Salem State team having a holiday on ice

The Vikings don’t receive a great deal attention. But knocking off the top-ranked team in Division 3 turned more than a few heads in college hockey.

“For the first time, I actually had people coming up to me, saying, ‘Wow, what a great win, congratulations.’ It’s putting Salem State hockey back on the map,’’ said Johnson, a junior forward who played at Lynn English.

Riding a spectacular 31-save performance from senior goalie James LeCour, the Vikings shocked Saint Norbert, 3-0, at the Western Thanksgiving Showcase in Duluth, Minn., last Saturday.

“It’s tough being a commuter school, when you’re playing at 7 o’clock,’’ said Johnson. “A lot of people go home. So hopefully with winning that game, and if we continute to dominate, we’ll draw fans and people will remain interested and excited about Salem State hockey.’’

Vikings coach Bill O’Neill is a Lynn native, grew up in Danvers, and went on to play at St. John’s Prep and as a member of the 1978 Boston University national championship team. He’s in his 28th season at the helm of the Salem State program, and says there was “a lot of buzz on campus after that game. . . . I think a lot of people took notice that we knocked off the No. 1 team in the country.’’

The Vikings opened the season with consecutive wins over the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, Plymouth State, and Fitchburg State.

The Vikings traveled to Duluth and suffered a 4-3 overtime loss to eighth-ranked St. Scholastica. The setback served as motivation for their matchup against unbeaten Saint Norbert.

“With the overtime loss to Saint Scholastica, we just felt that we had an opportunity to make a statement for Salem State, especially with moving into the MASCAC league,’’ said Johnson.

“We wanted to prove to everyone we’re still a top team and we had to win at least one game out there after losing in overtime. We wouldn’t be happy with anything else.’’

The Vikings seized a 1-0 lead one minute and 45 seconds into the second period when freshman forward Nick Lampson of Groton broke in alone on net and converted a backhander. After Salem State killed off a 5-minute major penalty early in the third period, Chris MacInnis and Jeff Tellier pumped up the margin to 3-0.

LeCour shut the door from there to earn his first career shutout, and the program’s first win over a top-ranked team since a victory over Middlebury in December 2003.

“Obviously, it was a pretty big win,’’ said LeCour. “You always want to play top teams and be challenged. It’s a turning point; we realized how special a team we are and we have something this year. If we keep working hard, good things can happen.’’

The Vikings started 4-1-0 despite the loss of two key players from last year’s 14-9-3 squad: ECAC East Goalie of the Year Ryan Hatch, who graduated, and Justin Fox, a first team All-ECAC East as a sophomore who transferred to Oswego State.

“We don’t have any real superstars like last year’s team did,’’ said Johnson, who had four points (2 goals, 2 assists) in the first five games.

“We put a lot of pressure on Ryan Hatch and we relied on him and we relied on Justin Fox to score goals. Those two were looked upon, and I think this year it’s been spread throughout the team. All four lines are contributing in some way.’’

In the Vikings’ first five games, 14 skaters registered at least one point, while LeCour has been steadfast in goal, posting a .931 save percentage with a 2.16 goals against average.

Salem State can use the win over Saint Norbert as a springboard to a season in which it is competing in a new conference. In turn, it continues to galvanize interest from a community and a student body in a hockey program that historically hasn’t had it.

“We want to have our guys raise the bar each day so that we know what we can expect,’’ said O’Neill. “You need the excitement, you need the passion, you need the work, you need the smarts, and you need the execution to have that opportunity to get to the next level.’’

Jonathan Raymond can be reached at jraymond@globe.com.