DS/Weston hockey embraces role as 'The Villains' in Final Four run
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FRAMINGHAM - Who needs heroes?
The Dover-Sherborn/Weston boys hockey team played its part as The Villains to the very end. The Raiders wore their all-black uniforms to Saturday's Division 4 state semifinals against Littleton/Bromfield at Loring Arena. The Tigers prevailed 5-1 to advance to TD Garden for the Division 4 state championship game for the first time. They'll face fellow Central Mass. foe No. 9 St. Bernard's.
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D-S/Weston knows the feeling. The Raiders won their first title in 2024 as a No. 5 seed. They reached the quarterfinals last year and made the Final Four this fall.
"Coming off two great seasons, there's not a lot of people rooting for us," D-S/Weston senior Caleb Curran said. "Every game, people want to upset us. Every game, they want to prove something to us."
The run of success came amidst heavy program turnover both through graduation and departures to prep schools. The group of 10 Class of 2026 seniors came up with The Villains moniker and rallied the team around it.
"It's a brand new team, and some way, somehow, they show up every year and they make another different run and a different identity," D-S/Weston coach Alex Marlow said. "They like to be the bad guys."
The team played with intensity but not malice. When the Raiders scored, it often involved bodies around the net. Defensemen closed angles and hounded forwards from the moment they crossed the blue line.
"You hear people talking, you've got to turn it into fuel," Curran said. "We're proving something to them."
D-S/Weston started the season 2-3 and battled through Division 4's fourth-toughest schedule to enter the tournament 12-9. It prepared the Raiders well for nailbiters against Tri-Valley League foe Medway (Round of 16) and North Reading (quarterfinals).
"Through the middle of the season, we were playing some really good hockey and we said, 'alright, why not us?'" Marlow said.
Curran put the Raiders ahead early against Littleton, directing a Christos Rogaris pass into the net after barely four minutes elapsed. Unfortunately Tigers senior Gavin Werling brought his cape, scoring twice and assisting two more to become Littleton's all-time leading scorer.
"They're a phenomenal team, top to bottom," Marlow said. "I liked our game plan, I like the way we scouted and what we wanted to do. Unfortunately for parts of all three periods, we got away from it, and they capitalized every single time."
Once the final buzzer sounded, the Tigers smashed into the glass in front of their student section. They waved flags and held up pictures of their faces on sticks. D-S/Weston continued straight from the handshake line to the locker room. Rogaris, a junior captain, waited near the opening in the boards and hugged every teammate and coach as they exited.
"It hasn't hit me yet. I've played hockey my whole life. This will be my last game in competitive hockey, probably," Curran said. "It's a sad moment, but it hasn't really hit me. I'm happy to do it with this group and happy to do it with my friends."
Curran kept his pads on for his postgame interview before returning to the locker room. In those moments between the final buzzer and leaving the arena, he sat in one of life's rare in between moments. There's a clear during and a clear after, but he wanted to stave that off for as long as possible.
"I'm embracing the moment right now," Curran said. "It's never really over. I'm sure we're going to hang out all the time and 20 years from now. It's going to be o.k."
Contact Kyle Grabowski at [email protected]. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @kylegrbwsk.
This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Littleton ends D-S/Weston hockey's run as 'The Villains' in D4 Final 4