following the contest. "The first half was indicative of how our team is capable of playing, a lot like we played against MCI the other night," Lesure said. "I must have had a brain-cramp at halftime, because the only team making positive adjustments in the second half was our opponent. I did not do our players any favors in the second half," Lesure finished. The loss will not be counted in NEPSAC AAA league standings as new guidelines calculate the divisional rankings.
In the basketball team's last game of the semester, Cory Spence fueled a 16-2 explosion out of the gate for Bridgton Academy as the Wolverines erased the disappointment of the night before and held off a competitive Lee Academy squad 76-60 on Sunday afternoon. The Wolverines had trouble putting the Panda's of Lee away for good, as the hosts missed many easy opportunities around the bucket and were sloppy with the ball in the second half. Spence led Bridgton Academy all afternoon with a 17 points and Aleks Dobrovic continued his fine play with a game high 18 points for the afternoon.
 The Jr. A hockey team traveled to Kents Hill on December 7th to face off against the Huskies. While Coach Lousbury didn't feel it was the team's best played game, he was happy with the win. Brad McGovern (Haverhill, MA) scored the Wolverines first goal of the night off a feed from Matt Buckley (Canton, MA). With the game tied at one, Mike Peacock (Barnstable, MA) scored the go ahead goal to secure the 2-1 win.
Later in the week, the Jr. A team faced off against the Boston Jr. Rangers and skated away with a nice 5-2 win. Tyler Albano (Beverly, MA) started off the offensive attack with the first goal of the game. Dan Sullivan (Burlington, MA) and Brad McGovern (Haverhill, MA) followed suit adding a goal apiece. Ryan Kulik (Pembroke, MA) added two goals of his own for the evening. All three goalies saw time between the pipes. Brad Cray (Raleigh, NC) saved all 7 shots he saw, Tyler Gallagher (Nahant, MA) tallied 6 saves, and Will Husic (Glastonbury, CT) saved 8 of the 10 shots he saw.
Coach Lounsbury was pleased with the results saying, "After a first period nap that left Husic out to dry in the net the boys woke up and decided to play BA Hockey. We dominated, out-shooting our opponent 22-3 in the second period. We worked hard and earned a good win. The boys deserve a good rest over break."
The Jr. B Hockey team fought back from behind to tie their first game of the weekend against the University of New Hampshire's club team and advance to overtime. The first three goals came from Todd Brow (Winslow, ME), Marco Spisso (Highland Falls, NY), and Tim Marshall (Hull, MA). The team worked hard all the way through regulation time, and overtime. Their effort paid off as Sean Yule (West Newton, MA) ripped a slapshot that Spisso tipped in for the winning goal. Jesse Little (Freedom, ME) took home the win, saving 20 of the 23 shots he faced.
On Saturday the Jr. B team was back on the ice facing off against the Academy St. Louis out of Canada. While the team skated hard, they fell to the Canadians 6-4. DJ Cavicchi (Plymouth, MA), Spisso, Steve Laliberte (Falmouth, MA), and Tanner Chase (York, ME) all tallied goals for the Wolverines. John Fitzgerald (Arlington, MA) played in net and stopped 19 of the 25 shots that came his way.
With a loss the previous day, the Jr. B Hockey team set out to end the weekend with a win and enter break on a high note. With Brow getting the team on the scoreboard, Dan Cushing (Wilmington, MA) scored the game winning goal. With a final score of a close 2-1, Little had an impressive start in net saving 24 of the 25 shots he saw.
Starting on January 7th, both of the Hockey teams will attend the EJHL Showcase in Marlboro, MA The basketball team will start off their second semester season with a home game against New Hampton on January 15th at 5:30 P.M. in the Wolverdome. Following that game they will be on the road for the Pride's Corner Tournament that takes place in Oakville, CT. |
| Current Parents - Recharge Student Cards Online! Now that the Wolverine Den is open, BA has made it easier than ever to make deposits into your son's SRE account. Simply visit this link to add funds to his available balance when needed. If you have any questions, please contact the Business Office. |
Bridgton to Host New Summer Camp - This summer BA will house Bridgton Sports Camp, an overnight summer camp for boys interested in athletics. The camp is owned and operated by Brian Kooperman. For more information, visit Brian's website at www.bridgtonsportscamp.com. |
Upcoming Events:
Commencement Class of 2011 - May 14th June 4-6 - Reunion Weekend 2011
July 26th - BA Red Sox Outing
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