How Keenan Peterson is keeping hockey alive in Wareham
Keenan Peterson warms up for a game against Bishop Stang High School. Photos by Bobby Grady
Peterson weaves through defenders.
Peterson advances the puck.
Keenan Peterson warms up for a game against Bishop Stang High School. Photos by Bobby Grady
Peterson weaves through defenders.
Peterson advances the puck.
Senior Keenan Peterson is one of two Wareham residents lacing up the skates and hitting the ice this winter not as a Viking, but as a Middleboro Sachem.
Since 2022, Wareham High School students have traveled to Middleboro to play hockey after years of a joint team with Carver came to an end in 2021 due to a lack of participation.
“I’m glad that we can have a team because we were the head team my eighth grade year and then we lost a bunch of kids,” Peterson said. “My eighth grade year we had three or four players [in my class] but now I’m the only one.”
While Peterson is the only Wareham High School student playing hockey, homeschooled Wareham resident Brogan Wilson is also on the team.
Traveling outside of Wareham for hockey is nothing new to Peterson, having played on several different club teams. Most recently he played for the Express Hockey Club out of Walpole, a youth hockey program dedicated to developing young players.
“It’s a half-season in the fall to get ready for high school and we actually won the championship for the under 18 league,” Peterson said.
He added he is no stranger to winning, with several summer hockey league championships under his belt.
“I’ve won a decent amount of summer championships but that’s in the summer so it’s not really hockey season,” he said.
Peterson, who said he anticipates being the Sachem’s starting left wing, hopes to make a deep playoff run this season after just earning a spot in the division three post-season a year ago.
He also has personal milestones he is shooting for. He said he wants to get a point a game, meaning he scores a goal or records an assist every game.
“I want to try and reach 75 points for my career,” Peterson said.
Since joining the Sachems, Peterson said building chemistry with a team he is unfamiliar with has been challenging, but that it's been working so far.
“It’s definitely been a good experience working with other players I haven’t played with before and the chemistry clicked because we’re all hockey players,” he said.
