FILE PHOTO
Saugus native Mike Vecchione built a stellar career on the ice at Union College.
By JOSHUA KUMMINS
The NCAA Frozen Four is set and will be played next week in Chicago, and a pair of local senior captains came close to being part of it.
While the end was bitter for Union’s Mike Vecchione of Saugus and Boston University’s Doyle Somerby of Marblehead, this past weekend’s results do not take away from what was an outstanding body of work over four years. They were remarkable leaders and captains, both nearly bringing their teams back to playing on the season’s final weekend.
While BU has long been at the forefront of the college hockey world, most people didn’t know Union College until Vecchione helped the Dutchmen to a national championship his freshman year. It was just the beginning for the Malden Catholic product, as Vecchione became Union’s all-time leading scorer on the final night of the regular season and finishes his career with 176 points and a Player of the Year nod in ECAC Hockey.
“I couldn’t be happier with my four years at Union. We went out and won a National Championship and a couple of other trophies here and there. I’m so proud to be a part of it,” Vecchione said. “The culture the guys set my freshman year made it an amazing experience. After two bad years, we came back and made it out of our pool and made it this far. It’s nice to get the program back to how I found it, and that’s one of the things I talked about coming into the year.”
Vecchione ― who, along with Union teammate Spencer Foo, is one of 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, given annually to the nation’s best player ― expects to sign a professional contract by the end of this week. He participated in four NHL development camps over his career, including with the Boston Bruins.
For sure, Union head coach Rick Bennett knows that this is not the last time Vecchione’s name will be heard and that his college career will be remembered forever.
“I can’t even say he has had a tremendous career because it has been beyond tremendous,” said Bennett. “He is a very visible guy, and I am sure he will garner a few more awards coming up. He was always a team-first guy; it was never about the awards. He had numerous chances to go, but he came back because he wanted to make it right.”
For Somerby, his team’s loss came by the narrowest of margins ― a 3-2 overtime decision against Minnesota Duluth ― in Saturday night’s West Regional Final in Fargo, N.D. The night prior, Somerby became just the 41st player in program history to skate in 150 career games as the Terriers downed North Dakota, 3-2 in double overtime.
There is a lot to be proud of as Somerby led BU to a 24-win season and share of the Hockey East regular-season championship.
“I’ve come a long way, the first four years of Coach Quinn,” Somerby said. “When you get 10 wins your first year, you really don’t know what to expect after that, so to make the (NCAA) tournament three years in a row is pretty special. Obviously, I wish it could have ended better and you always want to write the right end of the script. It was a tough game.”
Somerby picked the most opportune time to net his first goal of the season, scoring the game-tying goal 2:05 into Friday night’s second period. Two of his eight career goals came against North Dakota in the NCAA Tournament, making him the only player on this year’s BU roster to score more than once during his career in national postseason play.
As a team with four first-round NHL draft picks, expectations were high, but Somerby and the team’s leaders never let expectations get the best of them.
“Our biggest concern when the season started was, ‘Are we going to think we’re better than we actually were? Did we take for granted that we’d just be able to show up and win hockey games? That never was the case,” BU head coach David Quinn said. “I give Doyle and our seniors a lot of credit for making sure that didn’t happen. … They did a great job managing all the expectations.”
Names and notes
- Nahant native and Swampscott High graduate Al Wallach fanned two and allowed just one earned run on four hits in five scoreless innings in the Framingham State baseball team’s 9-5 win over Nichols Sunday. Wallach, the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference’s (MASCAC) Pitcher of the Week for the second time, ranks fourth in the league with a 1.78 ERA and is the only pitcher with four wins so far.
- Danvers native Will Jennings of the Endicott men’s lacrosse team was named Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Player of the Week after scoring his fifth hat trick of the season and adding an assist in a 15-10 win over Roger Williams Saturday after a six-point effort in the Gulls’ 12-10 loss last Wednesday at No. 10 Amherst.
- Lynn Classical alum Francesca Galeazzi earned CCC Player of the Week honors in softball Monday after going 3-for-4 in each of Salve Regina’s Friday wins over Gordon. She recorded two doubles, a triple, four runs scored, three RBI and three stolen bases.
- Peabody’s Steve Leavitt allowed just five hits in a complete seven-inning game in the Salem State baseball team’s 4-1 win over Bates Saturday. Leavitt struck out six en route to his first victory of the season. In the same game, Lynnfield’s Justin Foley allowed just one walk in three scoreless innings for Bates.
- Saugus’ Kyle Autilio earned his first collegiate win Saturday for the Assumption baseball team, striking out nine American International College batters over five scoreless innings of relief. The Greyhounds won, 7-4.
- Saugus’ Max Trifone scored the game-winning goal with 4:20 remaining as the Salem State men’s lacrosse team scored four unanswered goals to earn a come-from-behind, 9-8 win over Mass Maritime Saturday.
- Peabody’s Keifer Heckman scored two goals and picked up a ground ball in the Southern New Hampshire men’s lacrosse team’s 10-9 win over then-No. 1 Le Moyne Saturday.
- Lynnfield’s Erica Merullo went 3-for-4 with a run, a double, and a stolen base in the Trinity College softball team’s 13-4 loss at Amherst Saturday.
- Malden’s Annie Woolley of the Fitchburg State women’s track and field team placed seventh (13.24) in the 100-meter dash and helped the 4×100-meter relay team finish third (53.11) and qualify for All-New Englands.
- Melrose’s Jen Crovo of the Salem State softball team hit .714 with a double and four runs scored in two Saturday games against Suffolk, including a 4-for-4 showing in a 6-5 victory.