BRUNSWICK — It seemed like just yesterday when we turned the calendars from 2010 to 2011. But, here we are again, on the cusp of a new year.

What will 2012 bring?

Before we can think of this next chapter, we need to review all that went on during 2011.

There were many highs, with exciting teams to cover, like the girls at both Morse High School and Richmond, and the Boston Bruins ending 39 years of frustration by bringing home the Stanley Cup in seven games against the Vancouver Canucks.

There were certainly a bunch of lows, like the collapse of the Boston Red Sox during a 7-20 September swoon; the Jerry Sandusky sexual assault mess that cost longtime Penn State coach Joe Paterno his job; my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers falling in Super Bowl XLV (OK most New Englanders were happy with that one); and both the NFL and NBA going on strike.

There is more, a lot more, so let’s begin our journey back through 2011.

Morse girls

The Shipbuilder girls in 2011 set the local scene on fire.

First, the basketball squad had a magical run through the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference season behind seniors Nikoline Ostergaard, Emma Block and Tarra Burr. A packed house at the Bath Middle School watched the Shipbuilders defeat Edward Little in a battle of unbeatens 59-47 in perhaps the loudest gym of the year.

Morse finished the campaign 17-1, good for the top seed in Eastern Maine Class A, but stumbled in the quarterfinals against eighth-seeded Messalonskee, 53-43. Despite the setback, Mike Hart’s team definitely brought the excitement level back to Bath, still a basketball town at heart.

The quarterfinals were a nightmare for many of the local basketball teams in Augusta that February weekend, as the Brunswick boys and girls, Mt. Ararat boys and girls, and the Wiscasset boys joined the Shipbuilders on the sidelines.

Many of the girls on the Shipbuilders’ basketball squad were not done. Tori Field and Katie Henrikson, along with the rest of the Morse soccer squad, tore through the competition in the team’s first year in Class B, finishing undefeated and advancing all the way to the Western B finals (a tough 2-1 loss to Falmouth).

Field had a dynamite season, scoring 44 goals to garner the KVAC Player of the Year award. Coach Steve Boyce did a phenomenal job with the Shipbuilders, and it will be a season remembered for a long time.

The winter featured the Richmond girls basketball team rolling through the competition on its way to the Class D state title game at the Bangor Auditorium. It was the first regional title for the ladies since 1996.

The Bobcats lost to a talented Washburn squad 43-30, and a couple hours later, the Richmond boys, which won its fourth straight regional crown with a 55-52 victory over Vinalhaven, fell to Central Aroostook 40-37 on the same floor in its state title game.

Mark Stevens’ Lisbon wrestling team was back to its old tricks, with Forrest Cornell capturing a state title for the fourth straight year. The Greyhounds had five state champs on that February day at the Augusta Civic Center, but their grasp of the Class C title, a three-year reign, ended when Foxcroft Academy took home the top prize.

Also in wrestling, Mt. Ararat’s Jake Oh and Malcolm Marshall captured Class A state titles as the Eagles finished fifth. Also, Brunswick grappler Jared Jensen finished off his 39-1 season with a state title.

In swimming, both the Morse boys and girls took home KVAC titles, followed by the Shipbuilder girls finishing second in the state meet to Bangor.

The Brunswick indoor girls track team became KVAC champs, with the Dragon girls finishing third and Mt. Ararat fourth in state competiton. Behind three wins by McKenzie Gary, the Eagle boys finished second to Scarborough at the state meet.

The Freeport boys’ Nordic team captured the Class C title at Rangeley Lake Trails, while the Long Reach Swim Club won its, count ’em, 29th YMCA state championship at the University of Maine.

On the college scene, Terry Meagher’s Bowdoin men’s hockey team had a first — winning the New England Small College Athletic Conference title with a 5-2 victory at Williams. The Polar Bears went on to win its first NCAA postseason contest, defeating Neumann University 2-1 at brand-new Sidney J. Watson Arena before falling to Oswego State for the second straight season, 7-5, in the NCAA men’s hockey quarterfinals.

In basketball, the Bowdoin women won its first two NCAA tournament games at Morrell Gymnasium before falling to Babson, 61-58 in overtime, in the “Sweet 16.”

As the temperatures began to warm, Red Sox fans were beyond ecstatic after the team signed outfielder Carl Crawford, reliever Bobby Jenks and traded for first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. This was the year the Red Sox returned to the World Series. Right?

An 0-6 start set off the panic buttons for what was to come. Stay tuned for more!

Boston Bruins

The Bruins were a story all to themselves. After dropping the first two games of the playoffs to the hated Montreal Canadiens, Boston fans had just about given up, especially with the Bruins heading to Montreal for the next two games.

Talk of a Canadiens sweep was rampant, especially with all the controversy surrounding Zdeno Chara’s hit on Montreal forward Max Pacioretty just two months earlier. Montreal authorities contemplated filing charges against Chara, and Pacioretty was gone for the season with a broken back.

But, the Bruins dug down, reeling off three straight wins and eventually winning the seventh game in Boston on a Nathan Horton overtime goal. It was a series to remember, and after the Bruins exorcised a lot of ghosts with a four-game sweep of Philadelphia (remember when the Flyers came back from three games down the year before, and 3-0 in Game 7, to stun the Bruins in seven games?) and knocked Tampa Bay out in seven games, Boston was off to the Stanley Cup final.

In a third seven-game series, Boston captured the Stanley Cup with a 4-0 victory at Vancouver. It was a series with several highs and lows. Horton was knocked out by a blindside hit in Game 3, but Boston won all three of its home games and managed its lone road win in Game 7. Plus, goaltender Tim Thomas was a man possessed, stopping everything the Sedin twins and the Canucks threw at him in earning the Conn Smyth Trophy as the playoff MVP.

It was quite a ride.

Bowdoin lacrosse

Back to the local sports scene, the Bowdoin women’s lacrosse team made its way to the NCAA Final Four for the first time ever.

After an 11-9 victory over the College of New Jersey, the Polar Bears came up just short of an NCAA title, falling to Gettysburg College in the Division III championship game. Coach Liz Grote’s squad won a programrecord 18 games and returns nearly the entire squad this spring.

Staying with Bowdoin, partners Stephen Sullivan and Oscar Pena became the first Bowdoin tennis players to capture a D-III title.

On the track scene, both the Lisbon boys and girls won their sixth consecutive Mountain Valley Conference championship, and Brunswick’s Mike Slovenski soared in the pole vault competition at New Englands in Burlington, Vt., with vault of 15- 03.

The Brunswick girls tennis team had quite a run, even defeating power Lewiston not once, not twice, but three times during an undefeated run to a KVAC title and the Eastern A finals. But, the Blue Devils found a way in the fourth meeting, picking up a 3-2 victory. Still, a wonderful season for Brunswick.

Staying with the Dragons, Beth Caputi’s girls lacrosse team, after a hard-fought 13-12 victory over rival Mt. Ararat (Eastern A semifinals) and a 14-3 rout of Cheverus (Eastern A final) returned to the Class A state title game, falling to Scarborough 13-11 at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland.

On the softball scene, Richmond again met Buckfield in the Western D final at St. Joseph’s College in Standish. Don’t these two always meet in a big game like this? In an exciting game, the Bobcats received a walk-off RBI double from Ciarra Lancaster for a 3-2 victory and a regional title.

Richmond met up with Deer- Isle Stonington in the Class D title game, running out of gas in a 7-2 loss.

The Boston Celtics, after a three-game sweep of the New York Knicks, ended their season with a five-game loss to the Miami Heat, led by Lebron James and Dwyane Wade, a team that eventually lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA finals. All those upset with the latest “Dream Team” collapse (not withstanding the Philadelphia Eagles), raise your hands.

In the normally slow summer months, the Ararat under-12 softball team won the state title to advance to New Englands, and news came down that the National Football League strike was over and the season was saved, albeit with little time to ready the players for the long haul.

In national news, Japan shocked the U.S. in the women’s soccer World Cup in penalty kicks, former Red Sox manager and Hall of Famer Dick Williams died and the New England Patriots signed defensive linemen Shaun Ellis and Albert Haynesworth, and receiver Chad Ochocinco.

The Long Reach Swim Club was at it again, this time going north of the Maine border to capture the Summer Combined Championships in Saint John, New Brunswick.

September began with a tough high school football loss by Brunswick against Bangor. The 21-20 defeat was a self-inflicted setback for the Dragons, who turned the ball over six times. Brunswick recovered to post a 7- 2 season, but the campaign ended with a 42-14 loss to those dreaded Rams at Bangor.

The season to forget for the Red Sox came to a close with a stunning 4-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles in late September. Not only did Boston blow a ninegame lead in the final month of the season, but watched as the Tampa Bay Rays rallied from a 7-0 deficit to defeat the New York Yankees 8-7 and claim the American League wildcard spot.

The collapse cost manager Terry Francona his job, with Bobby Valentine taking over, and Ben Cherington replaced Chicago Cubs-bound Theo Epstein as general manager.

The Bruins raised their Stanley Cup banner on Oct. 6. Boston suffered through the dreaded “Stanley Cup hangover,” starting the season 3-7. But, since then the Bruins have been the best team in the NHL and appear to be an early favorite to repeat last year’s run to the Stanley Cup.

The NBA canceled several regular season games as the strike continued, with few negotiations taking place. Was the entire NBA season in jeopardy?

Well, as we all know, the strike eventually ended and the season, albeit shorter, began on Christmas Day. The Celtics dropped their opener to the rival New York Knicks, 106-104.

And, the Sandusky controversy at Penn State University put longtime head man Paterno in the wrong kind of limelight. It is sad to think that “Joe Pa’s” coaching career, he being the winningest coach in NCAA football history, had to end as ugly as this. Hopefully the truth will come out in the coming months.

Mal Stange has been the golf coach at Brunswick for several years. He predicted the 2011 season was going to be a “rebuilding” year for his Dragons. Thank goodness he is a better coach than a fortune teller after his squad went through a perfect regular season before finishing third at the state meet.

The Lisbon field hockey team, now led by Julie Wescott, who replaced longtime coach Stevens, won the MVC title with a 2-1 win over Spruce Mountain, which is now a co-op between Jay and Livermore Falls.

In an emotional ceremony, longtime Brunswick boys soccer coach and high school vice principal Peter Gardner, an allaround good guy and coach, was surprised when the field he has walked on for years was renamed “Peter Gardner Field.” Congratulations Peter!

The Freeport girls soccer team and Lisbon boys squad picked up playoff wins. The Falcons knocked off Poland 3-1 in the Western B preliminaries, the team’s first postseason victory in 11 years, while the Greyhounds stunned Sacopee Valley 1-0 in the Western C quarterfinals.

The Brunswick girls and Mt. Ararat boys captured KVAC cross country titles, and the Freeport football squad qualified for the playoffs for the first time, falling to Maranacook 30-6 in the Western C quarterfinals.

The Richmond girls soccer team, behind Danica Hurley, rolled to a second straight Class D title, defeating Van Buren 4-1 at Falmouth. In boys soccer, the Bobcat boys dropped a 1-0 decision to rival Greenville in the Western D final to end the team’s four-year grasp on the regional title.

The Bobcat ladies had a pretty good year — a soccer state title and two state runners-up finishes. Not too shabby!

At Bowdoin, Nicki Pearson’s defending national champion field hockey team returned to the D-III “Final Four.” However, the Polar Bears fell to NESCAC rival Middlebury in the national semifinals, the team’s only loss of the year.

In volleyball, the Polar Bears had a season to remember, rolling to a NESCAC title and qualifying for the D-III postseason for the first time in program history.

Bowdoin’s 20-10 victory over Colby in its football season finale created a three-way tie for the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin trophy, the second time that has happened in three years. So, as it has for six years now, the CBB award stays in Brunswick.

Patriot fans got the fullfledged “Tim Tebow-mania” treatment. New England was not impressed, rolling to a 41-23 victory at Denver, while the University of Maine football squad saw an impressive run in the NCAA Subdivision postseason come to an end with a loss to Georgia Southern.

And, last but certainly not least, the Morse girls’ 2011/12 basketball squad kicked off its season with a 52-34 victory over Oak Hill. Now, this one game might not mean much in the long run, but it’s news because it came against longtime Shipbuilders coach Tom Morong’s Raiders (Note — Oak Hill visits Morse on Jan. 26, so plan ahead).

No one knows what 2012 will hold, but one thing is for sure, there will be many ups and several downs to talk about in a year.

Happy New Year!

Bob Conn is the Times Record assistant sports editor.  He can be reached at bconn@timsrecord.com