Watertown/Wayland’s 2026 regular season came to a close Wednesday with a non-league contest versus Dover-Sherborn/Weston(DSW). The game also served as Senior Night as six young men were recognized before the game for their contribution to the program. Once the game began, one and all were treated to an entertaining affair that saw the Raiders (DSW are the Raiders as well, but for this article, only Watertown is the Raiders) take the early lead and once again play a bigger, stronger, faster team (and D2 as well) pretty evenly. It was a 2-1 game DSW late into the second period, but a DSW goal with 30 seconds remaining made it 3-1 after two. That score swelled to 6-2 DSW by game’s-end, but the Raiders kept competing right up to the final whistle.
Seniors Ryder Barenholtz, Odarjyo Cook, Matthew Wheeler, Griffin Wood, Liam McIsaac and Kingston Omolade were introduced as the starting lineup on this night, a nice touch by Head Coach John Vlachos. For goalie Liam McIsaac, it was a chance to see some action as junior Finnley MacDonald has seen most of the time in net this season. McIsaac did himself proud, making a number of Grade A saves and only surrendering one goal before being relieved by MacDonald half way through the first period. Wayland Senior Griffin Wood, a first-line winger all season long, got the scoring going for a team short on goal-scoring all season. He rambled down the right wing and put a shot on DSW goalie William Goldstein, a shot that wasn’t blistering but nonetheless on net and hard for him to handle: 2:29 in on Senior Night Watertown/Wayland had the lead.
DSW tied it four and a half minutes late, but the Raiders, despite being outshot and defending their zone more then they would have liked, were right there with DSW after one period. Halfway through the second period, DSW took their first lead for the night, one they would never give back. If not for a breakdown in their own zone at the end of the period, the Raiders would have gone into the locker room after two periods only down 2-1. But, on this night the Raiders gave up too any “juicy rebounds” as NESN’s Jack Edwards used to say, and there weren’t enough Raiders around the net to clear the puck, and so too many of those rebounds found the back of the net.
The Raiders last goal of the regular season came off the stick of Isaac Maillis, who was his usual workhorse-self, probably on the ice at least 35 minutes (out of 45) on the night. His slapshot made it 4-2, an answer to a DSW goal just 42 seconds into the third period. But, between the rebound issues and once again running out of steam, the Raiders gave up two goals in the last 5 minutes to account for the final.
The Raiders finished their regular season 3-17, 1-14 in league play. They also finished the season a bit shorthanded as top-four defenseman Theodore Henrich wasn’t available Wednesday, which had Coach Vlachos moving first-line winger Lukas Wynn to defense. Why is this important now that the season is over? Well, the season might not be over. Despite the Raider’s record, the MIAA’s (miaa.net) formula for ranking teams has Watertown/Wayland inside the top 32 in Div. 3; the top 32 qualify for the post-season tournament. Final rankings and brackets should be out on Saturday Feb. 21. Stay tuned to Watertown News!
1 2 3 – F
Dover-Sherborn/Weston 1 2 3 – 6
Watertown/Wayland 1 0 1 – 2
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Scoring Summary
1st Period
Watertown/Wayland 1 DSW 0… Griffin Wood from Kingston Omolade & Adam Capello @ 2:29
Watertown/Wayland 1 DSW 1… Fiore @ 6:52
2nd Period
Watertown/Wayland 1 DSW 2… Rogaris @ 8:15
Watertown/Wayland 1 DSW 3… Finley @ 14:30
3rd Period
Watertown/Wayland 1 DSW 4… Li @ :42
Watertown/Wayland 2 DSW 4… Isaac Maillis from Luke Egan @ 1:49
Watertown/Wayland 2 DSW 5… Patenaude @ 9:52
Watertown/Wayland 2 DSW 6... Sergeyev @ 14:27
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Remaining Regular Season Games
Regular Season Completed