Conn College Men's Hockey 2012-13: Season Review

In the leadup to the NESCAC playoffs, we are doing season reviews for all ten NESCAC teams in order from Tufts to Bowdoin. 
9. Conn College Camels 

2012-2013 Record:
7-14-3 Overall
3-12-3 NESCAC (9th in NESCAC)


Stats:
Overall  (Conference Rank)                   Conference Games (conf. rank)
Offense: 2.33 G/GM (9th)                              Offense: 2.11 G/GM (10th)

Defense: 3.58 G/GM (7th)                             Defense: 3.78 G/GM (8th)

Power Play: 15/86 -20.6% (7th)                     Power Play: 7/58 -12.1% (9th) 

Penalty Kill: 59/82 - 72.0% (9th)                   Penalty Kill: 40/59 - 67.8% (10th)

by Ted Steinberg 

Preseason Predictions 

After finishing the 2011-12 season (6-15-3; 4-12-2) ninth in the NESCAC, the Camels were picked to finish tenth this season by USCHO and eighth  by The WordPress Blog.  Conn. lost their two point leaders in Sean Curran (F, '12) and J.J. McGregor (F, '12), but returned their top two goal scorers in Keith Veronesi ( F, Jr.) and Mike Sinsigalli (F, Jr.). 

Season Review

Although this turned out to be a rebuilding year for the Camels, the team showed promise before the end of season collapse. The opening weekend home loses against Wesleyan and Trinity exposed the penalty kill issue that persisted all season long. A bounce back win against non-conference Salem State gave the Camels momentum heading into the Middlebury/Williams road trip. After a grinding tie at Middlebury, in which Dawson Luke (D, Sr.) emerged as a scoring threat from the blue line, Conn fought into another overtime contest against Williams. With a solid effort from goaltender Sean Dougherty ( G, So.), the Ephs took the win two minutes into the extra frame. The trip established the top producing line of co-captain Keith Veronesi ( F, Jr.), JC Cangelosi (So. F), and TimDePretoro (F, Fr.), combining for eight points on the weekend (3-5-8).

After a 5-3 loss to Manhattanville, Dayton Arena witnessed a pair of blowouts at the hands of  the NESCAC duo from the Pine Tree State; the Camels thrashed Colby,7-2, but then got mauled,7-1, by the Polar Bears of Bowdoin.

Although January was tough on Conn (0-4-2 in conference),  February got off to a bang with a sweep of travel partner Tufts. The penalty kill once again proved to be a weakness in the losing efforts at home against Amherst and Hamilton. Finishing with back-to-back 2-1 losses on the Colby/Bowdoin trip, the Camels went out with a fight in their final game, losing on a rare empty net, overtime goal to the Polar Bears.

Out of conference, Conn represented the NESCAC well, going (4-2-0). The losses came to Manhattanville (13^th ranked team in the country at the time) and to national title contender Norwich in the Northfield Bank Tournament.

While the season did not end the way the Camels wanted, finishing out of the top eight for the third consecutive year, the future looks bright. Tom Conlin (G, Fr.) emerged as the strongest goaltender on the roster, and down the stretch he ranked among the leagues finest net-minders, posting a .930 save percentage and a 2.43 GAA over the last 7 conference games. The young line of leading goal scorers DiPretoro and Veronesi with point leader Cangelosi returns all three players next year. The future is bright for the young Camels roster that only loses two seniors next season.

High Point

A weekend sweep is not a common occurrence for the New London boys. The Camels outscored Tufts 8-4 in the home and home, which featured the annual Green Dot game to raise awareness for the bystander prevention program on campus.

Low Point

In crunch time, the Camels went 0-4 to end the season. Sitting in the driver’s seat for a playoff spot, Conn needed to take at least a point from Hamilton in the 2/11 showdown. After leading 3-2 heading into the third period, the Continental’s offensive explosion proved to be the straw that broke the Camels’ back (pun intended) in the 7-3 loss. Conn. lost both games in the final weekend to end their season on the outside looking in at the playoffs.

MVP

 Dawson Luke ( D, Sr). With 6 of his 7 goals coming in conference, Luke led the team in Game winning goals (2) as a defenseman and locked down the net front as the team's most reliable blue liner.