By Brittany Burke
Getting off to a late start didn’t hinder the CCSU club hockey team as the Blue Devils took to the ice in Simsbury and came together to defeat the Holy Cross Crusaders 4-2, capping off a two-game weekend.
The victory over the Crusaders followed a 6-1 win on the road Friday night against Super East opponent New York University.
The Crusaders got off to an early start sinking a glove side goal past goaltender Greg Coco less than two minutes into the first period.
The early goal was the only one for either team in the first 20 minutes of play as the Blue Devils fought to remain in possession of the puck. As CCSU worked to bury the pucks, the team also had to step up and kill off continual penalties.
“It’s definitely something we need to work on and control, after the whistle and just smart plays, a lot of those penalties can be avoided by being smart but all in all we finished up good and that’s all that matters,” said president Ryan Beaulieu.
The slew of penalty minutes began early in the first when Brian Fay was sent to the box for hooking. From that point on it was an uphill battle for the CCSU.
With 55 seconds left to play in the first Blue Devils’ Jon Knobloch and Ryan Pereira were tossed, followed by matching Holy Cross players after much deliberation by the officials. As the four players were sent off the ice, Co-captain Thomas Carroll was given two minutes in the box for roughing as a result of an on ice scuffle in front of the Holy Cross goal.
“Other guys in that situation have to step up and we got two goals from [Matt] Siracusa, [Zack] Vidmosko missed an open net and had a couple other power play chances in the third that we didn’t get,” said Head Coach Ben Adams. “Despite the fact that the first two periods went the way they did overall I’m happy with the outcome, I’m not happy with the way we got there but I’m happy with the outcome.”
CCSU’s Ryan Stanley got the second period off to a quick start tying up the score with a shorthanded, unassisted goal 48 seconds into the second period. Stanley’s first goal of the night was matched nine minutes later with a sniper shot off the faceoff to increase the team’s lead.
“We came out kind of flat the first period and the coaches kind of gave it to us at intermission and my two line mates got kicked out so I had to step up and got a quick goal and I think our team kind of fed off of that,” said Stanley.
The Blue Devils offense also saw contributions from Siracusa in the third, netting two unanswered goals. Siracusa was fed the puck by Stanley, in addition to Carroll for the final goal of the game, a left side shot with 39 seconds in regulation.
Despite the win CCSU, the Blue Devils’ performance on the ice was overshadowed by the fact that the team had players in the box for 47 minutes in the first two periods. The penalty problem has been a struggle for the team all year.
“It’s tough to win games and you’re not going to win a lot of games, I know we won this one but you’re not going to win a lot of games when you spend 47 minutes in the first two periods in the box. I’ve got to give a lot of credit to our penalty killers, they did a great job blocking shots clearing lanes clearing pucks but they never should have been put in that situation,” said Adams.
CCSU will be back in Simsbury to take on UMass on Nov. 13 at 8 p.m.