In what has turned out to be the worst ice hockey season in UMass Boston’s history, the Beacons men’s ice hockey team finished up the 2002-2003 campaign with two losses at home, the first to Saint Anselm 5-2 and then to New England College 11-0. UMB finishes the season with a record of 0-21-2.
On Saturday, UMB said good-bye to senior Dana Marek, a 47-year-old business major who made history a few years when he became the oldest player to compete in a NCAA contact sport. Marek’s story has been told nationally and he has made several TV appearances.
The St. Anselm game proved not to be one-sided. In fact, Steven Cappellini scored the first goal of the game when he put a Stephen Chin feed in the back of the net. St. Anselm, however, was not down for long. The team scored four goals before the period was out and then added another one early in the third. Dan Noonan scored UMB’s only other goal of the game, with assists going to Michael Ciarletta and James Gilbert. Beacon goalie Craig Paster recorded 29 saves for the game.
The next day’s game was an all too familiar scenario for the Beacons. Before any of the players had a chance to break a sweat, New England College forward Jeff Vandyke received a pass from behind the UMB net and scored on a soft wrist shot from about ten feet out.
The Pilgrims did not wait all that long to score again. While UMB was on the power play, goalie Mike Shimek stopped a routine shot from the point. NEC Defenseman Anders Johansson scooped up the puck and sent a pass to center ice to an open Adam Wallace. Wallace skated into the zone, deked several times and then slid the puck under the arm of a diving Paster.
NEC scored three more times in the first period, one goal more from Vandyke (who had a hat trick) and one goal from Travis Banga (who also ended up with a hat trick). The Pilgrims demonstrated excellent passing on the perimeter. On defense, NEC limited the Beacons to very few offensive opportunities.
The second period was not much better for the Beacons. The team had even fewer offensive threats, while Paster had to endure several prolonged stretches of a relentless Pilgrim attack. Despite some impressive saves on the part of the Beacon goalie, NEC still managed to find the back of the net five times.
The physical play for both teams increased in the third period. It, however, resulted in no goals for the Beacons. NEC abated their offensive pressure somewhat as the team seemed to be content to merely control the puck.
The Beacons will be playing in a first round ECAC East playoff game on Saturday March 2 against Norwich College. UMB lost earlier in the season to Norwich 10-1.