By Brittany Burke
This year’s hockey season may not have gone as planned, but as the graduating seniors lined up in front of the goal waiting for their name to be called, there was no doubt that they didn’t have CCSU careers to be proud of.
The seniors this year, Greg Coco, Rob Rubino, Ryan Pereira, Ian Schwalenberg and Brian Fay have been through a lot with the Blue Devils. They’ve held the title as National Runners-Up, their names forever being displayed on a banner in Newington, and they’ve helped bring the Governor’s Cup back to CCSU.
“Its definitely sad to close this chapter but we’ve accomplished a lot- a lot no one else has previously so at the end of the day I’m happy with what I’ve done here,” said Coco.
Before the start of the game against Siena not only was each senior honored, but so were their families. It’s tradition to have the players announced and to have their families come out to the ice with them. There they have the opportunity to present the people who have supported them with a single flower as a way of saying “thank you.”
“They don’t get see us in practice- they only see us from the stands,” said Ribino. “They don’t see the inner workings about what the team is really like so it was cool to bring them in and let them see a little bit of what we see and what we do every single day.”
With emotions running high, CCSU couldn’t secure the win against Super East rivals and lost 6-2 for the final time at home. In following their seasonal pattern CCSU was down 2-3 going into the third, but let the final 20 get away from them.
“We let the penalties get the best of us again and we couldn’t stay strong defensively again and we couldn’t score enough goals again,” said Pereira. “It’s the most frustrating pattern ever and it definitely gets to us every single game.”
Too many penalties and not enough defensive production helped Siena escalate to a four-goal advantage while CCSU couldn’t find the back of the net.
One major difference on the ice was the presence of Jon Knobloch. Last season Knobloch was one of CCSU’s leading point producers but a stint studying abroad and an injured shoulder took away from his playing time.
The final weekend was coincidentally his first time back and in his only home game of the season he managed to net the Blue Devils’ second and final goal.
“It was good to be back,” said Knobloch. “I wish it could have gone a little better at the end there, but it was a good game. I thought we put it all on the line for the seniors but we just couldn’t just get the win tonight … Conor [Stanley] made a great pass and it started with Rex [Matt Reckdenwald] in the break out so it just went really well and I just happened to be there.”
Despite the six-goals against Coco the defensive production in front of the net was the best it’s been all season.
“For all three periods I thought they battled harder this game then they had in a long time,” said Head Coach Ben Adams. “They were more physical, they were winning 50/50 pucks, they were winning wall battles, things we haven’t seen for a long time this year they were doing tonight. Unfortunately its tough to get into a rhythm and keep things rolling when you’re constantly going to the box, but I thought they played hard tonight.”
After losing so many defensemen over the past few years it wasn’t a secret that this season was going to have a rebuilding focus and when things didn’t go the way the team was used to it could have been easy to just give up, but they continued to show up every weekend and battle.
“It’s been hard because we’ve been through so much success from the runner up champions to regionals every year and Governor’s Cup,” said Fay. “Then having a season like this is really frustrating because we’ve come so close and just have been so unlucky with everything. It really takes a toll on you.”
“One thing that really keeps me coming back is the love of the sport,” said Rubino. “I can forget literally anything going on in my life when I’m playing hockey. When I’m on the ice I don’t think about anything but what’s going on and that’s a cool escape. It’s win or lose when you’re on the ice- you’re on the ice and it gets better.”
The graduating seniors have seen a lot during their time playing for the Blue Devils and despite their losing record this season they’ve helped grow the program into one that has become well-known around the CCSU campus.