One of the biggest challenges for first-year Wareham-Carver hockey coach Rich Valatekevitcz has been winning back some on-ice respect.

“I’ve been with these kids since 8th or 9th grade,” said Valatekevitcz, who managed the team for four years and who was an assistant for three. “A lot of [our focus] is getting the respect back as a team. We were taking a lot of foolish penalties that came back to hurt us in a lot of games. We’re trying to get that back.”

So far, the team has skated to a 3-5-2 record after last year’s 5-15 campaign. With playoff hopes still in site, Valatekevitcz, who has lived in Wareham for more than 40 years, said his team has continued to work hard despite an up-and-down season.

“We still have half a season left,” he said. “They’re still in the hunt. Hopefully we can get back to .500. They’re pushing.”

The team, which accepts players from both Carver High School and Wareham High School and dual-enrollment students from Wareham Middle School, had 24 players go out this year, a high number for an program that’s struggled to draw numbers in the past.

It also has two female players from Carver, with Wareham’s female skaters being eligible for another all-female co-op team with Bourne, Mashpee, and Old Rochester.

Still, he said he’ll lose seven seniors after this year, and hopes the dual-enrollment and the co-op continue.

“It’s definitely helped out quite a bit,” he said. “Three or four years ago, we had 12 kids between the two schools. If we never combined, we probably wouldn’t have a team. It’s been major.”

Three players from Wareham, in particular, have been key contributors for the squad, including senior captain and leading scorer Stephen Toal (16 goals, 11 assists), senior Sean Fagan (seven goals, 11 assists), and goalie Derek Miller. A total of 18 players out of Wareham skate with the team.

“A lot of the kids really stepped up this year,” he said. “[Toal] is having a great season. He’s really stepped up as a captain. He’s one of if not the top scorer in the [South Coast] conference. [Fagan] is another senior who’s having a good year for us. And Miller has been phenomenal for the last three or four games for us.”

Valatekevitcz said the last time the team made the postseason was seven years ago, and he’s hoping to start the push with Wednesday night’s game against Greater New Bedford Voc-Tech (Gallo Arena, 8 p.m.) and Sunday’s versus Durfee (Gallo, 8:30).

“We just hope to keep moving forward,” he said. “We’re looking to stayed disciplined and just keep working hard, which they have been.”