You’ve probably heard the saying: “there’s always two sides to every story.”  If you’re the UMass Boston men’s hockey team, you’ve lived it too.  At 10-13-2 (6-11-2), the Beacons finished the season with their highest total of conference victories since 2000. It was a season to be proud of. It was also a season full of “what ifs”.  “I think we underachieved a bit,” said head coach Peter Belisle. “I mean, one week you see a team that can knock off a top 10 team in the country and then next week you see a team that loses a tight game in overtime. We just have to be more consistent.”  To the Beacons’ credit, their schedule wasn’t making it any easier. The Beacons took the ice against 8 of the top 15 teams in the country. Not fazed by the challenge, the Beacons played each one tough and came away with two draws and an impressive victory over Williams on Senior Night.  “I’m very proud of this team,” Belisle said. “Our schedule was tough. But we won some big hockey games at some pretty important stretches.”  One such stretch was during the last 3 games of the season. With the Beacons fighting for play-off positioning, they gained momentum with a victory over Williams and a draw against Amherst, both top 10 teams in the country at the time. The Beacons seemed poised for another deep run in the play-offs. However, Babson quickly dashed those hopes in the first round, serving the Beacons a 4-2 loss.  Although disappointing, Belisle believed his team can take a lot from the defeat.  “This is a team that’s seen success in the play-offs and making it to the final game,” he said. “But now they’ve seen failure in the play-offs and losing in the first game. I think that’s important. They can’t expect to just win in the play-offs or just expect that we’re going to turn it on at a certain time. I think the biggest part of it is that we’re ready now that we’ve had a taste of both.”  Losing only 4 starters to graduation is sure to help too.  “We’re very excited about next year,” Belisle said. “We’ve got a great nucleus of 24 guys coming back. For the first time that I’ve been here, we’re going to have more juniors and seniors then we do sophomores and freshman. We’re not a young team anymore.”  With more experience under their belts, the Beacons will head into the offseason to improve on their weaknesses and further develop their strengths. Building a winner takes time. And all signs say that Belisle is going in the right direction.