{"id":47290,"date":"2024-02-08T13:42:41","date_gmt":"2024-02-08T13:42:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelandmark.com\/?p=47290"},"modified":"2024-02-08T13:42:41","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T13:42:41","slug":"lane-brothers-latest-in-sports-tradition-at-wrhs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/2024\/02\/08\/lane-brothers-latest-in-sports-tradition-at-wrhs\/","title":{"rendered":"Lane brothers latest in sports tradition at WRHS"},"content":{"rendered":"
By John Orrell<\/em>
\nLandmark Correspondent<\/em><\/div>\n

RUTLAND \u2014 It\u2019s a rare occasion that an attendee of almost any Wachusett Regional High sporting event, past and present, picks up a roster and finds the surname \u2018Lane\u2019 not listed. Mountaineer ice hockey head coach Matt Lane has been a mentor to many student-athletes over his 19 years at the helm, and reflects on the ubiquitous presence of his own family\u2019s deep involvement in Wachusett sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s that my parents went to school here,\u201d Lane said. \u201cMy brothers and sisters and cousins played here. My dad\u2019s in the Hall of Fame, as are my brother, sister and cousins. There\u2019s a lot of pride here for my family to represent the school and my community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Caden Lane, #21, with his brother Stone Lane, #23, on the ice. Photo Credit: Submitted photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now comes the next generation\u2019s contribution to the lineage of proud student-athletes. Coach Lane\u2019s eldest boys (Stone, a senior, and Caden, a sophomore) are wings on the high school hockey team, which had posted a record of 9-3 as of this writing. Youngest of all is Vaughn, an 8th-grader at Central Tree Middle School in Rutland, who is deep into learning the ropes and nuances of ice hockey, which he loves as much as his older siblings.<\/p>\n

Stone is a true multi-sport athlete, having played for two years on the Wachusett baseball team and four years on the gridiron for football head coach Mike Dubzinski. He flashes a smile in pointing out that he scored a touchdown in this year\u2019s Thanksgiving rivalry matchup versus Shrewsbury. Caden has also played football, and proudly points to his three touchdowns and two interceptions this past season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s cool playing with my brother,\u201d said Stone. \u201cThis is actually the first time we\u2019ve played together on the same team. To get better, I would always work on my shot by shooting out in the driveway. I\u2019d go out and rip pucks for a while. We always went to summer clinics, and that helped playing all year round because it kept us in shape.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt home we fight a lot, but not as much as we used to,\u201d said Caden, all smiles. \u201cWe\u2019d fight over something stupid, and then a half hour later we\u2019d be friends again. I enjoy skating a lot. This week, I\u2019ve skated either for Wachusett or at ponds and backyard rinks. I love being out there and having ice time.\u201d<\/p>\n

What some may wonder and express occasionally is whether being the sons of the team\u2019s head coach carries any extra benefits. Both Caden and Stone are quick to wash away the notion.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of my teammates say that, but if anything, he\u2019s a little harder on us,\u201d answers Caden. \u201cBut it\u2019s nice to have him as a coach because it\u2019s easier to accept constructive criticism. On the ride home, he\u2019ll tell us what we did right and wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anything, he\u2019s harder on us, but we understand it\u2019s a team game that we all are working hard at. No one gets special treatment, especially us,\u201d said Stone, with emphasis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned to leave coaching at the rink and maybe the car ride home,\u201d said Coach Lane on his approach to coaching and the enjoyment of being able to coach his sons. \u201cIt\u2019s really been great, and it\u2019s one of the reasons I\u2019m still here, because my boys are going through. I love doing it, and I love seeing them play, but there\u2019s no special treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both brothers admit to having butterflies, especially in bigger matchups, but say they have learned to block emotions and focus on the tasks at hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get nervous for my first shift on the ice,\u201d admits Stone. \u201cOnce you\u2019re into the game, the nerves kind of go away, especially if there\u2019s a big crowd there. You don\u2019t want to mess up in front of a whole lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the season goes on, you\u2019re not as nervous,\u201d Caden explained. \u201cYou need to know that one mistake isn\u2019t going to cost you the season. Your teammates have your back, so you don\u2019t even think twice about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Few will forget the excitement of March 2019 when the green and white captured the Division 3 state title with a dramatic victory at Boston\u2019s TD Garden. The Lane brothers, while there to cheer the team and their dad, were still some time away from age eligibility and were relegated to being among the spectators who stoked the fire with the excitement of that day. The program was soon thereafter boosted to Division 1 status, where the opponents are tougher and the talent more pronounced. With a playoff berth almost certain this season, it will be interesting to watch things play out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve never played in Division 1 playoffs, so we\u2019ll see how that goes,\u201d said Stone with a clear edge of optimism. \u201cWe have the talent. We just have to get out there and see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By John Orrell Landmark Correspondent RUTLAND \u2014 It\u2019s a rare occasion that an attendee of almost any Wachusett Regional High sporting event, past and present, picks up a roster and finds the surname \u2018Lane\u2019 not listed. Mountaineer ice hockey head coach Matt Lane has been a mentor to many student-athletes over his 19 years at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}