Jamie McDonald, the hockey coach at Rothesay Netherwood School in New Brunswick, gave perspective on the potential of Kevin Gagne.

McDonald likened the skills of the 15-year-old defenseman, who has committed to the University of Maine, to St. Louis left wing and former Black Bear Paul Kariya.

"He's a special player, and they come only every once in a while," said McDonald, who worked with Hockey Canada and was a regional scout for the New York Rangers.

***

Also, here's a story from 2003 that first forecasted the trend of early commitments to college hockey programs.

Greely's Becky O'Brien and Cony's Bethany Dumas set meet records in two events Saturday at the USM New Year's Relays in Gorham. O'Brien won the girls shot put (48-1 1/2) while Dumas won the girls pole vault (11-3).

In the boys mile, Sintayehu Taye turned in winning time of 4:24.04, ahead of Falmouth's Ethan Shaw and Lewiston's Mohamed Noor. Taye, a former Portland High standout who is a senior at Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Mass., ran as an unattached competitor.

Several green-and-gold banners noting McAuley's athletic success hang above the school's basketball court. Two, however, were covered by brown paper before Thursday's basketball game.

Prior to McAuley's 44-41 loss to Noble, former McAuley basketball players Morghan McAleney, Nikki Viola and Bradi True helped unveil the 2006-2007 Western Class A championship banner for girls basketball while members of the McAuley tennis team helped unveil the 2007 Western Class A championship banner.

While Derek Army spends the remainder of the week in Maine with the Moses Brown hockey team, his father, Tim, and the Providence College hockey team headed to Detroit to play in the Great Lakes Invitational.

Providence faces Michigan at 4:30 p.m. Friday and will play either Michigan Tech or Michigan State on Saturday.

Moses Brown plays Greely at 5 p.m. today in Falmouth, then plays Falmouth at 2:10 p.m. Friday in the Maine High School Hockey Invitational.

A little more than a week remains in the UPS Delivery Intercept Challenge, an online voting contest in which football fans can view and vote for the best interception play in youth and high school football in 2007, via viral video. (Think YouTube.)

There you have it, the three finalists for the James J. Fitzpatrick Trophy – Gorham running back Justin Villacci, Gardiner quarterback/defensive back Kyle Stilphen and Lawrence quarterback Jack Hersom.

Villacci is Gorham's first finalist for the award, while Hersom is Lawrence's second finalist in as many years, joining Aaron Champagne, who was a finalist last year. Lawrence's only Fitzpatrick Trophy winner is Kirk Mathieu (1987). Gardiner's only Fitzpatrick winner was Nate Sergent (1997).

Two of the area's biggest tournaments kick off after Christmas in the Portland area - the Maine Mall Holiday Basketball Classic and the the Maine High School Hockey Invitational.

The Maine Mall Basketball Classic will include 15 boys teams from Class A and Class B, as well as Susan Wagner of Staten Island, N.Y. Deering is the defending tournament champion - the Rams defeated Cheverus 59-44 for the 2006 title.

The Maine High School Hockey Invitational will include 44 teams from New England, New Jersey, New York, Nova Scotia, Ontario, New Brunswick and Quebec. The round-robin tournament kicks off Wednesday with games at the Portland Ice Arena, Biddeford Ice Arena, Travis Roy Arena in Yarmouth and Family Ice Center in Falmouth.

Saturday at the Bowdoin Relays in Brunswick, four area track athletes had qualifying marks for one of two national meets in March – the Nike Indoor National meet in Landover, Md., and the National Scholastic Indoor Classic in New York.

Peter Slovenski, Brunswick: 15-2, boys pole vault
Becky O'Brien, Greely: 47-3, girls shot put
Dan Smith, Thornton Academy: 55-6, boys shot put
Brigham Michaud, Cheverus: 51-7, boys shot put

Biddeford goalie Tony Dube was back at it Saturday night in the Tigers' 5-1 win over Kennebunk.

Dube, the Maine Sunday Telegram's ice hockey MVP last season, stopped 42 shots in the Tigers' season opener.

"Tony is one of, if not the best, goalkeepers in the state," Biddeford teammate Shawn Grover said. "Any time you have that kid on the ice, you don't think anything's going in."

My apologies for the bloggy-blog having been a bit quiet as of late.

While scanning through the scores, two of them jump out - 72-19 and 13-0.

If the Greely girls basketball team needed any kind of lift after dropping its first two games of the season, the Rangers got it last night with a 72-19 win over Cape Elizabeth. Greely lost to Falmouth and Fryeburg Academy before Thursday's game, in which the Rangers allowed just two points in the first quarter.

Mike Chase scored four goals in the Falmouth hockey team's 6-0 win over Scarborough but Chase's total was less than a third of Lewiston's team output. The Blue Devils defeated Mt. Ararat 13-0 at the Colisee.

Keep an eye out for the Maine Sunday Telegram All-State football team this weekend. And enjoy reading the Mitchell Report.

Massabesic-Old Orchard Beach hockey player Steven Drown was ambulanced to the hospital Saturday as a precaution after he collided with another player in the final seconds of the Seastangs' 5-0 loss to Westbrook at USM Ice Arena in Gorham.

Drown was on the ice for more than 45 minutes before he was taken by ambulance to Maine Medical Center, and the start of the St. Dominic-Scarborough hockey game, originally scheduled for 5:15 p.m. was delayed until 6 p.m.

Just hours before the puck dropped Friday, the Maine Class A Coaches Association released its preseason poll, voted upon by the state's Class A coaches and the media.

If you've been keeping an eye on Division I college basketball recruits, you've probably heard or seen the name Terrelle Pryor.

The first day for winter sports contests comes Friday. Highlighting the slate:

Girls basketball
Falmouth at Greely, 5:30 p.m. Friday: The season opener in Cumberland pits two of the area's 10 teams to watch.

The Massabesic boys basketball team will play its alumni game at 4 p.m. Dec. 22 as a fundraiser for Nothing But Nets, an organization that raises money to buy and ship mosquito nets to families in Africa. The nets are designed to protect families from malaria.

Malaria, according to the World Health Organization, is both preventable and curable, but more than 500 million people each year contract malaria.

But Massabesic is going one better - the Mustangs also are holding a separate fundraiser to hand deliver the nets to families in Africa and to educate people on malaria and the importance of using the nets. Get your passports ready.