Jim’s View

Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Boys Hockey Storms to First League Win in Impressive Fashion

By Jim Vershbow, Contributor | February 13, 2026

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?

Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Boys Hockey Takes Wilmington to OT After a Third Period Comeback

By Jim Vershbow, Contributor | February 6, 2026

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?

Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Boys Hockey Earns a Much-Needed & Much-Deserved Win Over Lexington

By Jim Vershbow, Contributor | January 30, 2026

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.

Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Boys Hockey Brings Their A-Game And Almost Pulls Off a Big Upset 

By Charlie Breitrose | January 23, 2026

Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. at the John A. Ryan Arena, with Watertown/Wayland Raiders Hockey in the midst of a seven-game losing streak, one and all were treated to an excellent hockey game. Watertown/Wayland was faced with the challenge of trying to end the losing streak against the Winchester Red & Black, ranked 14th in the Boston Globe Top 20 as of last week and fresh off a big win at Belmont. 

On top of that, Watertown/Wayland was facing an excellent goalie, Senior Macklin O’Flynn, the 6’3″, 190 pound lefty. And aside from a seven goal shellacking at the hands of top-3 Hingham a few weeks back, Winchester had given up only 12 goals in 8 games. On this afternoon, though, the Raiders gave a great effort and deserved a better fate than a 3-2 defeat. The first period highlighted the fact that the Raiders top line of Center Lukas Wynn and Forwards Luke Egan and Griffin Wood can play with anyone.  These three are tired young men at the end of most games, as their ice time is double or more than the other two lines combined.  And after a Winchester goal by Leo Dagostino gave the Red & Black a 1-0 lead, the Raiders top line line came through seven minutes later to tie it at one.  Griffin Wood, positioned perfectly to the right of goalie O’Flynn, knocked home a rebound created by some nifty play from Luke Egan.  

Recent home games have found the Raiders in a hole and trailing by two or three goals after one period, so the 1-1 score was refreshing and certainly must have given the Raiders some confidence going into the second period. And look, you don’t get awarded a goal for simply winning the period, but Watertown/Wayland was the better team in period number two, and even had the better scoring chances. 

The only penalty of the game was called in the second, a two minute roughing call (can you say cheap shot?) administered by Winchester’s Caiden Brady on Lukas Wynn. Wynn had trouble getting up and after being examined by the trainer had to be helped off the ice by two of his teammates as he couldn’t put weight on his right leg. Watertown executed a solid power play which included a few testers on O’Flynn, but they couldn’t score. More importantly, though, what looked like perhaps a serious injury to first-line forward Wynn was miraculously not, as he started the third period between his first-line mates Egan and Wood. The third period started pretty evenly with the score still knotted at 1, but senior Axel Osborn changed that when he hammered home a third rebound attempt top-shelf over a beleaguered Raiders goalie Findlay MacDonald. It should be noted that MacDonald was once again excellent in net, and made three excellent saves at close range in this exchange, but no one was able to clear the rebound and Osborn’s special shot made it 2-1 Winchester three minutes into the third. A little over three minutes later Caiden Brady made it 3-1, and thoughts of a magical third period, a first win in a month and an upset of a ranked opponent seemed to have faded faster than a Drake May strike into the end zone for a touchdown. But, oh, thee of little faith. On this day the Raiders had a response. A team that had scored only 16 goals in 11 games leading into today, made it 3-2 just over a minute later thanks to the first line once again. Luke Egan got the goal, with assists from his linemates Wood and Wynn. All three deserve a start of the game! So, with 8 minutes gone and only 7 remaining, could Watertown/Wayland come up with the equalizer and send this game to overtime?

Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Boys Hockey Struggles Against Melrose

By Jim Vershbow, Contributor | January 20, 2026

It was matinee-Saturday at the John A. Ryan Arena as Watertown/Wayland and Melrose faced off with a 12:30 p.m. puck drop. Watertown/Wayland, in the midst of 7 of 8 at home, was obviously eager (desperate?!) to get off to a good start and put together a 45 minute game on the way to breaking into the win column in league play. Watertown/Wayland came into the game 0-7 in Middlesex League play and Melrose 1-5. But, as they did last Saturday versus Stoneham,  Watertown/Wayland gave up two early goals to Melrose, and just couldn’t figure out a way to light up the lamp on the way to being shut 3-0. I’m going to sound like a broken record, but this edition of Watertown/Wayland Hockey is better than its 1-10 record. Coach John Vlachos ran out three lines on this day, and each did some good things. The number one line of Lukas Wynn, Griffin Wood and Luke Egan created the most pressure on Junior goalie Cole Matthews, but found it difficult to “muck it up” in front of him. Most of Watertown/Wayland’s scoring chances were clean looks for the Melrose goaltender, and he gave up very few rebounds on the afternoon. That said, Egan had an excellent game. The junior skated hard and fast all afternoon, and did everything he could to lead by example. He was clearly Watertown/Wayland’s number one star. The second line consisted of Liam Tourville, Jake Fijux and Micheal Philibin. They too were a hard-working threesome, and truly, if they are guilty of anything it’s being a few inches too small and a few pounds too light against a decent-sized Melrose lineup. That’s not the kind of disadvantage you point the finger at and say “hey, you got to do better.” The threesome worked their tails off and stood their own all afternoon. The third line of Ryder Barenholtz, Logan Desrosiers and Maguire Cruz didn’t see as much ice time as the first two lines, but also did some good things while out on the ice.

Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Boys Hockey Battles Stoneham to the End

By Jim Vershbow, Contributor | January 12, 2026

Watertown/Wayland gave up two goals 39 seconds apart early in the first period Saturday afternoon against the visiting Stoneham Spartans, and that early deficit turned out to be too hard a mountain to climb as Watertown/Wayland fell to 1-8 on the season (0-6 in the league) in a 5-2 loss at the JAR. Both teams came into the game wanting and needing a Middlesex League win, as Stoneham entered the game 1-5 in league play. Two shifts in, it looked like both teams came ready to play, as skating was fast and determination strong. But, in a blink of an eye Watertown broke down in their own end, forcing Watertown/Wayland goalie Findlay MacDonald to face unstoppable challenges at 2:01 and 2:40 to give Stoneham a 2-0 lead. Watertown/Wayland was given two power play opportunities down 2-zip, but they couldn’t cash in. Three minutes after the second power play, Watertown gave Stoneham their first of the afternoon and they did cash in 43 seconds into the power play to make it 3-0 after one period of play.  

Team sports provides such wonderful opportunities to young athletes to experience so many great things.  Every experience is made better by winning, of course, but not everyone is meant to — win, that is. Watertown/Wayland has a record that says they are a bad team at 1-8. From my vantage point, that’s not the case. But, the truth in sports is not always fair. Watertown/Wayland has good players, they play hard, and they never give up. The problem is they are young, somewhat undersized and still developing their skills. 

All that is a way of saying there is very little room for error, and quite often it requires extraordinary feats to compete. Saturday, for example, MacDonald in net had an excellent game by any standards. He made any number of saves where he had to stand on his head, and if he hadn’t the game would not have been close.