Posted: Oct 20, 2022

Seahawks tabbed sixth by coaches

Salve Regina was picked sixth my the CCC coaches.

BIDDEFORD, Maine – Endicott will be looking to extend its streak of three-straight women's ice hockey tournament championships this year as it was picked atop the 2022-23 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Women's Ice Hockey Preseason Coaches' Poll.

The Gulls earned 47 points in the voting that was conducted by the league's seven head coaches last week. They also earned five of a possible seven first place votes.

Finishing second in the poll with 44 points and the last two first place votes was Suffolk. The Rams went 14-4 -0 (1-1 OT) in conference play (19-6-0 overall) last year, but saw their CCC Championship hopes cut short in the CCC Quarterfinals. They'll be looking to bounce back this year.

The University of New England placed third in this year's poll with 33 points. The Nor'easters were the No. 4 seed in the 2022 CCC Women's Ice Hockey Tournament and finished as the CCC Tournament Runner-up, falling to the Gulls, 2-1, in the Championship game.

The team UNE upset in the CCC Semifinals, Nichols, placed fourth in the poll with 29 points.

Rounding out this year's preseason rankings in order were Western New England (19 points), Salve Regina (15), and Curry (9).

Head coach David Lun enters his third season at the helm of Salve Regina and seeks to guide the team back to the postseason for a 16th consecutive season. "There is a lot of excitement and energy in the Seahawk's women's hockey program," said Lun. "We have a strong group of leaders and a deep returning class". Maddie Cox (Barrington, R.I.), Tori Amaral (Glastonbury, Conn.), Dakota McMahon (Newington, Conn.), and Grace Schwartz (Brookfield, Wisc.) will serve as captains and the Seahawks will rely on strong consistent play from a deep returning roster. Newcomers Riley Esposito, Taylor Stirling, Lauren Cloherty, Grace Dumond, Morgan Peritz, Sydney Baxter, Livia Kryzwulak will look to make impacts on a roster that is hungry to avenge its OT loss in the opening round of the 2022 CCC Tournament.

Year two of CCC Women's Ice Hockey begins on Friday, Oct. 28 as teams begin their non-conference slates. The Conference schedule begins the following weekend on Friday, Nov. 4. The CCC women's ice hockey schedule has each team meeting three times during the regular-season with two matchups coming as home-and-home series and a third single-game matchup on designated play dates.

At the end of the season, the top five teams in the CCC standings will qualify for the CCC Women's Ice Hockey Championship Tournament. The tournament begins on Wednesday, Feb. 22 with a quarterfinal matchup between the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds. The winner of that game will advance to the CCC Semifinals on Saturday, Feb. 25 to take on the No. 1 seed, while the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds play in the other semifinal. The two semifinal winners will play in the CCC Championship game a week later on Saturday, March 4 with the winner being named the CCC Tournament Champion and earning the league's automatic qualifier into the 2023 NCAA Division III Women's Ice Hockey Championship.