{"id":46878,"date":"2012-11-22T08:12:46","date_gmt":"2012-11-22T14:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=46878"},"modified":"2012-11-28T17:04:30","modified_gmt":"2012-11-28T23:04:30","slug":"oneill-vikings-hungry-for-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2012\/11\/22\/oneill-vikings-hungry-for-title\/","title":{"rendered":"O&#8217;Neill, Vikings hungry for title"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/uscho.photoshelter.com\/img-show\/I0000n87B52zDKbE\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"William O'Neill (Salem State - Head Coach)\" src=\"http:\/\/www.photoshelter.com\/img-get\/I0000n87B52zDKbE\/s\/500\/303\/williamoneill1.jpg\" alt=\"William O'Neill (Salem State - Head Coach) The Plymouth State University Panthers defeated the Salem State University Vikings 3-2 on Thursday, December 1, 2011, at Rockett Arena in Salem, Massachusetts. (Melissa Wade)\" width=\"500\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Bittersweet. That is really the only word to describe the Salem State Vikings 2011-12 season. Bill O&#8217;Neill&#8217;s club finished last year with an overall record of 15-9-3, only two points out of first place in the MASCAC. He also had a couple of his players receive MASCAC awards. That is not a bad campaign by any means, and to some other programs, that could even be looked at as successful, but for O&#8217;Neill and his Vikings, a championship is the only thing that matters.<\/p>\n<p>Salem State did reach the 2012 MASCAC title game, and were only one goal away from putting together another remarkable year for the program. However, the Vikings fell a goal short, in double-overtime, to the Plymouth State Panthers. Even though O&#8217;Neil&#8217;s Vikings had a lot to be proud of, not winning the championship overshadows it all.<\/p>\n<p>To make matters more difficult, after losing that heartbreaker to the Panthers, O&#8217;Neill learned that his top scorer, Nick Lampson, and standout defenseman, Tom Mahoney, would not be returning to Salem State. To lose a player to graduation is one thing, but two key players with eligibility left is another.<\/p>\n<p>This not the first time O&#8217;Neill has had to overcome a bit of adversity. This season will be O&#8217;Neill&#8217;s 32nd year coaching Salem Sate, a program he took over back in 1981. It is a fair assumption to say he has seen it all.<\/p>\n<p>O&#8217;Neill has reached the NCAA D-III Tournament six times at the helm for the Vikings, so he knows what he takes to build a championship quality program. Losing a championship game and some players won&#8217;t faze him.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, the Vikings are 2-1-1 on the young season, with their only hiccup against the No. 15 Wentworth Leopards. O&#8217;Neill is getting offensive production from two freshman, Chad Goodwin and Andrew Bettencourt, and solid netminding &#8211;again&#8211; from All-MASCAC Second-Team goalie Ryan Sutliffe.<\/p>\n<p>Like a boxer, a punch to a gut can put you on the mat. Losing in double-overtime for the championship and losing key players could be that right hook to the mid-section for most teams.<\/p>\n<p>Not O&#8217;Neill and his Vikings however, as that belt, or title, or championship is the only thing that matters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bittersweet. That is really the only word to describe the Salem State Vikings 2011-12 season. Bill O&#8217;Neill&#8217;s club finished last year with an overall record of 15-9-3, only two points out of first place in the MASCAC. He also had a couple of his players receive MASCAC awards. That is not a bad campaign by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>O&#039;Neill, Vikings hungry for title - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bittersweet. That is really the only word to describe the Salem State Vikings 2011-12 season. 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