Wellesley – Not a situation that breeds camaraderie: There are no locker rooms and the school is 19 miles away.
A bunch of new players isn't exactly a recipe for becoming a team.
The Dover-Sherborn/Weston boys hockey team is enjoying a breakout season that concludes with Sunday's Division 4 state championship game against Hanover at TD Garden. But the current group of seniors started out as strangers three years ago.
The cooperative between two schools in different counties debuted in 2018. The team won and struggled to build chemistry. Due to the coronavirus, much of the 2020-21 season, which saw players shuffled around in parking lots, was wiped out. The players were relative strangers.
“My freshman year was very disjointed,” senior captain Calvin Roman, a Dover native, said before Thursday's practice at the Boston Sports Institute. “I could tell right away who was from Weston and who was from Dover. There wasn't much chatter in the locker room. But as the years went on, we developed a special bond. Now we know who's from where. I have no idea why he came.”
“It was tough at first,” said head coach Alex Marlowe, who played hockey at Weston High School. “That makes sense.”
Are they the Raiders (nickname for Dover-Sherborn) or the Wildcats (Weston)? That can be difficult to convey. Their jerseys do not give an answer, and as the team gathers around Marlowe, they shout “Family!” When they break through the crowd.
The team, officially known as the Raiders, had not had a winning season outside of COVID-19 until this year, but became one of only six men's hockey teams to reach 20 wins. (DS/W held a joint practice with Marblehead, which has 22 wins, in preparation for the D3 title game vs. Nauset on Wednesday).
The No. 5 Raiders have won eight straight games, defeating No. 1 Winthrop and No. 4 Sandwich on the way to the Garden to play No. 6 Hanover. The players haven't lost sight of the correlation between the closeness of the team and the 11-win improvement from last season.
“I don’t think it’s a total coincidence,” Weston junior alternate captain Sam Hinckley said. Eleven of Weston's 27 members are from the school. “I think part of our success this year was building a good team culture and a good environment to play in.”
“We all joined the team around the same time, so we're all on the younger side, but we grow together,” said captain and Dover resident Andrew Marden, one of the 13 senior players. I was able to do that,” he said. The team is like a family now. ”
Link Cornell, who coached at both Weston High School and Dover-Sherborn and retired with more than 230 wins, is familiar with how teams can come together on skates.
“Magic happens in the locker room, both as a hockey player and as a coach, and those bonds last a long time in the hockey world,” he said. “You're always there for each other.”
Andrew Goldstein contacted Zdeno Chara's wife
Weston College senior captain Andrew Goldstein played a key role in DS/W's run to the playoffs. He has allowed just one goal in each of the team's four playoff games, and last weekend he made the biggest save in program history stopping Winthrop's Billy Hayes to snatch a shootout victory. Goldstein made the show's first visit to TD Garden, striking a Superman pose before being mopped up by his teammates.
In the days leading up to the semifinal game at Gallo Arena, the team received a good luck wish from Weston resident and former Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara. In the 17-second video, Chara tells his team, “We know you can do it. Go out there and prove it. We know you guys can do it,” while giving him his X. has been viewed over 13,000 times.
Goldstein began the process after the Raiders defeated Sandwich in the quarterfinals.
“It was an idea I discussed with my parents,” he said. “We knew he was a Weston resident. I sent his wife a nice email. Just reaching out: 'This is where our team is now. location (state semifinals). First in program history. We wish you all the best.'' And they sent it to us, so I really think that motivated the players. ”
Marden said he first saw the video when Marlowe sent it to him via email.
“It was great to have the support from Cara,” Marden said. “Not just Chara, but the whole community. Teachers, students, everyone came up to me and wished me luck.”
Transportation or team cohesion: “Everything fits”
Dover Sherborn/Weston usually practices at Rivers School in Weston. In most cases, you won't need a bus.
“The players were carpooling a lot,” Dover senior captain Sawyer Garzone said. “It shows how close we are because not only do we meet at the rink, but we all go out and play afterward.”
“We all carpool,” Marlowe said, joking that “sometimes it's like a clown car, but we all fit together.”
Indeed, they all apply.
“I think we've led by example,” Goldstein said. “The fact that the juniors at Dover, Sherborn and Weston are also bonding. This program has reached a point where even if there was talk of a split, people would be very upset.”
Tim Dumas is a multimedia journalist with the Daily News. Contact him at attdumas@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimDumas.
