By Brittany Burke
Splitting last weekend in a single elimination tournament, the Blue Devils’ hockey season came to an end until next October.
The reigning second-ranked team in the Division II fought against the grain all season and finished the year with no trophy, no title, but hope to improve next year.
“They all worked extremely hard,” said Head Coach Ben Adams. “They all put in the maximum amount of effort I think that they should have, and we’ll take this year as a growing and learning curve, so to speak, and really be ready for next year.”
Entering the new season, the Blue Devils (15-18-2) were fully aware that this was going to be a year of rebuilding. With 12 seniors gone, many of which comprised the top two lines, the Blue Devils were forced to rely on one-year veterans and 14 freshmen.
“Some of the kids that I really did not have pegged to be major contributors really stepped up and contributed to the success of not only the offense, but the defense as well,” said Adams. “Coming in this year I really thought that our biggest issue was going to be struggling to score. In some cases it was, but for the most part, in the back end of the stretch, we were getting contributions from all the lines, which is great.”
The team still had a lot of growing to do and progress to make, which was evident as the year drew on. CCSU managed to find its chemistry on the ice in time to get the crucial wins, especially against the second ranked and reigning SECHL Champions William Paterson.
“Definitely, after losing all our seniors last year, it was a big season coming up, and no one really knew how we were going to do, and I think we fought through and played well,” said forward Jon Knobloch. “Granted, we didn’t make it to regionals, but we had a great season none the less.”
Knobloch finished the tournament with a single goal and two assists, while he finished out the season second on the team in points with 62, behind linemate Ryan Stanley.
After having to move to Simsbury from the Newington rink for the season, obstacles kept coming for the team, the most crucial being the forfeiture of three wins because of an ineligible player.
Due to the ineligibility of a transfer student, CCSU was forced to give up wins against the second, fourth and sixth-ranked teams. Aside from the loss of three outright wins, the Blue Devils were also struggling with other issues, such as the denial of contingency from the Student Government Association. Things only progressively got worse for the team when it was decided that it would not get a bid into regionals, killing all hopes for a run at the national title.
Despite everything else, the club team was able to find the chemistry amongst multiple lines, something that the team used to its advantage last season in time for the Super East Collegiate Hockey League’s post season tournament. The team had two goals heading into the tournament: win the title and prove that the Blue Devils should have gone to regionals in Danbury.
This year’s tournament played out much the same as last year’s. CCSU managed to take down the University of New Hampshire 5-2, only to lose to top-ranked William Paterson of New Jersey, who eventually went on to take the title.
“It’s just really disappointing that we ended up losing,” said Ross Mocko, one of the team’s two goalies. “We thought we had a really solid team going in it, but we’ll get them next year, we’re not too concerned. We have the same core guys returning, maybe lose a few, but that’s about it.”
Instead of getting beat handedly, as the team did last year against William Paterson, the Blue Devils managed to keep up with a scrummy team, inevitably losing 4-1. In the end, the team couldn’t play from the penalty box and were eliminated.
“They kept it clean in the UNH game and then there were some incidences on ice where my players defended themselves and rightly so,” said Adams. “The refs should have taken a little bit more control of the game, but all in all I thought that they played hard. Obviously losing in the semis wasn’t the outcome we were hoping for, but it was kind of a good way to role in a fuel the fire for next season.”
With hockey season through for the Blue Devils, the team is able to look forward to next season, with the majority of the team returning to the lineup.
“I think it was good, it was more of a rebuilding year, and now we all just have our role on the team, and next year it’s just going to be like clockwork,” said forward Evan Mink. Mink closed out the season with 24 points and 36 penalty minutes.
A major goal for the next regular season would be to get the team back into Newington, however things are already beginning to look up.
Last week, the SGA granted the team close to $3,000 in contingencies as a reimbursement for the expenses needed to travel to the SECHL tournament.
