Coach Rich Valatkevicz has only been coaching the Wareham/Carver Vikings ice hockey team for a few seasons, but he's made a tight group out of them.

“For four months out of the year, you’re family,” coach Rick Valatkevicz tells his young players at the beginning of the season. “We’re family. For those months, I see you more than I see my actual family.” The teams stands tightly clustered around him in the Gallo Arena, their skates bound with pink tape, listening to his instructions.

Last year, the team made it to the state tournament for the first time - quickly followed by the departure of several graduating seniors. “This is a rebuilding year,” Valatkevicz says cheerfully, but says he has a lot of talent on deck. He points out some of his most promising players, and the list is fairly long.

One of those players, a forward named Quirino DoCanto, is known to his team as ‘Q’. A Wareham High freshman, Q is short and slender, but he’s fast and tough as nails. “He hits hard,” Valatkevicz says proudly. “He’s really going to be something.” Q had played ice hockey in the past, and joined the team for the chance to keep playing. “It’s fun to watch your friends score a goal, and be able to celebrate with them,” he says of his teammates.

His comment hints at a close-knit team, and his teammate Mike Houdlette, a senior at Wareham High, backs it up. “We’re almost like a family,” he explains. “Most of these guys know more about me than I do myself.”

If anyone can appreciate the sense of family, it’s Carver junior Michela Giorgio, one of two women on the team. (The other, Makayla Wood, was absent from practice.) Michela hadn’t initially considered playing on the ice hockey team. A friend of hers was trying out for the team, and his father brought the idea up. “Then I thought that if I made it, it would be a good accomplishment,” she says with a laugh. The team is glad to have her: “Everyone is so accepting, no matter how different you are,” she marvels. “The guys make me feel like just another team member, not the ‘girl’. It’s nice to know that people care enough to make sure you don’t feel left out.”

The team is filled with multi-talented athletes. Houdlette plays soccer in the hockey off-season. Wareham freshman Bryan Gallagher plays baseball, as does Carver eighth-grader Eric Foley. Giorgio chases both field hockey and modern dance outside of her time on the ice. DoCanto plays golf and basketball. All of them agree that they love the sheer physicality of hockey: “It’s fun getting hit!” DoCanto says enthusiastically.

Valatkevicz loves the spirit of his team. “We’ve had a lot of close games this year, games we lost by a few points,” he said. “This is a great group of kids. They fight hard, they play hard, they never give up. And they have fun with it, they’re there for each other.”