Hockey: Skidmore Upsets UMass Boston !

Skidmore's Mickey Foley in Action

Western Mass, Former Cathedral High Player

Second Ranked Nationally, UMass Boston Hockey went into yesterday's game vs. Skidmore College with incredible statistics. They even had 4 first place votes for the National Ranking. In the NEHC Conference they were first in Scoring Offense, Scoring Defense, Power Play, Penalty Kill, and Special Teams Net...you can't get any better than that! In addition UMass was fresh off an impressive 7-1 win on Friday night in their first Conference game vs. Castleton University in which Junior Forward Colin Larkin scored a hat trick.

Yet fresh off a hard fought battle, a 2-1 loss against a very good 15th Ranked Babson College on Friday night, Skidmore College was determined. I kind of knew that UMass was going to be tested since I saw Skidmore tie them at last season's end in the UMass run to the Frozen Four at Lake Placid. The prediction turned out to be true.

The battle started in the first period with aggressive play by both teams and ended 0-0, no score. If you blinked at the start of the 2nd period you missed 2 goals! One by UMass Senior Captain Albee Daley at 44 seconds into the period but this was answered with an unassisted goal by Skidmore's Senior Captain Anthony Bird at 55 seconds...that battle was still on!  A 1-1 tie.  At the end of the 2nd period Assistant Captain Colin Larkin continued with his amazing scoring with a goal at the end of the period to give UMass a 2-1 lead going into the final period.

UMass was hustling and playing aggressive but you could sense the momentum swing toward Skidmore who were not only determined, but seemed to want it more. Two goals were scored by Skidmore's Anthony Bird that gave him a hat trick and a Skidmore 4-2 win. The final goal was with an open net.

UMass now at 3-1 plays Daniel Webster College next Friday, followed by the University of Southern Maine on Saturday; both home games.

Alfredo DiLascia

Image News Service

Footnotes:

Western Mass and Springfield's Cathedral High School were well represented at the game yesterday. Junior Mickey Foley is on the Skidmore Hockey Team and Freshman Dominic Blad is on the UMass Team. In attendance were also the Boston Bruins, Frank Vatrano, and Baltimore Oriel, Frankie Crinella. All former Cathedral-ites!

Although a nice facility, the Beacons Ice Arena has some of the worst lighting in the Northeast, way below NCAA guidelines. I brought this to the attention of the UMass Administration over 2 years ago after a Cathedral game v. BC High. New LED lighting has been installed at UMass Amherst and at the Olympia Ice Center in West Springfield. The pay back on new LED lighting is a year or less...what I call a "no-brainier". Good hockey is being played by both the Men's and Women's Teams at UMass. Still waiting for a response, and more importantly, action to correct this. (Sorry, Alfredo speaks up!)