Blue Goes Blond: Hockey Dyeing For Wins

That's not the Swedish national team you see on the Rockett Arena ice.

It's Big Blue hockey.

The Blue blonds take on the archrival red team — Marblehead — on Saturday at Salem State.

It's the last regular-season game, and for the conference championship. This unlikely scenario came  to be after Revere stunned the Headers earlier this week winning 2-1.

Swampscott Coach Gino Faia's Sons of Sweden do not know who they will be playing in the tournament.

The seedings are up in the air, the coach said. 

The hockey team's players do know that they have qualified for the tournament.

And the coach has told them that they need to know the word defense going forward.

"We are not going to win giving up five goals," he said. And the team can't depend on the offensive explosion it displayed against Revere when it lashed out for 11 goals.

Blue must tighten its defensive play, Faia said. That means forwards forechecking and helping out on defense, he said.

The 8-8-3 team has some nagging injuries but they hope to be healthy and gain momentum heading into the Div. 3 tournament.

"We've been playing good hockey," the coach said.

The team takes the ice Saturday at 4:30 pm for what is likely to be a packed house at Rockett Arena.

The last time Blue and Red squared up on the ice, Blue won a thriller 3-2.

Saturday's game should be exciting.

The Blue team will be the ones in blond.