With a crowd of 542 in attendance at the Clark Center Ice Rink the atmosphere for the playoff match up between the Beacons of UMB and the Huskies of the University of Southern Maine was electric. It was definitely time for some one-off, sudden death, one and done, tournament hockey and right from the start neither team disappointed. The early exchanges proved that the Beacons came out with their defensive game intact, moving well about the ice and putting pressure on the USM goalie—heavily outshooting the Huskies (22-6 in the first period). But if the Beacons were the better team when it came to skating and getting shots on net, the Huskies were by far and away the more physical of the teams—taking the body whenever an opportunity presented itself. Maybe this is what kept the first period scoreless because it certainly seemed that the Beacons would find that breakthrough goal they worked so hard for. Unfortunately, outshooting one’s opponent does not always translate to outscoring one’s opponent and in an almost cruel turn of events the Huskies were the first to get that breakthrough goal less than two minutes into the second period. They added another goal late in that same period. Senior forward, Eric Tufman was able to pull one back for the Beacons in the third going five-hole on the goalie in a four on four situation. Sadly it was only a consolation goal in a game that seemed to go against the run of play (Beacons outshot the Huskies 61-23) but sometimes that’s how it goes. Looking ahead it is not hard to see that the Beacon’s Men’s Hockey program is on the up. They entered the tournament as the number 3 seed with a 15-11-0 record in a pretty tough conference. The men fought hard and never stopped playing, even after a questionable disallowed goal—one that definitely riled the pro-UMB crowd up and encouraged chants like THAT’S A GOAL, and another, more colorful phrase (not to be repeated in this article). A performance like this one should inspire more students to attend these games and to get as many of their friends to come along as well. Sure, some of the seniors took it hard, as it might be the last time they suit up competitively but the underclassmen certainly appreciate the four years of hard work those seniors put in and the fact that they go into next season with confidence in themselves. The future looks bright for our Beacons, so let’s go out and support them next year!

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The Mass Media

Chancellor Motley posed with Bobby Beacon during the last men's ice hockey game of the season.