Back in the 2006-2007 hockey season, the Wayland Boys Ice Hockey Team finished a tough season with a record (0-18-2) that prompted change. That April, Mrs. Jamieson, hoping to change the culture of the team and bring a positive new attitude, brought in ex-college coach, Phil Bateman.

In a dramatic turnaround, the varsity ice hockey team finished last season with a 9-10-1 record and narrowly missed the playoffs when Boston Latin scored a goal in the final six seconds of a game. Now Coach Bateman uses “six seconds” as the slogan to motivate this year’s team. “It is tough when you play hard for an entire season and your hopes of making the tourney turn on “six seconds….You are always that close and that is what should motivate the boys this season,” says Bateman.

Besides the outstanding turn around in record, the team also had one of the most remarkable games in Wayland ice hockey memory when it defeated a Concord Carlisle team 2-1 after CC had beaten Wayland soundly 7-0 earlier in the season. The win against the Patriots was the first time in school history that the varsity program had defeated such a perennial tournament bound team. In reward for the team’s success in the Merrimack Valley, Bateman was named the All-Conference Boys Hockey Coach of the Year.

Bateman hopes that the team will continue to work hard and build on the momentum of last season. When asked about this year’s team and the hopes for the program, Bateman said, “We are back on the hockey map. There is not a team out there that will think of us as the 0-18-2 warriors any longer. We are not sneaking up on anyone, so gaining that extra point to make tourney will be harder than putting one win on the board like last season. But that is where the hard work from the boys and the coaching staff will come in. We will do what we can to prepare these boys, and we will see where we finish come game 20.”

The tryouts for the team began on December 1 and 2. As for key games this season, the Warriors will compete in the Worcester Invitational, face Concord Carlisle in a rematch on December 13, and play in the always fun match-up with Weston on January 17.