I was at Sacred Heart the day the sports world began to grind to a halt. I spent the day following the sports world’s developing news. I was at the women’s lacrosse game against Manhattan when news broke that the NCAA Basketball Tournament would be played without fans. I was in the academic building when someone (mistakenly at the time) announced the NCAA Tournament was canceled. I was in North watching Syracuse and North Carolina play in the ACC Tournament when the Rudy Gobert news broke on the bottom line.
Driving home that night, I remember listening to the Rangers play out in Colorado thinking “Man when am I going to be able to watch them again?” Because even though everything in the sports world that I loved was falling apart around me, I knew at some point I would see that Ranger team play again. I just didn’t know when. That wasn’t the case for the 2019-20 Sacred Heart Men’s Hockey team. Arguably, the best team in program history. 21-10-3, which was a program record for wins in a season. 18-8-2 in Atlantic Hockey, again, a program record for single-season conference wins. 132 goals scored, a program record. Jason Cotton and Mike Lee were All-Americans. Cotton scoring 20 goals and added 17 assists, while Lee just missed out on 30 assists (he had 28 plus 5 goals). They shut out BU 4-0 at Agganis Arena (an average BU team but a shutout at BU is a shutout at BU, especially a BU team with Trevor Zegras). SHU was even ranked for the first time in program history at #20. Then there was CT Ice. The long-awaited Connecticut version of the Beanpot, and the high point of the 2020 season. The Pios stomped Yale 6-2 in the semifinals. Then the next day, behind a huge second period with goals from Ryan Steele, Todd Goehring, and Jason Cotton, The Pioneers knocked off perennial national power Quinnipiac 4-1 to take the program's first championship of any kind. The smallest of the big four schools was on top of the state…and it wasn’t a fluke. Head Coach CJ Marottolo said, "This win and championship will be at the top of the greatest accomplishments of my career." All-American Jason Cotton added “Just from where this program was and where it is now, it's unbelievable the growth. Not only the guys in the locker room but the senior classes before us. And before them, they came in and they left a jersey in a better place than where it was. And for us, when we walk through those doors, that's what we think about." (Quotes from SHU Athletics). To top it off, the day before CT Ice began, Sacred Heart announced plans to build a brand new $70 million on-campus arena specifically for hockey. Not a bad weekend to be a Pioneer. Sacred Heart finished the season on a 7-2-1 run, including a 5-3 over AHA Regular Season Champion #20 AIC in the regular season finale. The Pios Hockey program was on an incredible high, looking forward to the next step…and they didn’t even get to play a single postseason game…. I remember going to Linda’s after moving my girlfriend out when SHU sent the students home. They had printed flyers all over the tables marketing the Atlantic Quarterfinal series that was supposed to start on March 12th…the day every major sporting event in North America was canceled or postponed. I couldn’t help but feel gutted for everyone involved with the program, especially the seniors. Whose careers ended so suddenly and without warning. (That goes for every sports senior and all the other seniors in the class of 2020 who didn’t get a fair end to their college careers). All the work put in to finally get the program to the doorstep of the ultimate goal, and with a press release, it’s gone. Deep down I understood why. Nobody knew what the hell was going on, and looking back now it was the right decision by everyone involved with college sports. That doesn’t make it any less crushing. This team had the best shot at securing the school's first Atlantic Hockey Championship and first birth in the NCAA Tournament since the 2010 team reached the final, falling to RIT 6-1. The difference being that 2010 got its shot in the postseason. The 2020 team didn’t. Who knows what might of happened if that tournament got played. Playoff hockey is so incredibly random. SHU was 2-0 against RMU in 2019-20, winning both games by a combined 10-2. I feel comfortable saying the Pios would’ve been able to handle the Colonials, but maybe they get picked off by RIT or Air Force in the Semifinal, which was single elimination. Maybe regular season champ AIC, who SHU went 2-2 against, takes down Sacred Heart in the Final at the HarborCenter. But…maybe not. Maybe Sacred Heart finally reaches the mountain top. Maybe the Pioneers win the Atlantic for the first time and skate in the NCAA Tournament against North Dakota, Minnesota State, or Cornell (SHU was 23rd in the Pairwise when the season was stopped). We will never know for sure. The Pioneers haven’t finished above .500 since 2019-20. Going 6-10-2 in the wonky COVID-filled 2020-21 season, 15-18-2 in 2021-22 (where they did split with #12 BU and were 1:19 away from knocking off #2 Quinnipiac and heading back to the CT Ice Final), 17-17-3 in 2022-23, and 14-19-3 last year. SHU also hasn’t won an AHA Tournament Game/Series still since 2018, when they knocked out RIT in the First Round. (Although SHU did advance in the 2021 AHA Tournament due to Holy Cross having to withdraw due to COVID). The Pios haven’t been back to the CT Ice Championship either. Finishing third in 2022 and 2023…and fourth at the XL Center in 2024. What might have happened in the 2020 Atlantic Hockey Tournament is the biggest what-if in SHU Hockey History…and that is something I don’t expect to ever change.
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As we head into CT Ice week, I thought a post on my overall thoughts on the event in the past and going into the future would be appropriate.
I was ecstatic when the event was officially announced in 2019. I grew up watching the Beanpot, and I knew, like Boston, we had four D1 Hockey teams. An event like this seemed like a no brainer. It brings the state together and should help to create rivalries in a small state that has a ton of hockey history. Then Sacred Heart won the first tournament. The smallest school of the big four knocked off a Yale team that had won a National Title six years earlier, and then national power Quinnipiac. It was an awesome story across College Hockey. I remember seeing how excited that team was as the clock wound down and finally hit double zero and thinking “wow we really may have something in this event”. Then March of 2020 happened. The 2021 tournament was understandably canceled. 2022 was back in Bridgeport. SHU had a shot to defend it’s title, and looked like they were going to until Joey Cipollone scored with 1:19 to play in regulation to tie the game and then Zach Metsa won it in overtime for the #2 Quinnipiac Bobcats, who went on to win the title. Then there was last years tournament. We didn’t find out what the event was called or that it was going to be broadcast on SNY until literally the day of the game (seriously, look up the QU Press Release). I remember someone had to tag me in a random link they found on the QU website that said “Connecticut Hockey Tournament” to buy tickets. It’s not a knock on QU. I thought the tournament was fun in Hamden last year, but the organization going into it was an absolute mess. A lot of it came from SNY drama, but we don’t have to get into that. Last year can never repeat itself if this event wants to be taken seriously. Which brings us to 2024. CT Ice (which yes we found out the name and location over the summer instead of the day of lol) heads to Hartford for the first time. We also found out that Sacred Heart gets to host at Martire in 2025, and Yale at Ingalls in 2026. This leaves us knowing that the tournament will plug on for at least three more years. Afterwards, who knows. Personally, I think this event needs to continue. It is not only good for the state, bringing all four fan bases together, but it’s also an event that can put Connecticut college hockey on a national stage, at least for a weekend. There was also some drama last year on where the event should be hosted. UConn head coach Mike Cavanaugh said it should be played every year in Hartford. That it should be played at a big venue. While Qunnipiac coach Rand Pecknold pushed for the rotation model that we have. Personally, right now I think the rotation is good. It builds excitement at the individual schools and its awesome in the smaller rinks. Cav is right, however, eventually I think the event should be played each year in Hartford. It’s a big arena, it’s the middle of the state (some schools will have a longer drive than others however) and I think having that central location every year is only good for the tournament. “We’ll see you in Hartford” type of deal. I love the idea of CT Ice. I think there are plenty of things that need to be tweaked and improved upon. I think the fan bases care, and if it's done the right way, can be a marquee sporting event in the state year in and year out. Anyway, lets get onto the weekend. Let’s go Pios, and let’s beat UConn. If you’ve followed me at all on Twitter since the Sacred Heart Hockey season ended, you know I'm a New York Rangers fan. I tweeted a ton during the end of the regular season and their short stint in the playoffs. I care about them the most out of all my favorite professional teams. If you’re also a Rangers fan, you probably also listen to Blueshirts Breakaway. On one of their OT episodes, Greg Kaplan, who’s also from Connecticut, was asked “if the Whalers were still around, would he still be a Rangers fan”? So, I naturally asked myself the same question….and I have not been able to get it out of my head since then.
The Whalers played their final game in Hartford on April 13th, 1997. I was born a little over a month after that. So I never knew a reality where the Whalers were in Connecticut. And yet, they’ve also been intriguing to me. Their banners are still up at the XL Center (or Civic Center, I go back and forth), Whalers merch is everywhere in Connecticut, even for me, Brass Bonanza has been my ringtone since high school. The Whalers are still everywhere in Connecticut sport culture, and they’ve been gone now over 26 years. Ever since I heard that BSB OT, I’ve been hyperfocused on everything Whalers. I’ve watched documentaries on YouTube, I picked up where I left off in Christpoher Smith’s book Bleeding Green (and I’m probably gonna reread The Whalers by SHU Grad Pat Pickens), I bought a new Whalers hat, I changed my phone wallpaper, I created a new franchise in NHL 21, I even found myself rewatching the Whalers last game against Tampa Bay. As I watched the final seconds tick off, watched the players skate around the ice, listened to Kevin Dineen, and watched the fans refuse to leave, I genuinely got emotional. I thought, “they’re seriously doing this to MY state? They’re taking OUR team away?” I was genuinely upset. Yeah, I definitely would have been a Whalers fan. Anyway, I love that the Whalers are still an indelible part of not just Connecticut sports culture, but just Connecticut culture in general. I’m glad that the banners are still up in Hartord, I love that the Yard Goats and Hartford Athletic use the green and blue color scheme (not to mention the Yard Goats Whaler nights, I need to go this year), I love that UConn Hockey uses Brass Bonanza. I love all of the Twitter accounts that keep the teams legacy alive. I love that even though the Whalers left, they’re still apart of the state. Do I think NHL Hockey will ever return to Hartford? If I’m being honest probably not. But that being said, I don’t think people should stop trying to make it happen, give up that passion, or give up that hope that one day, Brass Bonanza will play in Hartford during a Whalers game again. I hope that the mystique and aura around the Whalers never fades in the Nutmeg State. Long live the Whale. I genuinely had no expectations for this account coming in. I started it as an overall CT College Hockey account, but trying to cover all four CT schools (both men and women) quickly proved to be more challenging than anticipated. As a result, I switched to just covering Sacred Heart Hockey, which was the best decision for me as I had the opportunity to dive into the season while having a blast as I covered each game.
As I go into my first full season with the account, I thought I would actually try and make it a legit blog. Again, I have no expectations going into this. This is just for fun. For the first post, I thought I would at least start with a little blog about myself and my background/history. While I did not go to SHU undergrad, it was a school always at the back of my mind. I toured SHU my senior year of high school, however, I ended up at a school in Central New York that roughly 95% of this state hates (let's go Orange). Towards the end of my undergrad, I found myself spending a lot more time at the university. My girlfriend was an athlete at SHU in her undergrad and is currently earning her masters. The time I spend on campus lead me to developed a love for the university and its atmosphere. While I still love my alma mater, SHU quickly became a big part of my life. My personal time at SHU started in the fall of 2020 during the pandemic when I started my Masters at the university. Sports during the pandemic were an absolute mess, as we all remember, but that is when I started to get involved with SHU Hockey. Through my program, I was able to do the play by play for the Women’s teams games that year. The next year, I was able to contribute more to the program and did the play by plays for multiple home games at the rinks in Shelton. While I wasn’t Sam Rosen at all, the parents and families seemed to love it when there was an actual voice on the broadcasts….That’s how it all started. I initially only followed the women’s team, and this past year was the first year I followed the men’s team. SHU Hockey immediately became my team, and I found myself following them as closely as I do the New York Ranger or my Syrcause teams. Over the moon with every win and frustrated with every loss, I have loved following their progress throughout the season. I am so glad that I have gained a small following that is excited as I am to follow such amazing teams. As the summer goes on, I’ll add more to this blog (warning… I am not a writer), but for now I love and appreciate you all! Let’s go Pios! |
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