Posted: Oct 15, 2021

Seahawks predicted third by CCC coaches

George Sennott and the Seahawks were picked to finish third in the CCC according to a preseason coaches' poll.

BIDDEFORD, Maine – The Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) men's ice hockey teams are excited to hit the ice once again after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020-21 conference season. Coming into the season, Endicott is the favorite to capture the conference title as determined by the CCC Preseason Coaches' Poll that was completed last week.

The Gulls earned 63 points and seven of the eight first place votes cast by the league's eight head coaches.

Endicott, which won the last CCC Tournament Championship as the No. 2 seed in 2019-20, is looking to defend its title after playing in only three contests last year.

The first team looking to knock off the Gulls is the CCC Regular-Season Champion from two years ago, the University of New England. The Nor'easters earned the top-seed in the conference tournament the last time the tournament was held, but were knocked off in the semifinals. They earned 52 points in this year's voting.

Landing in third in the poll with 45 points and the last remaining first place vote is Salve Regina.

Head coach Zech Klann enters his fifth season at the helm of the Seahawks. The 2017-18 CCC Coach of the Year will work with 19 rookies including 11 freshmen from a strong 2021 recruiting class. Key returnees include senior forwards Tyler Carangelo (Hamden, Conn.) and captain George Sennott (North Andover, Mass.). Incoming freshman power forward Damon Zimmer (Camrose, Alberta) and Merrimack transfer Ethan DeStefani (Bedford, N.H.) will help the Salve Regina offense while Quinnipiac transfer defenseman Cameron Boudreau (Salem, N.H.) is an important addition to the Seahawks roster and will captain the team. In net, the Seahawks are led by Nicholas Latinovich (Maple, Ontario), a graduate transfer from Clarkson University. The Seahawks open their season on the road versus Norwich on October 30 before turning to conference play on November 5.

Rounding out the top five were Curry in fourth with 38 points and 2019-20 CCC Tournament runner-up Wentworth in fifth with 31.

Nichols (30 points), Suffolk (21), and Western New England (8) closed out the poll in that order.

The puck drops on the CCC men's ice hockey season on Saturday, Oct. 29 with six teams kicking off their non-conference slates. Conference play begins the following weekend with home-and-home series scheduled for Friday-Saturday, Nov. 5-6. The top six teams in the conference standings at the end of the regular season earn spots in the 2022 CCC Championship Tournament. The tournament begins on Wednesday, Feb. 23 with two quarterfinal games as the top two seeded teams earn byes. Those top two teams will await the quarterfinal winners in the semifinal round, which is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 26. The semifinal winners will advance to the CCC Tournament Championship game the next week on Saturday, March 5. The winner of the CCC Championship game will be named the CCC Tournament Champion and earn the league's automatic qualifier into 2022 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Championship.