 After 6 straight losing seasons, the Greenway-Nashwalki-Watton boys hockey team took a big jump forward last year going 22-5 in head coach Grant Clafton's first year behind the bench. Now Clafton and the Raiders are back, eyeing their first state tournament in 15 years. After falling in the Section 7A semifinals a year ago and coming off their first winning season in over a decade, the Greenway-Nashwalki-Watton boys hockey team expectations are high. Everyone's expectations are to go to the state tournament and make it to the section final. A storied program in the 60s making 5 out of 10 state tournaments, the Raiders haven't skated on state ice since 2001. But with 15 players returning from last year, including 12 seniors, they feel like there's no better time than now to head back. We got a lot of kids back and that helps out for moving forward and building off of last year. A lot of seniors so, I mean, we're out here, it's our last year, I mean, it's all we got so, you know, we're going to give it our all. The Raiders are currently ranked 7th in Class A but they know all roads to state lead through the top ranked defending state champion Herman Town Hawks. I think we do have the skill to match them and it's just going to take a lot of heart and, you know, we've got to just give it our all. The road goes through Herman Town and that's a reality and we know that but at the same time there's a lot of other good teams in our section. I think no one's going to roll over for anybody. But if they can become more disciplined and buy into the systems put in place, they believe there's nothing that can stop them. They're tremendous athletes, tremendous kids and I think a lot of it is just going to come down to buying in and believing in each other and building and learning from mistakes that were made and just moving forward and treating all 25 games as scrimmages to get ready for the big one. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.