That could very well be a familiar theme for this winter's Triton hockey team under the guidance of new coach Drew Wile. The Ipswich native, who has been on the bench of one of the best high school program in the country - Catholic Memorial - the past seven seasons as an assistant, takes the reins of the defending CAL champs this season and made it clear that he plans on venturing outside the CAL as much a possible.
Wile takes over for interim coach Russ Moser, who guided Triton to a school best 18-0-2 mark and the league championship in one magical season. Unfortunately, the top seeded Vikings were shocked by No. 16 Watertown in the first round.
Many blamed a soft non-league schedule for the tournament collapse and Wile agrees.
"At CM, we went everywhere," said Wile, who has already lined up scrimmages with CM and St. Mary's of Lynn as well as non-league tilts at NEC power Winthrop and perennial Division 3 Central Mass. champ Westfield. "The way our situation is with ice time, we'll come to you. Central Catholic, Matignon ... we're going to try to play all those programs that kids grow up wondering what it would be like to play against. That's how you get better and ready for the tournament, not by playing in some tournament up in Maine where you're winning 8-1.
"You need to go on the road where you're the enemy and people don't like you. That's what it's like in the tournament. I don't want to just build a program here, I want to take it to a whole new level."
Wile played on Jack Welch's last two Super Bowl teams at Ipswich in 1991 and '92 and was also a standout on the now defunct Ipswich hockey team. He also shined on the baseball diamond as a pitcher. He would go on to a productive college career as a left-handed reliever at Salem State, but could never quite shake the hockey bug.
After wearing out legendary CM coach Bill Hanson's answering machine, Wile finally secured a volunteer coaching position back in 1999 with the Knights' freshman team.
"Bill pointed his finger at me and said that if I missed even a single second of one practice, I was gone," said Wile, 31, of the no-nonsense, two-time National Coach of the Year.
Wile would move up to JV coach the following season and for four games in the 2004 season, found himself running the show and rolling up a 3-1 mark while Hanson served an MIAA suspension for a rules violation.
"People are always telling me that I'm crazy to be driving from Ipswich to West Roxbury everyday in the winter just to coach, but then when you're standing on the bench on St. Patty's Day at the Garden (in the state final) with 14,000 people in the stands, it doesn't seem that crazy."
He says the experience and lessons he has gained along the way has been invaluable.
"To be able to play for a guy like Jack Welch, who really could have coached football anywhere, and have him as your mentor as a player and then to work for a guy like Bill and have him as your coaching mentor is a pretty strong foundation," he said.
Being from the area and very in tune with the CAL, Wile knew all about the Triton budget woes when he applied for the job. The initial user fee of $1,500 per player has been reduced to $1,000 thanks to the generosity of Triton's neighbors at Governor's Academy, who have graciously donated two blocks of ice time (6 a.m. and 9 p.m.) at their rink. It is hoped that the figure can be lowered even more by the ongoing fundraising efforts.
"I can't begin to imagine what they are dealing with over there," said Governor's Academy AD Roberta McLain. "We were happy to do what we could do to help them out."
Wile had about 35 players show up for an initial meet and greet, and is hopeful he can hold onto that number which will be led by captain Dylan Burke and assistants Bryce Linehan and Chris LeSage. The bare bones budget he has been entrusted with provides only for a JV coach, so one of Wile's first orders of business is to find a volunteer goalie coach and hopefully a couple of other volunteers too. Whether there's another aspiring Drew Wile eager for that kind of challenge, he's not sure.
"Hopefully there is. I talked to a couple people so far, but haven't gotten anywhere," said Wile. "It's tough to get someone to show up at six in the morning or nine at night, but that's hockey," he said. "Either way, I want someone who is going to show up and who will be there all the time. For what these kids are being asked to pay, they deserve that."
The Wile File
Name: Drew Wile
Age: 31
Family: Wife Robbyn, son Jack, 3
Hometown: Ipswich
Occupation: Biology teacher, Lowell High School
Coaching experience: Assistant coach with Catholic Memorial since 1999 ... Head coach for four games in 2004 while head coach Bill Hanson served a suspension
Playing career: Standout for Ipswich's now defunct hockey team ... Relief pitcher for the Salem State baseball team.
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