By Brittany Burke

The night after the Blue Devils club hockey team dropped a game against in-state rivals Western Connecticut State Colonials in Danbury; CCSU took to the home ice in Simsbury and posted its first shut out of the season with a 2-0 win over the Endicott Gulls.

“First shut out of the year we played from the D to the offensive zone instead of offense to D and we rolled four lines the whole game which is key and coach really wanted to do that and he did that tonight so it really paid off,” said points leader Ryan Stanley.

A hard fought game by the entire CCSU roster ended with a celebration on the ice centered around goalie Ross Mocko, who not only earned the team’s first shut out but it was also his first collegiate shut out.

“It’s absolutely unreal,” said Mocko. “The guys just played a hell of a game in front of me and I just did my job keeping them in it. It’s all I can do.”

The Blue Devils began strong and energized, something the team has struggled with in previous games throughout the season. A pregame meeting that had the team at the rink three hours prior to the puck drop helped the team refocus and come together as a unit following the 9-7 loss.

“We had some penalties, we had some power plays, we had some opportunities to finish and we kind of shot ourselves in the foot toward the end,” said Head Coach Ben Adams. “We blew a three goal lead and another two goal lead and it was probably the lowest part of the season. Nothing was working, nothing was going right and that’s why this was such a strong win for the guys.”

Stanley was the only goal scorer of the game against the Gulls with a goal in the first and one later in the second. The two goals increased his total to 29 goals on the season with a total of 49 points.

Stanley’s first goal came off of the assist from line mates Tim Dillon and Jon Knobloch, who’s second in scoring behind Stanley. The second, a power play goal, was scored with more than half to play in the second period. With Endicott down one player for interference the Blue Devils managed to keep digging through the traffic in front.

With assists coming from Knobloch and Eric Blewett, Stanley put the puck past the goalie’s glove side for the final point of the game.

“We had to score our goals tonight,” said Stanley. “It wasn’t going to be pretty. We talked before the game and had a big meeting, you know everyone just said go hard to the net and that’s what I did and I scored, they were kind of chip in goals but that’s how you’ve got to get them.”

The entire Blue Devils team stepped up on the ice to make the win happen. With no goals for 33 minutes it was important to protect the zone and make the hits when they needed to be made against a chippy Endicott squad.

The penalty killers once again kept the team’s lead secure by out playing the Endicott power play in the second.

“The penalty kill for us has been a pretty strong asset to us this year,” said Adams. “Everybody’s been working hard blocking shots, filling lanes and getting their sticks in lanes and whatever else. But if you get a penalty kill all it is, is out working the power play and we have guys that just give 110 percent three quarters of the time, tonight everybody gave 100 percent.”

With Michael Joy and Ryan Beaulieu both serving time in the box for hitting from behind and boarding, respectively, the penalty killers managed to block the shots in front of Mocko and protect their zone, while Mocko remained on point in between the pipes.

As time dwindled down Endicott got desperate and pulled its goalie. The tactic didn’t work, as the Blue Devils concentrated more on defense rather than getting the empty net goal.

“I just kind of let bygones be bygones and let it happen in front of me just kept my composure and stayed focused because I know all of the guys have my back and my job is just to keep the puck out of the back of the net,” said Mocko.

With under a minute remaining multiple fights began to break out in front of Mocko and an Endicott player was tossed before the ensuing faceoff. With one second left in the game another fight formed in CCSU’s defensive zone which resulted in Tom Carroll being tossed.

CCSU will play its final home game of the semester on Dec. 17 against Bryant at 9:15 p.m. Play will resume on Jan. 14 against William Patterson.