On Campus: (Framingham State) Working toward that first victory

By Eric Avidon, Metro West Daily News staff

The worst thing for an athlete, the thing most hated, is losing.

Sure, there's the fear of that one wrong step that will send a knee buckling at a horrid angle and end everything, but it's the desire to win that's the driving force behind all the work. It's winning that's the payoff for the sacrifice and suffering that goes into being good.

The Framingham State men's hockey team is living every athlete's nightmare.

On Thursday night, the Rams fell to Plymouth State, 9-2. They tied Worcester State on Saturday. They stand at 0-16-4. There are only five games remaining, five more chances to get just one victory.

"Our record obviously isn't what we want it to be, and there are games we've had that we want back," said fourth-year coach Chris Heaney. "We've held our own (against a lot of teams). ... They work hard every minute, every night."

The season wasn't supposed to go like this. There were no delusions of greatness, not with a team so young that just three of the 27 players on the roster are seniors while 11 are freshmen, not with a team coming off a 1-23-1 season. But back at the start of November when Framingham State traveled to play Hobart, it had aspirations of a middle-of-the-pack finish in the ECAC Northeast.

The early-season schedule, before getting into conference play, was brutal. The young Rams were pasted by Hobart, 10-2. There were other lopsided losses - 9-1 to UMass-Boston, 10-2 to Salem State, 10-4 to Westfield State - and they beat on Framingham State's confidence.

Still, just after the loss to Salem State was a 4-4 tie against Assumption. There was a tie against Brockport, which scored 17 goals on the Rams last year.

"I tried to challenge the guys and loaded up the non-conference schedule with heavyweights," said Heaney. "We did a lot of good things in those games, and I thought it would be a learning experience that we could carry into our conference, that we'd be better prepared. But it was too much.

"Those eight games broke their spirit a bit, but now we're starting to see their confidence come back."

Here's the rub.

You'd think that all the losses, all the work without the payoff of victory, would lead to dissension, maybe some defections, and certainly the temptation to simply go through the motions.

It hasn't happened.

"I had a private conversation with our captains," said Heaney. "Usually guys who are dissatisfied will talk among the other players about transferring, they'll talk among themselves. But the captains said the attitude is great."

Only one player has left the team, and that was due to financial reasons. Everyone else who was on the ice the first day of practice remains.

"Against Franklin Pierce, the coach was very sincere and said that they've scouted us and that every coach he's talked to said we're the hardest working team in the league," said Heaney. "We're the hardest working team they've played against.

"We're not the most talented, but I'm grateful that the guys are working hard."

This season may not hold much promise - even as of last week there was still the possibility of making the ECAC Northeast playoffs, but of course it would take victories that still haven't come, including an upset or two of a couple of conference heavyweights - but the future does.

Heaney is remaking the Framingham State program. There's all that youth - among the team's top 10 scorers just one is a senior, and both starting goaltenders will be back - which will be a year more experienced next winter.

Juniors Jason Anderson and Joseph Hurley are the leading scorers, Anderson with 22 points and Hurley with 13. Junior Andy Joyce, a Milford native, is the leading goaltender for the Rams, starting 13 games and saving 86 percent of the shots he faces. Sophomore Terence Sullivan, meanwhile, has played in 10 games in net and similarly stops 86 percent of the shots he faces.

"The biggest testament to where we're headed is the commitment of the guys to the program," said Heaney. "They're trying to bring their friends in. Kids talk about their buddies who are playing juniors who they want to bring into the program, and that speaks volumes."

The effort is there. The commitment is there. And even some of the talent is there. What's not yet there - and this may be a function of youth - is the absence of mistakes. Framingham State can play very solid hockey, but there are lapses within winnable games that have cost the Rams that elusive first victory, which could have rolled into a second and third and boosted confidence just the way the losses early in the year took some of the spirit away for a while.

"They can play with the best of them," said Heaney. "I'm still amazed at what they can do, even when they're down, to put us back in position. We gave up four goals in the second period (against Suffolk) and then scored three in the third to tie it, but then made a mistake late.

"The lesson to learn is that you have to play every minute of all three periods; you can't take time off."

There are 27 young men on the Framingham State hockey team. They haven't won a game yet this season, and they may not win one the rest of the way. But they're not hanging their heads. They're not looking for sympathy. The truth is, there's a lot of admiration to be found in a glance at this team, respect for the work they continue to put in and the dedication they show.

"I often find zero enjoyment at this time of the year," said Heaney. "You're thinking about recruiting. But this year there are so many quality kids, character kids. They're all solid students. I enjoy being around every one of them."