Pioneers are ready to finally hit the ice
Maybe it’s premature to ask a coach what stands out about his team before it plays its first game. It’s probably even further too early to ask C.J. Marottolo about this Sacred Heart men’s hockey team.
“We’ve had chunks of guys together, but I don’t think I can tell you we’ve had a complete team practice yet,” Marottolo said.
With some positive COVID-19 tests on the eve of the delayed start of the season, already a month and a half later than usual for college hockey, Sacred Heart postponed its first four games. Game 5 is now Game 1, Friday night at Holy Cross. They’ll meet again there Sunday afternoon, too.
The waiting game, at least, is almost over for a team that was picked second in Atlantic Hockey in the preseason poll, that’s receiving votes in one of the two major college hockey polls, that is coming off its most successful season in a decade.
“It’s been up and down. You feel like you’re a yo-yo at times with your emotions,” Marottolo said. “You’re getting ready to play. You can’t play. You ramp up again.”
Marottolo said players have slowly returned to practice. He expects to be close to full strength Wednesday, though not quite, and a few players won’t make the trip to Worcester,
Mass.
“It’s hard to implement a team’s systems when you only have half your team,” Marottolo said. “We have a server where we put videos for players, and we told guys to stay up-to-date.
“As they’ve rolled back into work, they’ve been dialed in. They know what’s expected. We’ve been impressed, as coaches.”
The school announced the four postponements on Nov. 17, four days before the Pioneers were set to open the year at AIC and a week before a scheduled visit to Quinnipiac. (Sacred Heart will now open Quinnipiac’s season on Dec. 14 in Hamden after the Bobcats had to postpone their first few games as well.)
“I give a lot of credit to the players’ resiliency,” Marottolo said. “They adapt. You never know what each day is going to bring: Will we be able to practice with how-many guys? I’ve been really impressed this week with how they’re digging in.”
Sacred Heart has been practicing at Bridgeport’s Wonderland of Ice and plays all six December games on the road. The ice at Webster Bank Arena likely goes in after that.
That’s where Sacred Heart was set to host Robert Morris in the best-of-3 Atlantic Hockey quarterfinals in March. The team had matched a school record with 21 wins, including a championship at the long-awaited Connecticut Ice tournament of the state’s four Division I programs.
The quarterfinal games were already closed to the public because of the pandemic. On March 12, the rest of the tournament was canceled.
“Last year is a lot of what-ifs,” Marottolo said. “I’ve come to grips with it. It’s hard, but we’re in the middle of a pandemic. We can control what we can control.
“We’ve got a lot of guys returning from that group. There’s still a lot to prove as a team, a lot of unfinished business that leadership group wants to accomplish.”
Five of the top seven scorers are gone, either to graduation or transfer, including leading scorer Jason Cotton, who became Sacred Heart’s first player to earn an NHL contract when he signed with Carolina.
Even so, Marottolo sees depth and speed in this year’s team. Where those departures leave holes, he thinks some players can step into them and seize opportunities they might not have had last year.
“They’re just so excited to play,” Marottolo said. “They’re hockey players. They love the game. They love to compete. They’ve all been waiting a long time for this.”