 The new article by: “Mike” Irace and Malizia
The infamous, yet somewhat cult classic has touched each of us throughout our lives. Here’s Irace's recollection. “My mom would always tell me the morning of. My whole family had the same enthusiasm, being excited for another installment to a lifelong tradition. The whole day I would think about my old pal Chuck waiting for me at 7:00pm. By the time it was finally on, the whole family would be watching, despite the fact we already saw it once a year for mostly our entire lives. It might have been because it was only on near holidays (that in itself being a great achievement), so my association with holidays made the Peanuts infamous. As it would end, I would panic and desperately wait to see what would happen next. Would another episode play, allowing me to stay down an extra 30 minutes to watch it? Or would my parents insist my night was concluded? I can’t speak for every Charlie Brown holiday special, but I vividly remember the Thanksgiving special being the preceder to an episode of Charlie and his friends taking a trip on the Mayflower back in the 1620’s. It didn’t matter which holiday and it didn’t matter how the holiday itself was, but Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is a clear memory of a tradition I still encounter currently.” Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving special was a pivotal moment in American culture. As a kid, watching Charlie Brown it is hard to notice the overarching theme. Each story has its own moral; The Christmas special shows the powerful effect of being kind to others and Thanksgiving’s shows generosity and the nature of giving. The overarching theme at play in all Charlie Brown episodes is growing up. Perhaps it is only the time period (1950’s-1960’s), but it is very apparent that no adults are around to supervise. In the Thanksgiving special, all of the kids get together and have their own “Thanksgiving” dinner. Unfortunately, through the years, the Peanuts gang has gone from “Count Holiday”, to barely recognizable among the younger crowd. It’s apparent by its current absence from pop culture that a majority of Freeform’s annual broadcast is viewed by boomers, and possibly a few millennials. With that said, will this special fade to obscurity over the following decades? Sure, there were attempts to revive it, but they were never able to capture the original charm and comedic timing of the OG special, causing them to go unnoticed by longtime fans, and not remembered by the new generations. Despite this unfortunate reality, it is a very heartwarming story about Friends coming together to celebrate regardless of any plans that parents have made. Epilogue: Please tell your friends and family about this special, bring it back to mainstream popularity and keep the tradition going!
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By Nathaniel Estifanos and Nick Ursini Here in Wethersfield High School, we have a variety of different looking classrooms, ranging from an endless amount of posters hanging on each wall to album vinyl covers leaning above each cabinet. And, after close dissection and observation of each classroom, we have decided who has the best decorated classroom in the school, based on the amount of decorations, the quality of the decorations, and the overall look of the room. And this goes to: Mr. Mearman. While many came close, we felt that Mr. Mearman had the overall greatest quality of decorations that you could have, and also has maintained an appealing overall look of the room. Many little details with his room is what led us to choose him over others, like how he changes the album vinyl covers that are above his whiteboard each quarter, or the countless amount of Patriots flags and towels that are pinned on the wall. When asked why he designed his room the way he did, he said, “I tried to make the room an environment that is inviting to the students and one that I like.” Go check out his room on the third floor soon!  By: Connor Pace and Daniel Jimenez
The boys soccer season came to an end this past Monday losing to Wilton in the semi-finals of the Class L playoff losing 4-2 in penalty kicks. Regardless, they had an amazing season that set the bar high for next year’s team. This year the team went 18-5-1 led by senior captains Riley Carlson, Rei Koni, Max Karkos, and Toni Capessela. This strong senior class helped the Eagles improve to more wins from the previous season. The Eagles had many big wins this year against Notre Dame and Bristol Central in the state tournament and they were also able to beat their rivals in Newington once this season. However, the Eagles lost some tough games against Farmington and Glastonbury. We interview one of the team captains Riley Carlson to get his view on this year’s soccer season. “I didn’t have too much hope when it came to the states, I thought we were going to lose in the first couple rounds, but making it to the semifinals was beyond my expectations for the season.” We then asked Carlson about his expectations for this upcoming season. “We should expect to make it to the state semifinals again next year. We are a sophomore-driven team and these sophomores should have more experience going into next year.” As for the seniors leaving the soccer program this fall, we wanted to thank you for what you’ve done for the team these past four years you have played for us and the many accomplishes you have made. You were an excellent group that has paved the way for the next years of Wethersfield soccer and helped the program succeed.  By: Logan and Max
“This game means everything to every single person on the team. We need this as a whole. We’re giving it everything we've got.”- Senior Captain, Jacob Rivera The annual Thanksgiving football game between Wethersfield and Newington is right around the corner. This year, it's more than just a rematch between rivals, it carries the weight of a CCC Championship and a chance to play December football at home. The past two years, Wethersfield fell short in defeating Newington, but this Wethersfield team is different and has a record to prove it. Currently, with a record of 7-2, this team already has a better record than teams in the past three years. When asked about what this team had over the past teams, Jacob Rivera said, “We want it more. We put in the work and simply have more chemistry as a team. We’re a family. We had none of that last year.” Although Wethersfield has proven to be a strong team this year, Newington has been nothing short of formidable as well. They currently have a 7-2 record and stand atop the Central Connecticut Division II standings. Having the same records calls for a dog fight between these two rivals is sure to keep you on your feet. Even though both teams have essentially clinched playoff berths, this game means more than just another “W” in the win column and bragging rights against a rival. Winning this game solidifies a home playoff game in the first round which can make all the difference in December. Being home in the first round means the world to Rivera and this team. Rivera said, “Being home for the first round in the playoffs give us a lot of confidence. We have confidence going into every game. However, the fact that we can play in front of all of our fans, in a stadium that we are used to and comfortable with gives us that boost that we need, for us and our fans. They are our 12th man on the field.” The stakes are high as Wethersfield and Newington take the field next Wednesday November 27 at 6 PM. Come out and support Wethersfield as they aim to break the Newington losing streak and grasp a home playoff game. Happy Turkey Day!  by: Reece Skelly and Hannah Sullivan
This Friday, November 22nd, there will be a community bonfire at Millwoods from 6:00 to 8:00pm. The main purpose of the bonfire is to not only raise money for the senior class and sports teams, but to also bring the community together. Multiple sports teams, clubs, and groups will be selling food and beverages such as pizza, hot chocolate, and water, to support their organization. No outside food or beverages will be allowed in, and the event is free to enter. For safety reasons, the Fire Marshall will be there to control and look after the bonfire itself. The event is projected to be exciting, while still safe. This Bonfire was a Wethersfield tradition for decades, before it came to a halt in the late 1990’s. There was no particular reason the tradition stopped, it just faded out, according to the president of the senior class, Isaac Santos. When asked why he wanted to bring the tradition back, Class President Isaac Santos said, “We hope to bring back this tradition for friends and family to get together and come support our school community whether that be the football team or any other group. The goal is to have the kids look forward to something after the carnival season is over and have a place to make new friends and reconnect with old friends”.  By: Jake Whitaker and Johnny Orsini Popeye’s Chicken sandwich has taken the fast food industry by storm this year, when it was brought into the restaurants it took only two weeks for the chicken sandwich to completely sell out! Now that they are being made again, some locations are selling as many as 1,000 sandwiches a day. Now the real debate is who has the best chicken sandwich? The long time favorite Chick-Fil-A sandwich, or the Popeye's sandwich and its new found stardom? With Popeye's being all over the news for having people attacked and even killed over a chicken sandwich you would believe that they must have the better chicken sandwich right? According to Wethersfield High School students that is incorrect, well, sort of. 31 students responded to our poll and 48.4% of them said that Chick-Fil-A’s spicy chicken sandwich was better than Popeye’s spicy chicken sandwich. 19.4% of voters said that Popeye’s spicy sandwich was better, while the other 32.3% either said that they haven’t had Popeye's or haven’t had either. On the other hand, 45.2% of voters said that Popeye’s regular chicken sandwich was better, 32.3% said Chick-Fil-A’s regular was better, and 22.6% said that they have either had neither or never tried Popeye's. With a one to one stalemate, there was one last vote. Who has the better overall chicken sandwich? By a vote of 66.7% to 26.7%, Chick-Fil-A was voted as having the better chicken sandwich. While looking deeper into the voting, we realized that there may have been a reason that Chick-Fil-A took such a lead in the final vote. Many voters claimed that Chick-Fil-A pulled ahead because of great service. Senior Matt Silver says “Chick-fil-a has much better service so that makes the sandwich experience that much more enjoyable.” The other big factor that affected our voting was that with Popeye's sandwich being new and the nearest Popeye's being almost 20 minutes away, many people haven’t tried it. Head football coach and history teacher Matt McKinnon has never tried Popeye's for one reason. “Popeye's is not near my house, I never have been there.” So while we have the data that shows that WHS students like Chick-Fil-A better, we believe that if more students tried Popeye's and if there was a location closer to Wethersfield than the data would look much different. What do you think? Which is the better chicken sandwich? Comment below!  By: Kaitlyn Fischer and Jacob Rivera Since Thanksgiving is soon approaching, we set out to interview staff and students on how they celebrate and to see just how different we really are. Starting off slow, we asked the easy question. Quite simply, for those who have turkey, how do you make it? One person deep fries their turkey, five bake it, one buys it from a store, and two didn’t know yet how their turkey would be cooked. One that stood out to us was student Joe Porriello, saying, “I just show up for the food”.  Even as your writers, we celebrate differently. For Jacob Rivera, his family does not have turkey. Instead, they celebrate with mostly Latin American foods such as rice and beans, gandules, tostones, mofongo, pasteles, and alcapurrias. The main substitution for having turkey for the Rivera family is Pernil, which for your understanding, is roasted pork. The Rivera family, among many other families celebrate Thanksgiving in many different ways, mixing in what they know and how they live.
Senior Megan Kelleher celebrates by having antipasto every year. “It's become a tradition where, every year, we have to have it.” While doing our interviews, we found that a lot of people have yearly traditions to celebrate this holiday. Malvina Katapuqi celebrates by having lamb, which is part of her religion. As you can see, Thanksgiving is a holiday that holds many traditions for most families. No matter how you cook your turkey, what other foods you may eat, or simply just showing up to be with your family, it's a holiday that brings everyone together. By: Joe Porriello After suffering a devastating loss to Maloney a week prior, the Wethersfield Eagles responded with a big 13-10 win on the road at Hall High School in West Hartford. By doing so, the Eagles essentially punch their ticket to their first playoff appearance since 2015. The Eagles managed to get 220 of their 283 yards by running the ball. Leading the charge was Senior Running Back Johnny Orsini who recorded 122 yards on the ground, including a 6 yard touchdown to get the scoring started with three minutes left in the first quarter. Senior Quarterback Matt Silver also had himself a day on the ground by rushing for 98 yards, including a clutch 55 yard run with two minutes left in the game to move the Eagles from their own 33 yard line all the way to Hall’s 12. At that point, Silver was able to rush 10 more yards, which included a 3 yard 3rd down conversion to help put the game away and allow the Eagles to run out the clock. The Eagles got their second score with ten seconds left in the first half when Silver found Senior Wide Receiver Connor Pace for a 4 yard score, which ended up being the game winning touchdown. With all this talk about how good the offense was, let’s not forget about how great this Eagles defense played. Hall averaged just under 30 points a game and the Eagles held them to just 10. The Eagles don’t win this game without a lot of things, but their defense was probably the biggest factor. I got the opportunity to ask Senior Middle Linebacker Jacob Rivera how good the win felt and he said, “It's the best feeling in the world. Knowing that we’re going to the playoffs, knowing that we’re going to be able to take it further than the regular season is an incredible feeling, it’s like no other.” The Eagles next and final regular season game is Wednesday the 27th at home when they take on Newington for the annual Thanksgiving game. And if this game needs anymore hyping up, both teams are playing for the chance to host a first round playoff game. See you there, go Eagles.  By: Isaac Rios
Back in 2018, we heard the news that Disney would be making their own streaming service. Now, in late 2019, the service has been released as Disney+ and both students and teachers are loving it. “Disney+ was a big next step for Disney. They have almost everything Disney has released throughout their company’s run,” said senior Katie Bridges. Despite being a fan of it she has one major criticism, “It doesn’t have a recently watched list or [the ability to] save your place in the episode is something to improve on.” “Disney+ has been an excellent addition to the media world. In PE class, we have it in the fitness room to motivate students to be off of their phones and entertained while exercising,” said physical educator Ms. McLaughlin. Apparently, she found a way to watch Disney+ in class without giving detentions, “Students have the opportunity to watch shows and films from their childhood while getting a workout in during the day. It’s a win win.” What do you think about Disney+? Is it better than Netflix or is it worse? What’s your favorite show? Comment below and let us know!  By: Isaac Rios
It’s that time of the year where the last three months bring not just winter, but special holidays that most people in the school can’t wait for, mostly due to the food, days off, and/or gifts. Especially with Thanksgiving coming up since Halloween passed, everyone can’t wait to eat, sleep, and hope to not get trampled in a Walmart. Do most people think the holiday is just “a cookout with a parade,” or is it more than that? Here at WHS, the teachers have something to say about this holiday. “Over Thanksgiving I usually get together with my family,” said social studies teacher Mrs. Zaleski, “We eat delicious dinner but sometimes we play football outside, we have a family football game, and we always end with other games; like around the table.” “It’s a day of thanks giving, we give thanks to people and everybody around us. [It’s about] family and friends who wish the world to be a better place.” said physical educator Mr. Scoppetto. Every teacher here at WHS believes the same message, that this is the time when we would get together with people we know and love as a way to give thanks to everyone for the life we can live. What makes your Thanksgiving special from others? Do you agree with Mr. Scoppetto on what Thanksgiving is about? Leave your comment below!  by: Brianna Garcia
After interviewing different teachers, I found out that most teachers listen to completely different genres. They range from country to rock. Mr. Martin even said he listened to different genres depending on his mood. Most of these teachers also reflect on their past too when they’re talking about what music they listen to. When asked what her favorite genre of music is, Algebra and Pre-Calculus teacher Mrs. Kaplczyski said: “I really like country music, it’s kind of new, probably within the last ten years. When I was in high school, I really liked emo music, Fallout Boy and all those types of bands but once I went to college I really started getting more into country.” I couldn’t really believe it when Mrs. Kaplczyski said she used to listen to emo music. I was surprised that she listened to Fallout Boy and emo bands just like I do now. Country is also a great genre, and I can see why she likes it so much, with their hit singers like Sam Hunt and Blake Shelton, there’s a ton of great country voices out there. When I asked Mrs. Kaplczyski how she felt about rap music she said: “I really used to like Eminem when I was little, his old stuff, but I don’t really listen to anything else.” Mrs. Kaplczyski talks about liking Eminem when she was younger, but not any other rappers. I can see why, Eminem had some great hit songs in the past. Although she listened to Eminem, Mrs. Kaplczyski said she doesn’t listen to any modern rap music, which I can understand. I can’t really see most adults listening to modern rap anyways, since it’s so different from the older rap and it has many more swears. When I asked English teacher Mr. Martin what music he listens to, he said: “It really depends on what I’m doing. I’m super into the indie genre, I still listen to a ton of hip hop and rap, I still listen to old 90’s alternative and punk. It really just depends on my mood.” I think it’s really interesting that Mr. Martin has such a wide variety of genres he listens to, and I think that more people should open themselves up to different music genres. It’s also cool that Mr. Martin listens to hip hop and rap, I’m pretty sure that most other teachers don’t (or wouldn’t tell me if they do). It’s surprising how all the teachers have different music taste, it’s not like most students who usually just listen to modern pop or rap songs. It would be nice if the students had such a wide variation of music they liked too.  By Amirah Jahaf & Rachel Gopaul
The Wethersfield High School Drama Club is performing a version of Shakespeare’s play A Midsummers Night's Dream. This version is going to be different than others you have seen before, it’s made to relate to our lives today. There are funny characters to watch such as Bottom (Pyramus) played by senior Hailey Baranowski, and The Three Pups played by senior Abbey Riberio, junior Kendall Cholewa, and sophomore Mia Sommers. Another scene to check out is the battle between Helena (freshman Sarah Gurskis) and Hermia (senior Brianna Boucher). When asked why we should make it out to see this play, drama director Mr. Roets said, “First of all to support peers, and because it’s funny. I know that we have done some sad stuff for plays in the last couple of years. It is the most entertaining play for Shakespeare, the Woodstock music is cool, 1969-style, and you get to see Mr. Nicholas and Mr. Pfister be patriarchal jerks.” The show is playing from November 7-10 in the WHS Auditorium. Thursday, November 7 at 7:30, Friday November 8 during school, and Saturday, November 9 at 7:30. If you miss any of those, your last chance to see it will be Sunday, November 10, at 3:30. Tickets cost $12 for general admission and $8 for students and seniors. If you get hungry during intermission, DECA is selling candy in the cafeteria! This play would be fun and interesting to watch. It’s also fun to see “Youthful rebellion, young love, foolishness, and ego leads to four young lovers going for each other all around,” according to Roets. Don’t miss out on what everyone will be talking about in school. Come and support the WHS Drama Club!  By Jordan Hickey and Samuel Garcia
Wethersfield High School physical education teacher Richard Scoppetto is back again to announce the annual Powder Puff Games. Mr. Scopetto is in charge of this program. Powderpuff is a modified flag football game played by the students of the different graduating classes from 2020 to 2023. The four competing classes will compete in a tournament-style competition where they set out to determine who is the winner of the powderpuff games. Powderpuff is played by the girls in the school. These girls are coached by the boys of the same graduating class. Powderpuff will be held on November 21 at Wethersfield High School on Cottone Field. What is the purpose of powderpuff? We asked Mr. Scopetto this question. Mr. Scopetto said, “Powderpuff is an after school activity to give kids something else to compete in.” This is a great way to get everybody together and bond not only with friends, but with different students from your graduating class. This is a fun yet competitive game that determines who is the best graduating class in the school, because who wouldn’t want to be known as the best class at Wethersfield High School? Powderpuff is important to go to because it is another way to hang out with friends and meet new friends as well. Overall Powderpuff is a game for students to have fun and that's the real importance of the game. How do we make this happen? We would not have powderpuff if the teachers didn’t get together and send information to the students because this year we might have to cancel the game due to the lack of sign ups in this competition. In order to sign up, you must sign up with your designated teacher as seen below. Make sure you bring your $25 needed to sign up for your powderpuff shirts, and also make sure you are ahead on your class dues. Freshmen should see Mr. Miller, sophomores should see Mr. Chatfield, juniors should Ms. Cavanaugh, and seniors should see Mrs. Belanger. Hope to see you on Cottone!  By: Nathaniel Estifanos and Nick Ursini
While in the eyes of most the NBA is as wide open this season as it has ever been, some of the staff here at WHS had the same general idea for their NBA Finals winners, with both of the teams in Los Angeles accounting for all of the picks. Both English teacher Mr. Martin and principal Mr. Moore picked the L.A. Clippers to win the title, while Athletic Director Mr. Maltese picked the L.A. Lakers to win it all. Mr. Maltese even went as far as saying who he sees coming out of the Eastern Conference, saying “You would have to think Milwaukee Bucks. With [Brooklyn] hurt, with Lebron’s second year out of the East, I think Milwaukee has the easiest path.” Those interviews also had similar views on the NBA’s most valueable player, with Moore and Martin saying Kawhi Leonard will win the award. Mr. Maltese picked James Harden to win his second award. And the way our interviewees talked about who would win the NBA title and who would be selected for MVP made it seem that there was a very slim chance that any other team had much of a chance. For example, Mr. Martin said, “When you add Kawhi Leonard and Paul George with crazy energy guys like Pat Beverly, that sets up a dynamic for a city that has gone so long without the title. It could create a perfect storm for them.” Mr. Moore was also on the same page, simply saying, “One word. Kawhi. Last year, he put that team on his shoulders and brought them through the entire playoffs, and with help, can he do it again? I think he can.” As we can see, WHS clearly has their minds set on a select group of teams and individuals, so we’ll see how these picks play out for them in this upcoming NBA season. by: Bryce Cox
The Wethersfield High School marching band competed in the annual New England competition on Saturday, October 26. The competition took place at Naugatuck High School in Connecticut, and included many bands from across Connecticut and outside the state. For WHS, this was the last competition of the season, and was especially emotional as it was many of the seniors last band competition. The band performed their show, Terraform, which includes a variety of small sections of pieces. Their show incorporates two movements from Holst’s The Planets, originally written for orchestra, playing Mars second, and ending their show with Jupiter. The show opens with the theme from Steven Spielberg's movie E.T. and the third piece is a theme from a Star Trek episode. After a successful and emotional final competition, the WHS marching band camp in 6th in their division.  Xavier telling a joke in the latest episode of Blue Eagle News. By: Joe Porriello
There isn’t a more well-known student in the Wethersfield High School community than Xavier White. He has established himself as the joke king for our student-produced Blue Eagle News. He can be seen in practically every episode, telling his jokes to the audiences watching that day. For those that don’t know Xavier, he is very active in the school community. Although he is more recognizable from his joke-telling, he is a part of the school’s cross country and outdoor track teams. He is also very kind. If you pass him while walking through the hallway, he will be determined to either say hello or ask you how your day is going, no matter the time. Xavier’s interest in telling jokes originated from watching his favorite show called “Loud House.” He heard a joke from one of the characters, Luan, that made him laugh. He was then inspired to make other people laugh the same way he did, through a joke. One day, Xavier was telling a joke to one of his friends, the friend liked it, and convinced him to tell the joke to the producer of Blue Eagle News, Ms. Coco. She liked the joke, Xavier got to tell it for that episode, and the rest is history. When I asked Xavier why he continues to tell his jokes he said, ”I tell them to make people happy. I really like to make my friends and family smile.”  By: John F. Shamo
We’ve heard it for years, students don’t enjoy wearing their ID’s. However, there are SO many good reasons to wear them, and the whole system has been really well thought out! 1. Safety The #1 reason why the ID’s are important because they provide safety. They show staff and others that you are a student at WHS. This is to ensure that you are not an intruder and to ensure that everyone at WHS feels safe. If you aren’t wearing your ID, then sometimes you might not be recognized as a WHS student. Now this is not always the case, but sometimes it is, which is why it is better if you just have your ID around your neck. 2. Identity Of course, the IDs are important because they show who you are and your name. This makes it so that we could get to know each other better. It also makes it easier to get to know people’s names if you are afraid to ask them yourself. You could just carefully look at their IDs and see their names on them. The WHS ID’s are also helpful with knowing what grades the students are in by the color of it. The yellow ID’s are the freshmen, the red ID’s are the sophomores, the green ID’s are juniors, and the dark blue ID’s are seniors. 3. Security The most important reason why the WHS ID’s are important because they are like passes that give you access to the building. You would need them if you are going to the bathroom, the media center, or to the office. This would also help students in the future, since some jobs and careers require that you have your IDs on at all times. Especially if there are some areas that require your ID to access. This is a life lesson for students at WHS, so to be sure that we get to understand how the IDs work. So now you see why IDs are important, so keep wearing them!  by: Connor Pace and Dan Jimenez
Student Athletes are known to have the most workload in school. However, when we think of student athletes, often the underestimated and overlooked team is our amazing Marching Band. They are there every home football game, compete in many prestigious competitions, and the dedication and skill that goes to each of the pieces they play is astonishing. For this reason, we decided to talk to a WHS player Vinny Mullizzo to find out what it is like to be in the Wethersfield Marching Band. To be in the marching band means starts with being in their summer camp every hot summer day from 8:30am to 5:00pm, and once school starts you have to go to rehearsal from 5:30-8:00pm every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday plus performing at games. Then on Saturdays, they have band competitions which can run from 10:30am all the way until 11:00pm. “From the whole school in general we don't get that much recognition because what we do is more outside of school, so the people do not really see what we are doing and there is not really a lot of marketing for it, like ‘Hey, come to the competition,’” said Vinny Milluzzo, a trumpet player and section leader in the marching band. Next time you see someone in the Marching Band, give them a congratulations for all the hard work they put in and cheer for them in their competitions and performances.  by: Cole Nocida and Andrea Martinez
The Career Advisory Board? Are they the ones that organize our advisory? No, the CAB is the organization that puts together all the exciting things that happen around the school that you may not even know about. They are the ones that bring lunch and learns, like our most recent with a physical therapist. They have programs that allows students to dip their toes into the real world of career and career readiness. They are here for the benefit for us! They meet once every month and their next meeting will be November 25 in the Media Center. Chairperson of the Wethersfield Board of Education Bobbie Granato plans on talking about some specific goals in their next meeting with the members of the committee, which includes business leaders and members of the town and school communities.  By: Taylor Mcgeachy, Jess Driscoll, and Mary Leconche
This year, the WMRP hockey team received tough news, the team is splitting into pieces. This team is a co-op between the towns of Wethersfield, Middletown, Rocky Hill and Plainville. This year, our “one for all” team is being torn apart. Curious about how this will affect the player,s we asked them what they will be lacking from the co-op split. Spencer Bartone, who has been involved with the team for years says, “Our team won't only be losing great hockey players, but we will be losing a part of our family. It's like losing my brothers that I've played with since I joined the team. I wake up seeing these guys first thing in the morning and it's gonna be tough to not have them on the ice or in the locker room any more.” For much of the team, it isn't only about losing players from three other towns, but losing a chunk of their family and strong players for 3-4 years. Many sports teams have the same teammates throughout their high school years and they get into a routine of playing together. Will the last year of the WMPR team playing together push them to win the championship? Many of the teams players agree that the future split will have a positive impact and make them eager to work together to win the title of their last ever championship together. Trevor Piecewicz, captain of the team, says, “We are still one team, one family. We only have one thing on mind this year and that’s winning a state championship. When it comes to the team splitting up, we’ll think about that when the time comes.” Both junior Spencer Bartone and caption Trevor Piecewicz have their focus on getting to Yale and winning the state championship. With their last yearwith the three other towns, the drive to win is more intense than ever. We got the chance to interview our Athletics Director Micheal Maltese asking how it came about to end the co-op program. “The CIAC, the governing board of high school athletics in CT, has strict regulations in place for co-op teams in all sports. There are cut-off numbers set that determines whether or not a co-op can continue. Our roster is expected to grow this year (in which the CIAC gave us a 1-year co-op extension) which we anticipate will put us over the threshold as we look into the future. The BOE, along with central office administration and WHS administration, felt that announcing the end to our co-op at this point in time will give our three partner schools over 14 months to look for another co-op situation.” Asking how he personally felt he responded by saying “I represent WHS, which is a CIAC member school. As we must comply with their regulations and by-laws I understand that they have rules in place which govern co-op teams.” With nothing much anyone can do with the co-op, the WMRP will be something that not only Wethersfield with remember, but all the competing teams will remember as well when they hopefully see them at Yale this postseason. |
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