He may have only been a teenager, but Andrew Gauthier inspired both young and old with his courage and determination in his battle with a terminal illness.

Gauthier, a Toll Gate High hockey and baseball player, was only 16 when he died from the complications of leukemia last May. For five years, he had inspired his peers and the adults around him with his refusal to allow the strength-sapping illness to keep him from playing the sports he loved.

Roughly 2,000 people came to Gauthier’s wake last spring and one night this past December more than 1,000 people were at Thayer Arena when they retired Gauthier’s No. 8 hockey jersey and mounted it on the wall.

Now, Toll Gate High students will have a daily reminder of a teenager who loved life even when living that life wasn’t easy.

This Sunday, Gauthier’s family and friends will gather to officially dedicate the little park on the Toll Gate campus that has been built in Andrew’s memory.

“It will be a place where students can go and just sit and talk or a teacher can hold an outdoor class in nice weather,” said Bob Gauthier, Andrew’s father.

“It was a labor of love by the people who built it. Anybody and everybody who knew him [Andrew] are invited to attend the dedication,” Bob Gauthier said.

Several Warwick landscaping firms worked together in the construction of the park, which includes a circular sculptured-stone patio with benches and shrubbery under a tree on the lower campus between the Toll Gate student parking lots and the classroom buildings.

In addition to the dedication of the park, the 1 p.m. ceremony will include the awarding of the first Andrew Gauthier scholarships to student/athletes from the three Warwick public high schools.

UMass-Boston targets Rinn

The word is Jake Rinn, one of Andrew Gauthier’s hockey teammates at Toll Gate and this year’s Providence Journal/HS GameTime first-team All-State goalie, will be playing at UMass-Boston next season.

The UMass-Boston head coach is Peter Belisle, the former Mount St. Charles All-Stater and son of Mount head coach Bill Belisle. Belisle directed UMass-Boston to a surprise appearance in the semifinals of the Division III ECAC East tournament this season.

PC promotes Cavanagh

Speaking of Toll Gate hockey players, John Cavanagh, the former All-State forward who fifth-leading scorer on the Providence College hockey team as a sophomore this season, has been named one of the Friars’ two co-captains for next season.

NHL puts Ryan on radar

On another hockey matter, St. George’s junior Jeff Ryan earned a ranking on the National Hockey League Central Scouting Bureau’s list of prospects for the 2008 NHL draft. Ryan, a 5-foot-10, 160-pound junior was listed 210th on the Scouting Bureau’s list of Domestic Skaters. In 23 games for St. George’s last season, Ryan scored 33 goals and had 38 assists. The NHL Draft is next month in Ottawa.

Combine invites Bentsen

Bob Bentsen, the Warwick Vets junior first-team All-State quarterback, is one of 400 high school football players nationwide who have been invited to a combine from which the 90 players for next year’s U.S. Army High School All-American Bowl will be chosen.

In addition to the players selected to play in the game, the other 310 players who attend the combine will be guests at the game. The game will be played in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, in early January. Last fall, Bentsen passed for 2,542 yards and 24 touchdowns in 10 games.

To my knowledge, the only Rhode Island high school player who has played in the All-American game was Will Blackmon, the former Hendricken and Boston College star who now plays for the Green Bay Packers.

State tennis tourney is set

Rhode Island’s top boys tennis players managed to play qualifying matches between the raindrops last Friday and Saturday, so the state singles and doubles tournaments will go on, as scheduled, this weekend. Play is scheduled to get under way Friday afternoon with the title matches in both tournaments slated for Sunday at Slater Park in Pawtucket.

Kyle Burke, the South Kingstown junior who rolled to the state singles title with five consecutive straight-sets victories in last year’s tournament, is the player to beat in this year’s singles tourney.

Rebels take center court

Speaking of Burke, he and his South Kingstown teammates appear to be gaining momentum in their quest for a 10th consecutive Division I state team title.

Not only did the Rebels start this week with a 12-0 record in Division I play, but last week they rolled to a 7-0 victory over second-place Barrington. Three weeks ago, the Rebels edged the Eagles, 4-3, in their first meeting of the season.

This is the final week of regular-season action in the tennis league. The Division II and III playoffs are to begin Monday with the Division I and IV tourneys begin Tuesday. The title matches in the four divisional state tournaments are scheduled for Friday, May 23 and Saturday, May 24 at Slater Park.

Lacrosse clash looms

Girls lacrosse fans couldn’t have asked for a better finish to the regular season than having Moses Brown and Barrington, the current Division I co-leaders, meeting twice over a five-day period.

The Eagles and Quakers go into games today, against Portsmouth and La Salle respectively, with 9-1 records. After today’s games, the two teams will close out the regular season with head-to-head matchups at Moses Brown on Thursday afternoon and at Barrington Monday night.

On the boys’ lacrosse scene, La Salle clinched the top seed for the Division I state tournament with its thrilling 7-6 overtime victory over Hendricken Saturday night. The victory, La Salle’s second of the season over the defending state-champion Hawks, upped the Rams’ record to 11-0 and gave them a two-game lead over Hendricken and North Kingstown with only two games remaining.

jgillool@projo.com