For one last weekend, life for the UMass-Boston Beacons wassimple. Life was hockey. Two games, 364 miles, 32 hours, 26players, one purpose.
By Saturday afternoon in the cramped Bowdoin College visitors'locker room, one period of the season remained. Division 3UMass-Boston trailed ECAC East power Bowdoin, 2-1, with afive-on-three penalty to kill. Coach Kevin McGonagle stormed out ofthe room in frustration. The scolded players sat quietly on woodenbenches, dripping sweat and spitting water onto the floor. Thestale air, smelling of damp leather gloves and drenched pads,didn't move.
'OK, boys, 20 minutes,' said sophomore forward Matt Anthony.'Everybody should be working their butts off. You've got nothingelse to do after this.'Senior captain Dennis Dwyer stole a look around the room beforeclosing his eyes and putting his head down. These would be the last20 minutes of his hockey career. To his right, goaltender FrankSoltesz tightened the elastic on his red-haired ponytail. He facedthe wall, kneeled, and crossed himself with his stick. FreshmanMichael Williams shouted, 'Come on, boys, this is it,' prompting achorus of similar cheers.This was it, the last game of the year for a mediocre team.There would be no playoffs for UMass-Boston, which had only sevenwins in 23 games.Departing from their Dorchester campus Friday afternoon, theplayers began their last road trip, encompassing games againstColby in Waterville, Maine, and Bowdoin in Brunswick, Maine. Theywould stop in Brunswick on the way to Waterville, then return forthe season finale.But the weekend journey was short, almost too short, comparedwith the complicated paths most players had taken to get on theteam. Whatever their differences, one more chance to play hockeybrought the Beacons together.'We're trying to build something special here,' said sophomoreforward Tom Flynn. 'We don't have too many guys who come here outof high school. It almost seems as though this is the last place alot of kids go. But it's all the same game.'Patchwork collectionOn the way to the first contest, against defending Division 3 ECACEast champion Colby, Flynn sprawled across the back seat of thebus. Before the game, his infected left elbow would be padded withgauze, his sore right shoulder secured with an Ace bandage. Beforethe night was over, he would swallow 14 pills, anantibiotic/pain-killing cocktail of Vicodin and Naprosyn.'I always put the team first,' he said.Ask any player what he will miss most after the season and theanswer is the same: the camaraderie.'My closest friends are all hockey players,' said senior MarkBastarache. 'The guys who will all be in my wedding party in a fewyears are from my team.'Road trips are the only time the commuter-school students liveas one group.On the bus ride, the boys were boys. A Playboy magazine and theSports Illustrated swimsuit issue were passed around. There wasgood-natured ribbing about the third-string goalie being nicknamed'Red Light.'The trip covered familiar territory for McGonagle, a formerassistant at Bowdoin. The 28-year-old coach, with a fresh black eyefrom a spirited practice the previous week, looks young enough tobe a player. Raised in Charlestown, McGonagle returned home to takehis first head coaching job with the Beacons 10 days before thestart of the 1996-97 season.He says the first year 'was a matter of surviving.' Coaching ata commuter school was nothing like his experiences as an assistantat Bowdoin or as a player at Wesleyan. McGonagle worked tounderstand the players and earn their trust. Many of them held jobsafter practice, supporting themselves at a school that givesfinancial aid but not athletic scholarships. Several players endedup at UMass-Boston after leaving other schools.'I was 18 and stupid, partied all the time, and failed out ofFitchburg State,' said Bastarache. 'Away from home, no one told mewhat to do.'After two seasons at St. Anselm, senior right wing Tom Yerkes'needed a change,' moved back to his hometown of Plymouth, andenrolled at UMass-Boston.Five-foot-4-inch alternate captain Chris Loguidice, a formerteammate of Boston Bruin farmhand Shawn Bates at Medford HighSchool, said, 'UMass-Boston was really the only place interested inme out of high school. I applied right away but didn't get in.'He attended UMass-Lowell for a year, played for the juniorBruins club team, then gained admission the second time around.Journeyman Williams, a 6-1, 195-pound defenseman fromWisconsin, planned to play for Canisius this season. The21-year-old enrolled at the Buffalo, N.Y., school, only to learnthat his Division 1 eligibility was nearly expired. A brief stop atSt. Cloud State in Minnesota and two seasons of Junior A in Canadahad run the clock down.McGonagle respects his players and recognizes that for many,UMass-Boston represents a last opportunity to fulfill athleticaspirations and asks only that they are disciplined and devoted tothe team. At the end of his second season, the players understandand honor his expectations of hard work, gritty play, and noattitude. He hopes to build a program that earns the respect of itsopponents and can play with the best in Division 3.'We're not afraid of anyone,' said the coach. 'I think that'sthe biggest thing we've tried to accomplish in the last couple ofyears. We can play with these teams and were starting to believe wecan play with these teams. People are going to take this programseriously.'Coming up emptyMcGonagle stood at the front of the bus and talked to his teamabout playing the Colby Mules.'It's a one-hour ride now,' he said. 'Let's focus on whatyou're going to do. Come out hard in the first 10 minutes. Make theteam chase us. Have a sense of urgency in the first period, not thethird.'The players all put on their game faces in the locker room, butSoltesz, the goaltender, undergoes the biggest transformation. The23-year-old appears nothing like the Harley-riding,cowboy-boot-clad man who wore his reflecting sunglasses on the bus.His eyes are closed. He practices mental imagery before offering ashort prayer.Sixteen months ago, 'I was bleeding to death on the side ofthe road,' said Soltesz. 'That's the long and short of it.' His '58Harley Davidson with no rear suspension took 'a funny turn' on awet road, slicked with leaves in late October.He had been in the best shape of his life before the crashfractured the first, second, and third lumbar vertebra in hisspine, separated his left shoulder, and tore a gash in his leftleg. At first, doctors did not know whether he would walk again. Hedidn't eat for 2 1/2 weeks and lost 60 pounds, his 5-10 frameshrinking to 130 pounds. A return to hockey motivated hisrehabilitation.'It's my life,' he said. 'Hockey is everything to me.'At the end of a long season, on a team seemingly going nowhere,Soltesz typifies the Beacons. He cares, he is eager to play, and hewants to win dearly. Superior opponents are a challenge to whichthe team looks forward.Soltesz kept UMass-Boston in the Colby game as both teamsfailed to score in the first period. The Beacons were not movingthe puck quickly enough to get good scoring chances.McGonagle had hoped the Beacons' bus legs would be gone afterthe first period and they could pick up their play. Instead, Colbyscored seven minutes into the second period on its way to a 3-0shutout. The offense managed 23 shots on goal, while Soltesz made37 saves.The ride back to Brunswick was quiet, the players left to thinkabout what went wrong, why they never rallied. Athletic trainer EdPerkins walked down the aisle dispensing ice and ibuprofen.The team returned to its motel and a pile of Domino's pizzasthat would suffice as dinner at 11 p.m. An hour and a half of freetime remained before lights out.Half the players gathered in Dwyer's room for a game of cards.At 12:25, assistant coach Bob Cusick walked in, telling the playersto finish. Dwyer was the night's big winner, collecting nine $1bills and a half-dozen quarters.The final momentsThe next morning at 11, the players rode the bus to downtownBrunswick for a pregame meal at The Great Impasta. An hour later,they returned to the motel. McGonagle met briefly with the defensefor one final lesson in the lobby. The others watched televisionand packed their bags. By 1 p.m., the team had checked out.Dayton Arena on the Bowdoin campus lay five minutes away.After arriving, the team sat in the stands and watched anold-timers' game. Dwyer's teammates teased him about his final game.'That's you next year,' said one.'This is it, old man,' said another. 'Time to hang up thelaces.'The approaching end has hit Dwyer hard.'I got cut my freshman year,' said the 24-year-old forward.'And for the last three years, I've always looked to improve. I waslike, `I can't wait for next year, I can't wait for next year.' Nowafter this, it's over.'In the locker room, McGonagle gives his final pregame speech ofthe season.'I want us to go hard,' he said. 'That first man, your job isto take the body. Nothing dirty, just the way we've been playing.Second guy, react to the play. Third guy, get ready to jump down.Skate harder than them. Keep it simple. 'By the beginning of the third period, the team's sense ofurgency had turned to desperation. A power-play goal by Dwyer inthe second brought UMass-Boston within one. But at the end of theperiod, two quick penalties put the Beacons against the wall.One minute 14 seconds into the final period of the season,Bowdoin scored on the two-man advantage.McGonagle pulled Soltesz for the final two minutes, butUMass-Boston managed only one more shot. As the final secondsticked off the game clock, the UMass-Boston players stared aheadblankly.Back in the locker room, McGonagle thanked his team for theeffort. He walked around the room and firmly shook each player'shand. Dwyer cried as he removed his jersey and embraced the coach.He looked around the locker room once more, realizing this was thelast time he would share the experience with this group.For everyone on the team, it had been a long road.
