By Brittany Burke
The Central Connecticut State University club hockey team may currently be ranked second in the nation in Division II American Collegiate Hockey Association hockey, but that title will not hold ground for much longer after failing to make ACHA Regionals this season.
After the forfeiture of six games, the hockey team was unable to recover in time to get back within the ranking bracket for the regionals in Danbury, cutting their season short and dashing the hopes of making the tournament in San Jose, CA.
“We’re just going in and we absolutely know that these are the only playoffs we have this year and we want to show that we should’ve been the regionals contender this year,” said CCSU hockey player Evan Mink.
While the Blue Devils’ ACHA expectations for a run at the national title may have expired, their season continues for one more weekend at the Super East Collegiate Hockey League’s tournament held March 4 through 6, in Albany, at the Albany County Hockey Facility.
This year’s playoffs are set to be hosted by Siena College, long time rival of the Blue Devils, and the third seed going into the playoffs. Siena and CCSU have a long, lopsided history, which was snapped this year in CCSU’s 2-1 defeat on Siena’s home ice.
Having been successful in the recent trip to New York, the Blue Devils are looking to make a statement in this year’s playoffs.
“The tension of playing in that rink, I think, went out with the graduating class last year because we’re all new guys on the team,” said Mink. “I was only a freshman last year, I didn’t have the same kind of, ‘We can’t win in this rink’ so now that we beat them down there it’s just another hockey game.”
The Blue Devils will take on the fourth ranked University of New Hampshire Wild Cats in the first round. This season the Blue Devils and Wild Cats have met twice in each school’s rinks, respectively.
First time around, the two teams drew at five, while the Blue Devils took the second game at home, routing the Wild Cats 7-3.
UNH may be ranked a spot above CCSU, but the players remain confident in their abilities to read the Wild Cats’ game plan and oust the team in the first round, much like the way they were able to in the first round of last season’s SECHL playoffs.
If CCSU does in fact make it to the next round, the Blue Devils will have to play the first seed, William Patterson.
“Just play the same kind of in your face style; throw the body around because they don’t like that. We beat them last game because they kept putting themselves in the box. The goalie got that penalty for five minutes and we were able to score two goals on them; so just put the pucks on net,” said Mink of the team’s plan for the Pioneers.
CCSU was knocked from last year’s tournament by William Patterson, but was able to split games with the team this season. After a 9-5 loss to the Pioneers at the beginning of the season, the Blue Devils managed to scrape out a 6-5 win on home ice.
CCSU will have to take it one game at a time if the team plans on making it to the championship round and work on the issues that have been plaguing the players all season, such as defensive zone coverage. However, the players know that this is the only chance they have to make a statement in the league, and the last chance they have to play hockey until next season.
