Saugus native stops shots, grabs honors

Dec. 2, 2017, Levy Rink, Harrisville, Rhode Island: Becker College Hawks goalie Cody Foster (30) slides to his right during the Bison 6-2 victory over the Hawks in a Commonwealth Coast Conference matchup.
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When Becker University goaltender Cody Foster realized he stopped 66-of-67 shots against Western New England University on Dec. 1, he wasn’t surprised. He was tired, but he was already thinking of the next game.

“A lot of it was a big blur,” he said. “It was kind of one of those things where you’re so focused on what was actually going on you just didn’t like, remember. I don’t know, I felt like I didn’t remember all of it, but it was kind of just a huge rush.”

The junior goalie’s 66 saves were a new program record and earned the Hawks their first conference win of the season.

As a result of his efforts against Western New England, Foster, a Saugus native, was named the Commonwealth Coast Conference Goalkeeper of the Week for the second consecutive week.

“It feels great. It’s nice to see all of the practice and hard work and patience pay off,” he said.

Foster decided to join Becker, an NCAA Division 3 school in Leicester, Massachusetts, after a junior hockey career that took him to NPHL teams in Washington and Oregon and a USPHL team in Michigan. When Becker began pursuing him, it seemed like a natural choice. The playing time was there and it was close to some East Coast family, too.

He got the inspiration to play hockey from his family, as well. At 2-years-old, Foster watched his dad play roller hockey and immediately wanted to try it. He began skating at Ice Station Valencia when he was five years old and eventually played for the Valencia Express, which is now known as the Valencia Flyers.

He split time between skating and playing goaltender, but chose to play the latter when he was 10-years-0ld. Standing at 6-foot-1, Foster has always seen himself as an athletic, butterfly goalie and draws inspiration from NHLers like Jonathan Quick and Marc Andre-Fleury.

“I understand that I have to be more athletic to do some of the things that bigger goalies can do easier,” he said. “It’s just kind of, it’s more of being prepared for those kinds of situations.”

Foster’s goals for this season include getting Becker into the playoffs. Beyond that, he wants to continue to move his college hockey program in a positive direction.

“When I first got here, we were in the transition period from moving to a new facility, getting our own rink, getting a new workout plan, getting new like trainers and stuff like that, and just building up everything that we had to offer,” he said.

“So we’re really, as a school, it’s more focused about providing a better quality product for the student-athletes, and so we kind of want to contribute to that and create a new culture.”

Foster will continue to play in integral role in that, saving one shot at a time.

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