SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Curry College men's hockey team has been selected fourth in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Preseason Coaches' Poll, as announced by the league office on Wednesday morning.
The University of New England earned 61 points and six first-place votes to finish first in the poll. Salve Regina followed behind with 56 points and the final two first-place votes. Nichols tallied 42 points while Curry came in right behind with 41 and in fourth place. Endicott rounded out the top five of the poll with 39 points.
Wentworth (24 points), Western New England (16), and Becker (9) rounded out the table.
Curry returns 23 players while welcoming six newcomers onto the roster for the 2019-20 season. Senior assistant captain Justin Ketola (Cloquet, Minn.), a Third Team All-CCC selection last season and junior Cody Murch (Raleigh, N.C.) will be looked upon to be key in goal for the Colonels this season. The Colonels also bring back sophomore Vladimir Cibulka (Bratislava, Slovakia), who will also see time in goal. The squad returns three of its top five point leaders from a year ago in senior assistant captain Billy Vizzo (Shelton, Conn.), a Third Team All-CCC selection last season, sophomore Mic Curran (Arlington, Mass.), a one-time CCC Rookie of the Week last season, and junior Michael Snow (Medford, Mass.). The captains of this year's team are senior Jordan Williamson (Okotoks, Alberta), along with the assistant captains in classmates Anthony Trujillo (Toronto, Ontario), Vizzo, junior Tyler Lindstrom (Brooklyn Park, Minn.), and Ketola.
New Standings and Overtime Format
The 2019-20 CCC regular season will feature a new overtime and standings format.
If a conference game is tied at the end of regulation, the teams will play a five-minute five-on-five (plus goaltenders) sudden-death overtime period. The result at the end of that five-on-five overtime (win, loss, or tie) is the official result for NCAA purposes.
The conference will then exercise the option permitted in the NCAA playing rules to continue on to a three-on-three (plus goaltenders) sudden-death overtime period for conference standings purposes only. The three-on-three overtime will be five-minutes long.
If the game remains tied after the three-on-three overtime, the game will progress to a sudden-death shootout. In the shootout, each team will select a shooter to go one-on-one with the goaltender. If one team scores and the other does not, the scoring team will be declared the winner (for conference standings purposes). If both or neither team scores, the process will be repeated with new shooters until one team scores and the other does not.
The new overtime format also brings changes to the conference standings systems. In the new system, wins in regulation are worth three points, wins in either overtime period or the shootout are worth two points, overtime or shootout losses are worth one point, and regulation losses are worth zero points.
The Colonels open up the season on Friday, Nov. 1 at UMass Boston.
Click HERE for the Full Conference Release.
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