The Colonels may be coming off the program’s first NCAA appearance since the 2004-05 season, but that’s not changing their approach coming into this season.
“We’re not really thinking about it,” Curry coach Rob Davies said of entering the season as defending champions. “We’ve got a pretty good nucleus. Defending the title isn’t going to be discussed a whole lot.”
The conference’s second highest scoring team returns it’s top three scorers in juniors Payden Benning (19-16), Steven Mohler (14-16), and John Williams (12-18).
On the blue line, Ryan Barlock (8-18) returns after being named to to the ECAC Northeast first team all conference. Senior Ryan Warsofsky played in 17 games after transferring from Sacred Heart at midseason last year.
Gone however, is the tandem of Steven Jakiel and Zachary Cardella. The seniors provided the Colonels with an outstanding tandem in goal last season. Sophomore Robert Dawson is in line to see most of the time this year in net.
“It’s going to be an adjustment losing two seniors,” Davies said. “They were a pretty good tandem.”
But Dawson was no slouch in limited playing time his freshman year, as he posted the best goals-against-average (2.20) and save percentage (.923) of the trio last year.
“We were pleased with his performance,” Davies said of Dawson. “This year will be an adjustment as well. Being a freshman in practice behind two seniors wasn’t always easy, but he handled it pretty well. Now he’s not behind anyone.”
Entering this season, Curry will look to tighten up its defense in front of Dawson.
“We need to take care of the middle of the ice more and be more effective without the puck, both on offense and defense,” Davies said. “We can’t give up too many free looks. We can live with shots from outside angles, but too many looks in the middle of the ice is asking for trouble.”
