Forward Kevin Kelly '14 surveys the ice. Photo courtesy of Miguel Salcedo.
Men’s hockey has opened up the season on a strong note. Although they alternated wins in their first four games of the year, victories against #4 Middlebury and New England College more than show the potential of this season’s squad. Led offensively by breakout forward Sean Curran ’12, the Camel attack will be as potent as any in the NESCAC.
Coming into this past weekend, the Camels sat at 1-1 after opening the season with two tough NESCAC contests. In the first game of the year, Conn fell to Williams (score) in a game that should have finished much closer than it did. Although the Camels played the Ephs even through a period and a half, after Williams scored two quick goals half-way through the second period, the game kind of fell apart.
“We made a few mental mistakes, and [Williams] had had a game under their belt against the Swedish U-20 team, and it kind of showed,” said forward Ryan Riffe ’11.
Impressively enough, though, Conn came right back the next day and took down #4 Middlebury 5-3 on the Panthers’ home ice. After a disappointing loss the night before, Conn showed a lot of pride in their efforts against Middlebury. The game was back and forth the whole way with Conn finally going up for good on a Mike Sinsigalli goal in the second period.
“[The Middlebury game] was amazing,” said Riffe. “We talked a lot about the need to respond. The motivation we used was how Middlebury really doesn’t respect us- not only in hockey, but as a school in general. They pretty much know they’re better than Conn- they get the better recruits and whatnot- so we kind of used that as motivation to beat them. It was a battle.”
Fellow senior Joe Capuano had a similar take. “Those are two points on the road not many people get. I know it’s early this year, but I think that’s probably the most important game I’ve played in since I’ve been here,” he said. “This program’s never beaten Middlebury on their ice in the history of either program. Not only that- to beat the whole Middlebury type of mystique that they think they have about themselves. To go in there, do it in their place, in front of their fans. After a 5-1 beating on the road like that…we showed a lot of heart, and the guys came back and we fought until the end.”
It was truly a great win for the Camels, and it gave them two points after only one weekend of play.
“We’ve only had one weekend, but in my four years it’s the best we’ve done,” said Riffe. “We’ve come out with two points- the best previously we’ve done was one point, which is when we tied Middlebury my freshman year [in 2007].”
With the first weekend behind them, the Camels returned to the Cameldome for their home openers against Saint Anselm and New England College on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
On Friday night, Conn fell to Saint Anselm 5-1. Curran scored the lone goal for the Camels in the second period, but at that point Conn was already down 3-0. The Camels seemed a little out of sync with one another throughout the whole contest, and Saint Anselm really took it to them.
But once again, Conn followed up a tough loss with another impressive win the next afternoon. Trying to make up for the dud of a home opener, the Camels let New England College have it on Saturday, beating them 5-2. Curran added to his amazing start with three more goals, bringing him to nine points in four games.
After tallying only six points all of last year, Curran has come on as the Camels’ new breakout player. He has four goals and five assists so far this season, leading Conn in all three offensive categories (goals, assists and points).
On Curran’s early success, Riffe said, “It’s exciting. He’s among the top on our team with some of the best set of skills in terms of shooting, stick-handling. He’s got the potential to do this every game. I think he could be at the top of the league with points.”
“Sean’s one of the hardest working guys,” says Capuano. “He’s an incredibly talented kid…He’s one of those kids that we need to come out and play like that. That’s what we expect of him, that’s what expects of himself. The entire junior class has a big role this year. We lost a lot of guys last year through graduation and through everything else, and guys gotta start stepping up. We’re only going to take ourselves so far. If we don’t step, we don’t do it, and if we do, like Sean and Bouts [Julien Boutet ’12] and JJ [McGregor ’12] and the rest of the junior class, what they did this weekend was great. And I don’t think anyone’s satisfied with it, I think that they want to just keep piling it on. They’re gamers, so they’re going to keep going and hopefully keep improving.”
The Camels will be home again this weekend as they take on Tufts at 7pm on Saturday night in the Cameldome. Conn will try to ride the hot stick of Curran to make it two wins in a row. Tufts currently sits right above the Camels in the NESCAC standing. Both squads have beaten Middlebury and lost to Williams, so it should be a great contest.
