It’s hard to believe but it’s less than a month until the Beacons Men’s Hockey team faces off against the Salem State Vikings at Frozen Fenway. The old rivals have been off to great starts this year and this matchup is shaping up to be a gritty one with the Beacons locked in a race for seeding in the ultra competitive ECAC East.
The Beacons are currently sitting at 4-1-2, and have really found their groove recently after a somewhat sluggish start. They just won the PAL Stovepipe tournament in New Hampshire with a resounding 5-2 victory over the University of New England. The guys have had a strong offensive season so far, averaging four goals per game as a unit. Peter MacIntyre has led the way with seven goals and six assists. Senior captain Travis Daniel has also put in a solid year offensively, with three goals and seven assists.
What this squad does better than anything else, however, is smother opponents defensively. They’ve only allowed 17 goals so far this season and that can be attributed to defensemen like John Houston, Cody Dixon, and Dan Cornell, who have started every game so far this year. Goalie Zach Andrews has had a fantastic season for the Beacons. He’s started every match and has a formidable 2.38 Goals Against Average and a stellar .919 Save Percentage so far this year. He’s ecstatic about the chance to play under the lights at Fenway Park. He said, “it’s every hockey player’s dream to be able to play outdoors, and being able to play at a historic venue like Fenway Park is just amazing.” He added, “Salem State will be a good test for us. It could be a major jump start for the final stretch of our season.”
Andrews and the Beacons will be in for a tough test against 4-3 Salem State. The Vikings have received a big offensive spark this year with freshman forward Alex Minter, who has recorded five goals and four assists so far. Eric Defelice has also had a splendid year so far at Forward, with six assists and three goals, including the OT game winner against Connecticut College. The Achilles’ heel for the Vikings this season, however, has been their goaltending. The team Goals Against Average is a lackluster 3.86, they are letting in more than one and a half more goals per game than the Beacons. The key to beating the Vikings is exploiting a key weakness of theirs: their slow starts. Salem has let in ten first period goals while only scoring five. They’ve managed to tighten up in the third period however, where they’ve only allowed five goals to their opponents.
The Beacons couldn’t be more excited for the chance to play outdoors. Travis Daniel said “right now everyone’s excited and we’re building up to it. It’s right after the Codfish Bowl on campus and a week before our match with Norwich, so that’s a huge week for us and going there…everyone’s going to be amazed by that atmosphere.”
The senior captain was also quick to point out that the game counted in the standings and the Beacons are not taking it lightly. He said, “I think before the match we’re going to have to say ‘this is a big game, we’re going to have to come out hard and work.”
This will absolutely be the match of the year for the Beacons, who will be the home team for the contest as determined by a coin toss. The throwback sweaters have been drawn up and tickets have gone on the sale, so all that’s left to do is lace up the skates and drop the puck on what will surely be a day none of these players will forget. The Beacons view this as a sort of validation for their massive successes over the past few seasons, and they’re relishing the opportunity to play on the big stage.
“The past couple of seasons we’ve always gotten better, and the recruiting has gotten better every year, we just got two Division One transfers this year, so [this exposure] has really helped out the program,” Daniel said.
Tickets for the D3 doubleheader that includes the Beacons 4 p.m. match on January are on sale now at Redsox.com/frozenfenway.

Gallery • 2 Photos

A scene from Frozen Fenway 2012