Fans Fill Hockey Arena for Team Support

It was a tribute...a sea of red...an emotional outpouring.

The varsity hockey team took the ice in front of a packed house at William Chase Arena Wednesday night, the fan base decked out in red in support of the hockey program playing their first game in more than a week after the

The support was deafening, the atmosphere was electric, and the action on the ice couldn’t have been better.

After a moment of silence in honor of Justin, the Red and Blue buckled up their helmets and went full throttle, thrashing their opponents, the Dedham Marauders, 8-0 to improve to 2-2-2 on their season, which has been dedicated to Justin.

Junior captain Matt Kustra scored a hat trick while sophomore Jack Murphy netted his first career varsity goal in the victory.  Also adding goals were Mike Perry, Tim Dunn, Mike Pennett and Derek Butler.

However, it wasn’t the goals that brought the most noise from the Natick faithful; it was the moment that took place with about seven minutes to play in the third period—a moment that made the rink sound like the Boston Garden.

Justin’s brother, sophomore goaltender Griffin Bailey entered the game playing in a varsity game for the first time. Griffin stopped all seven shots he faced in the seven-minute time frame, more shots than Natick captain and starting goaltender Derek Kwok saw in the first two and a half periods of play.

Griffin entered to a standing ovation.

The fan base had been chanting, “We want Griffin,” prior to the goaltender entering the game, and once he did there wasn’t a single person sitting down.

Once the game was over, the Red and Blue players rushed from the bench and jumped onto Griffin in the corner of the ice. They followed that with a thank you to the hundreds of student fans, and then saluted the banner that now hangs at William Chase Arena in honor of Justin Bailey.

In the end, it wasn’t the final score that mattered at William Chase Arena because this wasn’t an ordinary night, and it wasn’t just another win.