INSOGNA AT CENTER OF DOMINANT SCORING LINE
Senior nets 36 goals, helps Tewksbury hunt for state title
TEWKSBURY >> There’s no denying the numbers.
What senior center Jeremy Insogna has done this season for the Tewksbury High School boys hockey team with linemates Matt Cooke and Tyler Bourgea is mind-boggling.
Numbers aside, Insogna is one of those rare players who just does everything right. Two years ago, when he was a part of the state championship team, he took one penalty all season.
The 2023-24 Redmen need to beat Woburn on Saturday to get back to the TD Garden. Besides his off-the-charts 36 goals and 22 assists, and his team-leading plus-43, Insogna has again taken only one penalty all season.
“He’s a special player,” said head coach Derek Doherty. “He’s just gotten better and better and now he’s one of the top players in the league (and in Division 2). We have a lot of good players on this team, but that line really moves the puck well. All three of them are very unselfish and that’s why we’re winning. We don’t have people being point hungry.”
Knowing the team was coming off a disappointing second-round loss to Norwood last year, he sought leadership guidance, asking a captain from the 2022 state championship team how to get the program back to elite status.
Insogna’s passion for the game is second to none. His commitment and drive are also special. He’s a complete player having a complete season.
The first line has combined for 168 points, including 80 goals. As a team, Tewksbury has 131 goals and that trio has 61 percent of them. They have been unstoppable all season. In the playoffs, Insogna, Cooke and Bourgea has combined for 14 goals and 16 assists in three games.
Cooke and Insogna surpassed the 100-point career total this season. Bourgea has 53 points and he’s just a sophomore.
“They are fabulous and I don’t think there’s two better guys in the state who I could have been paired up with,” said Insogna. “It’s just so easy to play with two guys, who you know are always going to be there and always will be in the right spot. There’s never any arguments or anything. Those are the guys who I have been with for the past three months day in and day out. Those guys are really my brothers at this point. I’m going to be talking about them 20 years from now.”
The 5-foot-11, 165-pound Insogna sticks out because of his speed, skating ability and creativity around the net. He’s also responsible in all three zones every shift.
“By the time he was a sophomore and how he’s gotten so, so much better as a player is just crazy,” said Doherty. “He just works at it. He’s always working on his skills. He sees the ice so well. His hands are ridiculous. His hockey sense out there on the ice is special.”
That hockey sense comes from thinking and working on his game 24/7.
“Just stems from the love I have for the game. Hockey has always been there for me no matter what,” said Insogna. “It’s a way to almost escape reality. I’d be sitting in the winter and the pond behind my house freezes and I’ll go out there for eight hours a day. It’s just so easy to put on my gear, pick up my stick and go out there. Then it’s just hours I’d spent shooting pucks in my driveway. I’ve got a couple of posters up in my garage of the team and everything. Hockey will always be a part of my life. It’s my passion. I wake
up every day, I sit in school and just look forward to 2:30 to come around so I can get on the ice.”
Insogna wants nothing more than to help Tewksbury beat Woburn and then prepare for a state title game against either Duxbury or league rival Boston Latin.
“We know what it takes to get (to the state final) and we’re just trying to get everyone to focus on one
game at a time, one period at a time and one shift at a time and not thinking about going forward and just focus on what we can do instead of trying to take it for granted. We’re just trying to go through it shift by shift so our opportunity doesn’t slip away this time,” he said.
“One of the goals I set for myself before the season was to hit 100 career points. It felt so good knowing that all of that hard work paid off. I have one goal left and that’s to win the state championship.”