SSU’s O’Neill gets win No. 500

SALEM – The third time proved to be the charm for Salem State hockey coach Bill O’Neill in his quest to reach the 500-win plateau as head coach of the Vikings.After coming up short against Plymouth State and Westfield State, O’Neill was able to sit back and enjoy Saturday’s effort by his team as the Vikings breezed past Framingham State, 8-2, at Rockett Arena in front of a crowd filled with alumni and several of O’Neill’s family.O’Neill is the fifth active, and seventh all-time, Division 3 coach to earn 500 wins.Typical of how he’s led SSU for over three decades, O’Neill was quick to put the win in its proper perspective.”It was important that we played well for the league (Saturday),” O’Neill said. “We’re in the hunt for first place in the MASCAC and it was important for us to get this win. We played pretty well.”In a profession where staying in one job for a long period of time is becoming more and more of a rarity, O’Neill’s consistency at Salem State is something to behold since he took over for Mike Gilligan in 1980.The Vikings have been a consistent postseason contender, reaching the Division 3 Final Four in both 1992 and 1994, and are in prime position to make another run at the NCAAs this winter.”I’ve been coaching a long time and the numbers add up after a while,” O’Neill said. “But I’m really excited to be still coaching here at Salem State.”One person who had a front-row seat for many of the 500 wins was O’Neill’s son Andrew. First it was as a youngster sitting in the bleachers at Rockett ? then, as an undergrad, he got the rare opportunity to play for his father ? then, Andrew O’Neill joined his father behind the bench for the last three years.”I played in his 400th win and now I’m coaching in No. 500,” Andrew O’Neill said. “But he loves it as much now as the first day. I’ve lived and died with a lot of these games and been involved in all of it. And I’m glad it’s over now.”The Vikings (13-8-3, 10-4-3 MASCAC) were tested early on. Chris Lastigan and Ian Flanigan staked SSU to a 2-0 lead before Dan Miressi got a power play goal for FSU midway through the first. But Nick Lampson scored a shorthanded goal with 15 seconds left in the period to send SSU to the intermission with a 3-1 lead.”We were able to get a lead and then build on it,” Bill O’Neill said. “That’s something we’ve had trouble with at times this year.”Sutton Wilson and Eric DeFelice scored in the second period to push the Vikings out to a 5-1 lead before Miressi scored to bring Framingham back within 5-2 after two.Salem wasn’t about to let this one get away, though, as Lastigan’s power play goal at 6:46 of the third was followed less than a minute later by Nick DelRosso’s tally. Flanigan capped the scoring at 16:46 with yet another power play goal.