LOWELL — The Winchester High boys’ ice hockey team did not have to come from behind in the MIAA Div. 1 North final, last night at Tsongas Center, but its 4-1 victory over St. John’s Prep may have been the Sachems’ most impressive thus far in the tournament.

BELMONT — While the final result was as expected between the top seed and the ninth seed, the Woburn High girls’ basketball team gave Belmont all it could handle through three quarters before a lack of shot making caught up to them.

WATERTOWN — The two-time MIAA Div. 1 state champion Woburn High girls’ hockey team has been dethroned, but coach Bob MacCurtain can live with that considering how far the Tanners came along this year after losing almost all of their offense to graduation.

ANDOVER — An early run and another surge kept the Reading High girls basketball team close into the third quarter.

GLOUCESTER — Despite playing a strong defensive first half played at its pace, the Reading High boys basketball team couldn’t hit enough shots in the second half while seemingly Gloucester lived at the free throw line.

READING — The Reading High girls hockey season came to end after a tough battle against Needham.

WOBURN — Based on its first two meetings with Arlington, the Woburn High girls’ hockey team figured it would have to generate a lot of shots to score on Spy Ponder goalie Jordan Toomey, thus making a victory a difficult challenge.

STONEHAM — The Reading High boys hockey team gave it everything it had, but came up short in the end.

CAMBRIDGE — Despite playing great defense throughout the game, the Woburn High girls’ basketball team found itself in a seven-point deficit, its biggest of the game, midway through the fourth quarter.

WAKEFIELD — In a game of runs that could have swung the outcome either way, the Reading boys basketball team made one last run in the final minute, which proved to be decisive and lifted the Rockets to a big tournament win.

READING — About the result you would expect with a No. 5 seed hosting a 12 in a first-round tournament game.

The last three years we have been able to watch either the Woburn girls or Woburn boys make runs to the MIAA North basketball finals.

READING — After a shaky start, some tough second-half defense cured all ills for the Reading High boys basketball team which earned its coveted 10th win.

With turnout for the local high school wrestling teams being a little low for this particular winter, the dual meet season was rather lackluster, with duals often being decided on forfeits, not necessarily on the mat.

The year before Haley Lightbody joined the Reading High girls’ basketball team as a freshman, the Lady Rockets went 2-20. Since then they have won five games her freshman year, 15 her sophomore year, 12 her junior year, and now Reading is 13-4 heading into Thursday night’s game with Arlington.

With all of the four area high school boys basketball teams out of their respective Middlesex League title chases, each of them are now going all out just to get into the tournament.

There is a sound familiar to those who have followed Middlesex League boys’ basketball over the last couple of decades that had not been heard in awhile at Winchester High games on occasion this winter.

With the league schedules reaching the halfway point in the next week, it is time for something of a progress report on our local teams. Graduation hit pretty hard for some teams and for the Woburn and Winchester boys, plus the Woburn girls, the effects have been felt.

WOBURN — The Woburn High wrestling team won the most battles, but it was Reading which won the war, 39-29, last night at Torrice Gym.

READING — The Reading High boys hockey team won a thriller over an always tough St. John’s Prep team.

After a successful four-year All-American field hockey career at Babson College, Reading’s Ashley Tango was chosen to be one of nearly 100 prospective field hockey players to try out for the United States national team.

It was not that long since Winchester High’s Michael Grassey was tearing it up both on the football field as a quarterback, and on the basketball court as a player who could excel at any position, and did so for the Sachems because it was needed.

It seems like every two years there is some tinkering done in the winter season to the basketball schedules for the Middlesex League.

WOBURN — The last two seasons have been amazing for the Woburn High girls’ ice hockey team, each ending with magical marches to the TD Garden where the Tanners captured consecutive MIAA Div. 1 state championships.

READING — The Reading High girls basketball team looks to have another solid, competitive season this winter after two straight tournament teams.

READING — Despite hopes for a big improvement, the Reading boys basketball team was hit with some injuries last year, and staggered to a last place Liberty Division 5-11 finish (7-13 overall).

BURLINGTON — With a experienced squad last year the Burlington High boys basketball team came together and matured a great deal throughout the season to make the tournament.

WOBURN — All Rocky Nelson ever wanted to do was be associated with Woburn High football.

Life is full of twists and turns, and sometimes takes us down paths that we never anticipated. But sometimes the unexpected can also be a blessing in disguise.

BURLINGTON — For the second consecutive year the O’Halloran brothers of Burlington, Shane, Patrick and Ryan, along with other friends, volunteers and family members, helped raise nearly $16,000 for breast cancer for their one-day 7-on-7 touch football tournament for breast cancer awareness.

WOBURN — The weather wasn’t going to get any warmer so the players on the Woburn and Winchester football teams might as well make the best of it.

STONEHAM — Trailing 20-6 with 4:04 left to play on a bitterly cold early Thanksgiving afternoon to undefeated Stoneham, on a dirt and grass field the consistency of concrete, giving up might have seemed like a reasonable option.

READING — Pat Sheehan knew he had something special in Matt Sannella, and he had yet to see him throw a football.

WINCHESTER — When the Winchester High football team was forced to move on after the graduation of star quarterback Liam Fitzpatrick, Sachems’ coach Wally Dembowski and his staff had two candidates to choose from.

MARSHFIELD — The Winchester High girls’ soccer team completed its mission, last night at Marshfield High, becoming Div. 2 state champions by capturing the Div. 2 EMass title with a 1-0 victory over Hopkinton.

Truthfully, I would have favored a postponement. I am for seeing teams play at their best. At this moment, I don’t see how temperatures in the upper-teens and 20-mile per hour wind accomplishes that.

CAMBRIDGE — The Reading High girls swim team gave multiple-time sectional champion Andover its best shot but fell just short.