SALEM — They came out hungry, set the tone early and left with what they wanted more than anything else — for their head coach, that is.
The Salem State hockey team left no doubt on Saturday afternoon, scoring early and often to rout Framingham State, 8-2, at the Rockett Arena, giving head coach Bill O'Neill his 500th career victory behind the SSU bench.
The old saying the third time never fails was true for O'Neill because the Vikings had lost their previous two games, both by one-goal margins. But with Saturday's triumph, O'Neill became the fifth active coach (and seventh ever) in Division 3 to achieve this milestone.
"How long does it take to win one game?" remarked O'Neill, who is now 500-310-54 in his 31 years at Salem State.
"Coach is a great guy, and it feels really good to get the big win for him," Salem State's Nick Lampson said. "We've blown a lot of games because we don't finish. As long as we all work hard, we're fine. We came out determined to do that and never trailed."
After the game ended, Salem State athletic director Tim Shea had a special presentation for O'Neill on the ice as he was surrounded by his players. A reception is planned for the coach following the final game of the regular season tomorrow night.
"A lot of people thought I got it a week ago, but the timing was good because we had an alumni game this morning, and a lot of the guys hung around to watch us play," O'Neill said. "I'm proud and honored to coach Salem State University and have my son Andrew (assistant coach) here with me, as well as my brother John (the Rockett Arena manager).
"I always considered Salem State to be one of the builders in college hockey in the East going back to the 1960s when these leagues were first put in place. We played everybody.
"It's great to get (the 500th) out of the way," O'Neill said, "but more importantly for us to have played well. I thought we had a pretty good game, which is what we needed because we're in the hunt for first or second in the league."
Salem is now 13-8-3 overall and 10-4-3 in second place in MASCAC standings with one game remaining.
The Vikings scored the first two goals of the game early in the opening period and added a shorthanded score by Lampson with 15 seconds left to take a 3-1 lead — and never looked back.
Lampson also had a pair of assists while Chris Costigan and Ian Flanagan each had two goals. Freshman defenseman Cameron Banwell chipped in with three assists, while senior Giancarlo Capodanno had an assist for his 100th career point. The Vikings added two more goals in the span of 19 seconds late in the second period to go ahead 5-2.
Framingham got very chippy and took a lot of penalties in the third period, including two five-minute majors. The Vikings avoided retaliation and capitalized by adding a power-play goal by Costigan in the early going. Nick DelRosso scored less than a minute later, and Flanagan notched his second of the game on a 5-on-3 situation.
"This is a nice win to get in front of the home fans," O'Neill said. "We need to keep up the intensity going into the playoffs."
