Tonight I went to see a friend, Fred Torrisi, play for North Adams in the
opening round of the Codfish Bowl.  Fred backstopped North Adams to a 6-5
win over host UMass-Boston, earning a spot in the championship game tomorrow
night.  In the other semifinal, Salem State pummeled St Anselm something like
11-3 (I didn't see the game).  North Adams and UMB were tied 4-4 into the
third period, and NA got two goals to take a 6-4 lead.  The second was a
breakaway goal by Tom Tormey who played for my high school after I graduated,
so it was a good night all around for the local boys. :-)  UMB cut it to 6-5
with a goal in the final minute, but it was too little too late.  Salem State
has to be considered the heavy favorite heading into the championship game, a
battle of two Massachusetts state colleges.
 
The Codfish Bowl is the nation's second oldest invitational hockey tournament
behind RPI's tourney.  That's what it says here; this was the 27th tourney
but I think this year's GLI is also that tourney's 27th incarnation.  It was
originally hosted by Boston State College which became UMass-Boston in 1982,
and UMB hosts the tourney at its 1,000-seat Clark Athletic Center in
Dorchester, MA.  The Codfish Bowl was first played in 1965 and for many years
it was held at the old Boston Arena, now Northeastern's Matthews Arena.
 
Among the players who have played in the tourney are Craig MacTavish, 1978 MVP
with Lowell and now with the Edmonton Oilers; Bill Berglund, former Boston
State goalie who was the MVP of the 1967 and 1968 tourneys, then went on to
play for the New England Whalers of the WHA and is now an assistant at BU;
Hubie McDonough, 1984 MVP with St Anselm and now of the Islanders; and Matt
Delguidice, who played for St Anselm before transferring to Maine and lost
in OT to Bowdoin in the 1986 championship game.
 
UMB has appeared in 20 championship games but only won 7, the last being in
1983.  They have lost 6 of the last 7 championship games.  Salem State has
won 6 of the 9 championship games it has played in.  Current DivI teams
Merrimack and Lowell won 2 and 3 titles each during the 1970s.  Salem will
be looking to take home its third straight Codfish Bowl.
 
Team records entering the tournament (all four from the ECAC East):
UMass-Boston Beacons: 6-3-0 (3-3-0 ECAC E/W)
North Adams State Mohawks: 2-6-1 (1-5-0)
Salem State Vikings: 6-3-0 (5-2-0)
St Anselm Hawks: 3-3-0 (2-3-0)
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Mike Machnik        [log in to unmask]       [log in to unmask]