Winthrop Vikings Win at Fenway Park

By Joe Viglione

3:36 PM We boarded a big yellow school bus behind the Middle School as the Winthrop Vikings got ready to play Marblehead in Fenway Park, Boston. A second school bus for fans was packed and a van with the "executives" was part of the convoy as we embarked on our post-holiday hockey expedition Saturday, July 9, 2010.

It was 1963 when my dad took me to Fenway Park to see the Boston Patriots (a snow game, most likely against Buffalo) and having gone to many a Red Sox game makes it this writer's third sport witnessed at the hallowed venue.

3:57 PM Sun shining bright against a cold blue sky as we traveled with Logan Airport to our left heading toward the Sumner Tunnel which features 4 Citizen Bank signs on the EZ Pass...watch 'em change the tunnel name to that of a bank someday soon, but I digress...

4 PM Horns honking at us as our bus was waiting in the left hand lane before the entrance ...one of the Viking players yelling out "we're bigger" (than the cars). Terms like "rink rats" fill the air...our starting time is set at 5:15 PM with the game scheduled for a full hour to 6:15.

Onto New Chardon Street at 4:04 PM. I'm thinking of the superb job videographer Rick Promise from Revere did on the Thanksgiving football game we taped and the potential of this footage when my camera and Brendan Ronan's work are combined for broadcast on Winthrop Vikings TV and for posterity.

4:05 PM 1 hr 10 min to gametime and the bus is giving us our own tour of Boston. Hanover St - Durty Nelly's Old Irish Pub on 108 Blackstone Street...the Hard Rock Cafe, North St., Faneuil Hall...200 State Street and the Banana Republic near the Aquarium. To those of us who drive through Boston frequently it was like sightseeing en route to historic Fenway Park.

4:11 PM at the light at Congress Street and a left onto Tremont at Center Plaza, Government Center by King's Chapel on School Street.

4:13 PM 1 hour and 2 minutes to gametime. "It's Gate B we go in" Coach Dale said to someone on the phone, a SuperDuck Tour bus to our left...Nick Jonas and The Administration 1/12 and 1/13 on the Marquee at the Orpheum Theater...the coach sees all the snow on the Boston Common by the State House and says "OK, everyone out and skate here."

4:15 PM We turn onto Beacon Street, the Frog Pond skating rink on the common has a circle of people skating round and round.

4:17 PM we're going by Smoki Bacon and Dick Concannon's access TV headquarters on Beacon.

4:18 PM Beaver and Arlington...Bus driver Kim is within 13 blocks of Fenway Park as we near the Hatch Shell, Berkeley, Clarendon, Dartmouth, Exeter, Fairfield, "the Citgo sign is in sight" sayeth a player in the back...Gloucester St., Hereford and Mass Ave breaking up the alphabetical order of the streets...no I, J, K, L...

4:22 PM Charles Gate E to Charles Gate W, Myles Standish Hall at B.U., Raleigh Street at Commonwealth Avenue in Kenmore Square, a left at the Hotel Buckminster and Pizzeria Uno onto Brookline Ave...

4:24 Olivers and the Cask & Flagon to the left and...voila.

4:25 Onto Lansdowne Street...applause from the team as we reach the park.

"Take a left here" Coach Dale (Dunbar) tells Bus driver Kim and we circle the park fully to take in the view - the House of Blues, Lansdowne Pub, Bill's Barr, Fenway Park, Home Of The Boston Red Sox...and back to Gate B where we walk off the bus.

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As we enter the storied venue we have to give our waiver forms to a Fenway employee and we start preparing to enter the park. I see a woman with a very young child and say "He's got me beat; I was nine years old when I first came to Fenway." The woman replied "Well, when you are the A.D.'s son" (Athletic Director)...a man named Dan Lawton heard me say I was at Fenway. "Was that the Buffalo game in the snow?" I replied. "It was definitely in the snow"...he said "I was there too!" Amazing to run into someone 47 years later that was at the same game you attended.

Al Petrilli, chairman of the Viking Pride Foundation, gave us all yellow Viking hats to wear and the fans who started filling the stadium for both teams probably reached 1500. We all knew we were going to be part of something very special.

We entered Fenway Park, your intrepid videographer rolling some tape...and there it was, cold air, THE Fenway Park in winter resplendent in snow, ice, generators and lights. A booming electronic voice noting that the skaters have 15 minutes of ice time left. Cameraman Brendan Ronan started setting up near the third baseline in left field as we went over to the area where both The Marblehead Magicians and The Winthrop Vikings would launch themselves onto the ice, somewhere near or in between second base and center field. A fellow from the Red Sox organization told us we'd be better off across the way (near the Pitcher's mound) so we brought the equipment around in a half circle and set up in there. It was interesting during the game when one of the referees brought over 4 pucks and put them in the snow to keep them "on ice". To me the game was a bit of a blur as I was intent on keeping the audio for the commentators, Al Petrilli and
Tufts University student Anthony Fucillo, and the video as under control as possible. With bodies slamming against the plastic support/fence/shield and the puck flying everywhere it was a chilly but interesting endeavor. Then people decided they wanted to walk by us...tangling themselves in our cords despite my stern warnings and arm movements...amazing how unaware some people are when a camera is on a tripod and they want to get from point A to point B. Then someone from the Red Sox came over and said that so many press people in the penalty boxes made it difficult for the crowd to see...so we moved our three person crew to the first base side of Fenway and got an excellent view from behind the net. That's where I ran camera without the tripod for about 10 minutes, then back on the tripod while Al and Anthony kept giving the commentary.

Speaker of the House Robert A. DeLeo dropped the ceremonial first puck and the Winthrop Vikings eventually won in the one hour extravaganza by a two to nothing score. There was only one penalty I remember, against Winthrop, which gave Marblehead one power play, but the Winthrop Vikings were great at defense and...I must say - both teams displayed superb sportsmanship and impressive athleticism. Try skating and chasing a little black puck with the very glaring (and strange) lighting they brought in to the park. It was definitely a different kind of hockey game and definitely a treat to have Fenway Park as your playground.

Al and Anthony did a wrap-up for the camera and I got in front of it as well to make the documentary complete...I kept the camera rolling as we headed out of Fenway Park, interviewed a few people including star goaltender Pat Feeley, taking some additional shots of the scenery, the players on the bus all banging on the windows for the camera, Lansdowne Street, the Christmas lights still on Boston Common, the skaters on the Frog Pond and the State House to wrap up what will be a nice documentary of an important event in Winthrop sports.

©2010 Joe Viglione, All Rights Reserved.