Three-time DCL Championship winning WA Boys’ Varsity Hockey Coach Bob Carpenter has decided to retire. He led the team for 27 years, starting in 1996, and had a successful coaching career, leading many teams to deep playoff runs, and was recently inducted into WA’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

Before coaching at WA, Carpenter coached hockey for 21 years at a variety of different schools. He was the head coach at Minuteman Tech, Wayland, Nashua and Lexington for many years. He was also an assistant coach at a few other schools like Swampscott High, Bridgewater State College and Methuen. Once he got to WA, besides boys’ hockey, he was also an assistant coach for girls’ lacrosse for seven years, and after 17 years of teaching math, he decided to focus on just coaching hockey in 2016.

“My memories are more centered around my players and how they enjoyed competing year after year,” Carpenter said.

He has many good memories from his time coaching at WA, including his three DCL Championships in 2003, 2005, and 2008, but his favorite memories are of the players that he coached, in addition to the accomplishments.

One of these memories is his final game as a coach. They went up against a tough Arlington team and almost pulled off the upset victory.

“Our final game against Arlington was a great example of how our team would step up to a challenge,” Carpenter said. “Arlington was one of the top teams in the state, we played a great game and [we] just missed upsetting them. […] I was very proud of the effort and the way we conducted ourselves in a very big game.”

Carpenter is proud of every team that he coached, as they all took the challenge of having a consistently tough schedule, and battled hard in each and every game.

Junior Captain Tyler Frazee enjoyed his two years as a player being coached by Coach Carpenter. He wants to remember these memories.

“The team has created lots of memories with [Coach Carpenter] even with most of us playing for him for only two years,” Frazee said. “All the team dinners, late night ride home speeches we got to motivate us for the next win, and most importantly, all of the jokes in the locker room.”

Now in retirement, Carpenter is unsure of what he will do during the upcoming winter hockey seasons. He wants to spend more time with his family, and relax.

“After 48 years of coaching, it’s going to be a little strange but […] family time, especially with my grandkids, is something I am looking forward to,” Carpenter said.

Carpenter thanked the WA staff for his time both teaching and coaching, and his positive experiences with the school system.

“WA is a very special place for me,” Carpenter said. “The staff, fellow teachers and administrators are all incredible, and I still consider so many of them as my friends.”

Specifically, he also wanted to thank the students of WA for making his time here special and memorable.

“What always stood out was [the students’] friendliness and cooperation. Year after year, the students always made the school such a comfortable place,” Carpenter said.

Carpenter enjoyed working at WA, but he also spent a lot of time surrounded by the WA community as a coach.

“While no school is perfect, WA was very close to perfect for me,” Carpenter said. “I feel very fortunate that I was able to be a part of such a great place and would like to thank the entire WA community for making my time there so special.”