Manastersky knew two things: One, that he wanted an emphasis on defense, on the Colonels being a team that gave up few scoring chances and took few penalties.
And, No. 2, that the team he was coaching in November wouldn’t be as good as the one he’s coaching now.
Curry had to travel into another time zone to do it, but it’s coming off its best weekend of hockey all year. It swept Finlandia (3-0) and host Wisconsin-Superior (5-3) in the Yellowjacket Tournament this past weekend, giving its momentum a boost with the resumption of conference play just 12 days away.
Against Finlandia, an MCHA program, it permitted just 17 shots on goalie Derek Mohney. Forward Casey Brugman (Winthrop, Mass.) scored his first two goals of the year and the Colonels had one of their most aesthetically-pleasing wins under their new coach.
“That was a really satisfying win for me,” said Manastersky. “We played a full game and we were committed to defense. And, obviously, the guys were all fired up for the next game. We talked about it being a game where everyone’s going to check out the box score because it’s East vs. West, so let’s see what happens.”
Against Wisconsin-Superior, the No.11-ranked team in Division 3, Brugman scored twice more, including the equalizer midway through the third period on the power play. Curry scored three times in the third period to secure the come-from-behind win.
Ian DeLong is leading the team in scoring (9-8-17) and is also the first forward off the bench on the penalty kill. Captain and undersized defenseman Brett Kaneshiro is a calming influence, playing nearly 30 minutes a game; and another senior, Connor Hendry (6-8-14) is a gritty player described by his coach as the “heart and soul” of the team.
Defensively, the team is allowing 2.92 goals a game, nothing embarrassing but something that has room for improvement.
Last year, the Colonels’ loss to Wentworth in the ECAC Northeast championship snapped a string of two straight titles and accompanying NCAA tournament appearances. Wentworth, with just about everyone back from its team, was the preseason pick to win.
But at midseason, the picture’s murky. Wentworth (7-6-1, 3-2 ECAC Northeast) is there, but so are Curry, Western New England (6-5, 4-1) and even Nichols (9-5, 3-2), another program with a new coach (Peru, Maine, native Kevin Swallow).
Manastersky was hired at Curry after four years as an assistant at Fredonia State. He arrived and began preaching defense, reasoning that down the stretch, when the games get bigger, it’s going to be low-scoring affairs they need to win, not 6-5 shootouts.
“We’re a program that, in the first half, was searching for an identity,” he said. “I’m hoping that weekend out west helped us find it.”
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