Attitude Adjustment on FSC Ice

December 21, 2009

By Eric Avidon, Daily News Staff

It begins with attitude.

The Framingham State men's hockey team has been about as bad as a team can be for a while now, since the early part of this decade. The Rams won 12 games in 2003-04, but after that the victory total declined each year to six in 2004-05, five the following year, two in 2006-07, one two years ago and then rock bottom last year - not a single victory.

Coach Chris Heaney left after the end of last season with just eight wins in his four seasons at the helm.

In stepped T.J. Brown, who had been an assistant under Heaney for two years. And while he couldn't overhaul the talent in one fell swoop, one thing he could do immediately was change the attitude that had crept into the program through all the losing seasons.

Before he could train the players' bodies to be better hockey players, he had to change their minds.

"The first thing was to change the general attitude," Brown said. "Losing was accepted. In my first meeting with the captains, I let them know that losing wasn't an option. They needed someone to tell them that they can win."

Brown knows what he's talking about. He played his high school hockey at Framingham and went on to UMass-Dartmouth. But he wasn't given a scholarship - there was no guaranteed spot on the team. He was a walk-on, yet scored 77 career goals for the Corsairs and added 78 assists. At the time he graduated, the player who had to try out as a freshman was the leading scorer in ECAC Northeast history.

"In the past, some of the kids playing in the program were just happy to say that they were playing college hockey," said Brown. "This year, I let them know that this is not youth hockey, that they need to make the effort both on and off the ice. The captains had a good fall with the team with off-ice workouts.

"The effort is there, which is a positive sign, and that wasn't necessarily there in the past."

There's no miracle on the ice taking place at Framingham State, where the Rams are 1-8-1. Turnarounds of the magnitude Brown and his staff - assistants Adam Bouchard and Don Pacific - are attempting take time. When you're as bad as possible - absolutely winless for an entire season - a better outlook doesn't immediately translate into a slew of victories, but it's a place to begin.

"The point of taking over the program was to turn it around," said Brown. "I don't see why in two, three or four years we can't be a legitimate playoff team. I still think we can be a playoff team this year, and I look for us to be a playoff contender year in and year out."

Regarding the way the team has bought into his demand for a better outlook, there's been some success. Again, however, when no player on the roster has won more than two games in a season since arriving at Framingham State, it takes some time.

"For the most part (they have had a better attitude)," said Brown. "Some of them are so accustomed to losing that when they give up a goal they think the worst. I preach staying on an even keel, that they need to stay on an even keel regardless of what happens. They have to remember the positives and get better from it and forget the negative."

Framingham State, which last played on Dec. 12 (a loss to Becker) and won't play its next game until Jan. 7 against Assumption, won a game on Nov. 21. The Rams, who hadn't tasted victory since Dec. 4, 2007, beat Worcester State 5-3, ending a span of nearly two winless years. Five losses followed that first win, but Brown is seeing positive signs.

"It was a really good win for the guys," he said. "They've been in a lot of battles, so there was some relief. It helped them to realize that we have the talent to beat some of those teams, that we just have to put it together."

There are 14 games left on the schedule for Framingham State, and all but two are in MASCAC play. The Rams' one win was over a MASCAC opponent, and in six conference games they've only been blown out once. Brown hopes that given how close Framingham State has come against league opposition, and how many conference games remain, that the Rams can move into one of the top four positions in the six-team league and make the playoffs. Fourth place right now is 1-4-1 UMass Dartmouth.

If they do have more success in the second half of the season, it will be in large part because of players like senior Joe Hurley, who leads the team with 12 points (7 goals, 5 assists), and fellow senior Jason Anderson, who has 10 points (5 goals, 5 assists). In addition, freshmen defenseman Nick Calma has made a major contribution, and junior goaltender Terence Sullivan has been huge.

"If we can bring in some guys on the recruiting trail, within two or three years I don't see why we can't be the top team in the league," said Brown. "We've got a good base group. We just need a couple more guys."

But until the arrival of those players - the ones Brown hopes will take Framingham State forward as he tries to rebuild the Rams from the very bottom up - and before the victories come one after the other, the first thing that must change is the mindset. In Brown's program, losing cannot be accepted, and there must be effort. There haven't been many wins yet, but there has been a different outlook.

"In past years some guys were hard workers," he said, "but some guys were the opposite. This year, the ... effort has been great."

It begins with attitude.