Isaac Maillis and the Raiders will face Shawsheen Valley Tech in the State Tournament on Thursday. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)
Two Watertown High School squads will play in the winter State Tournaments, with the boys hockey team skating on Thursday girls basketball team playing Friday. The boys hockey team faces Shawsheen Valley Tech on Feb. 26 at 7:10 p.m. at Hallenbourg Ice Rink in Billerica. The Raiders (3-17) are the 28th seed, while Shawsheen (17-2-1) is the fifth seed.
The Boston Gold Kings (BGK), coming off a tough road loss back on Feb. 7th, put together a strong and disciplined effort on Valentine’s Day night in front of their home crowd, running away with a 9-4 win. Nine different Gold Kings littered the scoresheet and Goalie Mike Cowell, while maybe not as a sharp as some previous games, was still there when needed to post the win. The Gold Kings move to 7-5-0-2 on the season and with two games remaining in the regular season hold a 4-point lead over third place Holyoke. The Gold Kings got off to a great start when Nick McNally, flying down the right side and going upstairs with a wrister, made it 1-0 1:38 into the first period. But last-place Norfolk, with only two wins on the season, found their skating game and put two past Cowell 10 minutes apart to take the lead 2-1 for the one and only time on the night. The Gold Kings righted the ship with a huge goal with a minute forty one left in the period off the stick of fourth-line Center Mike Delisio to tie it two. Delisio and McNally both had excellent nights and were named two of the three stars post-game. One of the bugaboos for the defending champion Gold Kings this season has been a lack of disciplined hockey at times. Whether taking silly penalties or failing to clear the zone or missed assignments, their game has not always been as clean as they would like it to be. On this night, though, the Gold Kings looked much sharper and in control. Second period goals by M. Baldino, Drizen and Cebula paved the way for a third period explosion, as the Gold Kings simply wore down the Mallards. Despite being a last-place team, Norfolk could skate, but they were vulnerable with ever other aspect of their game, and the Gold Kings took advantage. Goal-scorers Forte, Carta, DiCostanzo and Smith made sure of it after a pretty quiet start to the third period. But once the clock hit 8:54, it was all Gold Kings till the final whistle. Final score, Gold Kings 9 Mallards 4.
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.
Watertown/Wayland Hockey deserves so much credit, in my opinion. From the coaching staff on down to the last player on the roster, there has been little to no quit despite winning very infrequently. They play in a very competitive and physical league with a young and undersized roster, yet they always hang tough, even when the score might indicate otherwise. With the regular season winding down and still no league wins next to their name, Watertown/Wayland found the secret sauce against a Wakefield squad, who in addition to clearly getting out-played, left their A-game, let alone their C-game back in Wakefield. Final score, which is music to the ears of EVERYONE associated with Watertown/Wayland, Watertown/Wayland 7 Wakefield 2. It started very rocky for the Raiders. SIX seconds in captain Luke Egan was sent to the penalty box for hooking. But the Raiders executed a good kill, and junior Goalie Finnley MacDonald, called upon all season long to make quality and quantity saves, faced two good scoring chances and steered them aside. But a funny thing happened on the way to getting back to full strength —the Raiders failed to execute the transition from Egan leaving the box to a line shift, and were immediately back on the penalty kill, guilty of a bench minor for too many men on the ice.
Now, if you believe in fate, I’d recommend the story of the rest of the period as proof that it exists. The Raiders not only killed the second penalty, but settled down, played solid hockey, and at 11:14 went on the power play thanks to — yup, a Wakefield penalty for too many men on the ice. And 28 seconds later they were whistled for a tripping, giving Watertown/Wayland a two-man advantage. And what did the Raiders do better than Wakefield with their power play opportunities? That’s right hockey fans, they scored, first a 5-on-3 power play goal courtesy of a Griffin Wood wrister, and then they pulled off the daily double as Michael Philbin scored a 5-on-4 power play goal to make it 2-0. Now, to be clear, I’m neither making light or making fun of what I’m about to say, but there have been very few opportunities to say “Raiders are up 2-0 with two minutes left in the period.” It sounds good, right?
An excellent hockey game was played at the JAR on Wednesday, with both teams deserving of a “W,” but it was Wilmington’s stud center, senior Isaac Tavares, who ultimately carried them to an overtime 4-3 win with his game-winning goal in overtime number one with teams playing four aside
The Raiders welcomed back junior Luke Egan to the lineup after a one-game absence, and he played a huge role, and almost carried the Raiders to victory much the same way Tavares did for Wilmington. But first, Watertown/Wayland had to withstand a barrage of early hits from a physical Wilmington team. While mostly clean, the hits were surely meant to intimidate the Raiders — and they didn’t. And in a matter of minutes in the first period, Wilmington’s penalty box turned into Wilmington’s alternate bench, as three players were whistled for penalties in a three and half minute span. Unfortunately, the Raiders couldn’t capitalize. And when teams were finally both at even strength, Emrich O’Brien made some individual magic stickhandling through two Raiders players on the way to scoring thanks to a top-shelf wrister that Raider goalie Finnley MacDonald had no chance of stopping. Twenty-two seconds before the end of the period Tavares scored his first of the game with a wicked wrister of his own, flying down the left wing and potting one to MacDonald’s glove side just inside the top corner of the goal posts to make it 2-0. As always, though, Watertown/Wayland didn’t allow the deficit to stop them from competing. The second line of Jake Fijux, Ryder Barenholtz and Logan Desrosiers was really good on this night, and they got the Raiders on the scoreboard just 2:58 into the period with some nifty passing off of some effective forechecking. Once in the Wilmington zone Fijux hit Derosiers alone in the slot, and Derosiers wristed it low glove-side to beat Wilmington goalie Cam Thompson to cut the lead to one. The Raiders continued to press, and were the better team through much of the first 10 minutes of the second period. But one little let down, which has plagued Watertown/Wayland all season, and the inability to clear a rebound allowed Wilmington’s Gray to make it 3-1 after two periods. It took all of 43 seconds of the third period for the Raiders to make a statement — we are still in this game. Isaac Maillis did some effective dirty work in the corner, and Luke Egan made sure his effort was not for naught, picking up the puck and feeding Lukas Wynn in the slot who scored to make it 3-2. The next nine minutes and change found both teams skating up and down the ice, competing and hitting and looking to score the next goal. Another by Wilmington would most likely ice a win. The Raiders were looking for the equalizer, which is what they got when the tandem of Wynn and Egan struck again, thanks to Egan’s skating and stickhandling, which led to Wynn scoring the tying goal with just under 5 minutes left in regulation.
Not 30 seconds later, Watertown/Wayland’s Adam Capello was called for tripping, but the Raiders showed no signs of panic and killed the penalty, and sent the game to overtime tied at 3. In overtime, Watertown/Wayland was not able to control the puck for long, and found themselves on their heels a bit in the 4-on-4, five minute format. The main reason?
Rock. Paper. Scissors. Everyone knows this classic game. The rules can’t be much simpler. Rock beats scissors. Scissors beats paper. Paper beats rock. Why the review? I’ve come up with a hockey version. Speed.
The other day I mentioned the many cliches that sports forces us to say or hear and conjure up in describing the action or analyzing the game. Here’s another — “on paper” — as in, on paper these two teams seem pretty evenly matched. Paper has a way of deceiving at times, so one should never rely on paper to determine the outcome of a game. What we did know entering yesterday’s game was that on paper Watertown/Wayland and Lexington were both in need of a win. Watertown/Wayland was 1-12 and Lexington 3-11.
The Raiders are a young team playing in a difficult league. Lexington, on the other hand, opted out of the Middlesex League for hockey and are playing as an independent. All that said, both teams needed to look past each-other’s record and bring their best game to the ice on a Wednesday afternoon in pursuit of a win. And, luckily for those who watched, both teams took nothing for granted, and indeed played hard. It was an entertaining high school hockey game in which Watertown/Wayland prevailed by the slightest of margins, pulling out a 2-1 win. The first period was a pretty clean one played at a steady pace with few whistles. Each team was penalized once, but neither power play unit could muster much.
The John A. Ryan isn’t the only rink around that gets used with the frequency that matches Massachusetts drivers running red lights, but it sure feels that way. This past Saturday at 4 p.m. Watertown/Wayland was faced with the challenge of trying to end a drought dating back to Dec. 23 — as in the last (and only) time they won a hockey game, and they had to do it versus the sixth ranked Spy Ponders of Arlington. Up next would be the Boston (nee Watertown) Gold Kings of the Senior Power Play Hockey League as they welcomed the first place and undefeated Hudson Valley (as in New York State Hudson Valley) Reapers to the JAR. Six periods of hockey on a Saturday on the eve of a predicted whopper snowstorm. Up first, Watertown/Wayland versus Arlington, and the Spy Ponders showed why they are one of the best teams in the State. They played disciplined hockey, they skated hard and fast, they passed well, and they never seemed out of position. Arlington scored 43 seconds in and it was all they would need on this afternoon. They scored seven more times though on the way to an 8-0 shutout.
Earlier in the week Watertown/Wayland played a top 20-ranked Winchester tight in impressive fashion, ultimately losing 3-2. One wondered if Watertown/Wayland could carry that effort over to this game, but it was ultimately an unfair expectation. This is not to say that Watertown/Wayland gave up or failed to play hard. That hasn’t been the case all season, despite the frustration that comes from entering the game with a 1-11 record. But Arlington was relentless with every aspect of their game, and made it very difficult for a team that struggles to score goals as it is, to find scoring opportunities.
Seven games remain for Watertown/Wayland to grow and improve. They remain a young team with a lot of underclassmen, and the Watertown/Wayland coaching staff will refuse to let this team hang its collective head. They will practice hard and play hard, and don’t be surprised if a win or two knocks on the door in the weeks ahead!
