'We got a special bond.' Dover-Sherborn/Weston boys hockey team no longer strangers

WELLESLEY – Conditions not conducive to camaraderie: no locker rooms and schools 12 miles apart. 

Not exactly a recipe for a new collection of players to become a team.  

The Dover-Sherborn/Weston boys hockey team is enjoying a breakout season, concluding with Sunday’s Division 4 state championship game against Hanover at TD Garden. But the current group of seniors began as strangers three years ago. 

The co-op between the two schools that sit in different counties debuted in 2018. The team struggled to win and build chemistry. COVID wiped out most of the 2020-21 season – when players changed in the parking lot. The players were relative strangers. 

“My freshman year, it was very separated,” said senior captain Calvin Roman, who is from Dover, before Thursday’s practice at Boston Sports Institute. “You could tell 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 got a special bond. Now you can’t really tell who’s from where.” 

“It was rocky at first,” said head coach Alex Marlow, who played hockey at Weston High. "That’s to be expected.” 

Are they the Raiders (Dover-Sherborn's nickname) or the Wildcats (Weston)? It can be hard to tell; their jerseys don’t reveal the answer and when the team gathers around Marlow, they chant “Family!” when they break the huddle. 

The team officially known as the Raiders did not have a non-COVID winning season until this year, where they are one of just six boys hockey teams to reach 20 wins. (D-S/W held a joint practice on Wednesday with Marblehead, which has 22 victories heading into the D3 title game vs. Nauset). 

The No. 5 Raiders have won eight games in a row and defeated No. 1 Winthrop and No. 4 Sandwich en route to the Garden opposite No. 6 Hanover. The correlation between the team’s tightness and an 11-win improvement over last season is not lost on the players. 

“I don’t think that’s a coincidence at all,” said junior alternate captain Sam Hinckley of Weston, where 11 of the 27 members on the roster hail from. “I think part of our success this year has been building a good team culture and a good environment to play in.” 

“We all joined the team pretty much at the same time,” said captain and Dover resident Andrew Marden, one of 13 seniors, “so we were all on the younger side, but we were all able to grow up together. Now the team’s like a family.” 

Linc Cornell, who coached at both Weston High and Dover-Sherborn before retiring with more than 230 victories, is well versed in how a team can come together on skates.

"As a hockey player and as a coach, there’s something magical that happens in the locker room and this bond that lasts for a long time in hockey," he said. "You’re always there for each other."

Andrew Goldstein reached out to Zdeno Chara’s wife 

Senior Andrew Goldstein, a senior captain from Weston, has played a key role in D-S/W’s playoff run. He has allowed just one goal in each of his team’s four playoff games and made the biggest save in program history last weekend when he stopped Winthrop’s Billy Hayes to clinch a shootout victory. Goldstein struck the Superman pose before he was mobbed by his teammates to earn the program its first trip to TD Garden. 

In the days leading up to the semifinal game at Gallo Arena, the team received a wish of good luck from former Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara, a Weston resident. The 17-second video that shows Chara telling the team “I know you can do it; go out there and prove it. I know you guys can do it” has been viewed more than 13,000 times on X. 

Goldstein started the process after the Raiders defeated Sandwich in the quarterfinals. 

“It was an idea I talked about 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 (the state semifinals); first time in program history. We’d love some good wishes.’ And they sent it over and I really think it got the boys going.” 

Marden said he first saw the video when Marlow sent it over via email. 

“It was awesome to have support from Chara,” Marden said. “Not only Chara but the whole community. I’ve had teachers, students – everybody come up to me and wish me good luck.” 

Transportation or team bonding: 'they all fit'

Dover-Sherborn/Weston usually practices at Rivers School in Weston. A bus is not required in most cases.  

“A bunch of the guys carpool,” said Dover senior captain Sawyer Garzone. “It shows how close we are because not only do we see each other at the rink but we all go out after and hang out.” 

“They all carpool,” Marlow said, before quipping, “sometimes it’s like a clown car, but they all fit.” 

They all fit, indeed. 

“I think we’ve led by example,” Goldstein said. “The fact that the underclassmen in Dover and Sherborn and Weston have bonded together as well. The program’s gotten to a point where if there was even talk to split it up, people would be very upset.” 

Tim Dumas is a multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached attdumas@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimDumas.