CANTLON’S CORNER: CONNECTICUT ICE TOURNEY UNVEILED 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

BRIDGEPORT, CT – A new, “Ice Age” is coming to Connecticut.

This new “Ice Age” will cover Connecticut in ice, not the kind to cause downed stress, excessive traffic accidents, and inconvenience, but the exciting kind. The type of “Ice Age” that involves Connecticut college ice hockey.

At a press conference Monday, an unveiling was made of the first-ever Connecticut Ice Tournament that will be played between January 24-26, 2020 at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport. The tournament will feature all four of Connecticut’s Division I college hockey teams. The tournament is part of a planned Connecticut festival of the sport of hockey. It’s kind of a combination of Boston’s Beanpot and the Quebec City Winter Carnival.

The regional cable network, SNY, which is already affiliated with UCONN basketball and football broadcasts, was the driving force in creating the concept in 2017. After two years of effort, they made it a reality.

“This is a very exciting day,” remarked SNY President, Steve Raab. “This has been two years of hard work to design and many people made this day possible.”

One of the key elements was to help the growth of hockey in the State of Connecticut. To do so, all four Division I college programs, UCONN, Yale, Sacred Heart, and Quinnipiac needed to be involved. They will all carve out the time from their respective schedules to make this happen.

“The spirit this will create, and the entertainment, it will bring many memories. This will bring hockey fans from the state to Bridgeport.”

For UCONN head coach Mike Cavanaugh, he is happy and surprised. “To be honest, I couldn’t believe there wasn’t one before, but with all four schools now Division I, it makes it easier and will be a major plus for hockey in Connecticut.”

Cavanaugh is in a rare position. He recruited Connecticut hockey players when he was at Boston College, and now as UCONN’s head coach for the last six years, he has a unique point of view. “It’s going to help all the schools in recruiting because kids in Connecticut will grow up watching this and will see the benefits right away. A solid eight, ten years of keeping this tournament going will produce results. The whole state will be excited about this tournament I believe.”

Early on, Cavanaugh brought the Boston rivalry piece with him to the Nutmeg State.

“That’s why I have scheduled games against all the state teams, and we can develop continuity here. This is a great first step. As you saw at the end of the (promotional) video, you want guys 10-20 years from now talking about how they played in this tournament. Guys can talk about when they won this year, or that year, or scored a goal people, remember. That’s what makes traditions. “

Cavanaugh mentioned what he sees as a, ’cause and effect’ by his having been a part of the Beanpot, the 65 year Boston tradition that takes place every February among the four Boston universities BC, BU, Harvard, and Northeastern.

“If Tommy Cross (Simsbury) or Cam Atkinson (Greenwich) had played in a tournament like this, they would have been inclined to stay in state. The four schools never really played each other until Quinnipiac went into the ECAC with Yale. Now, with this, it will help grow this tournament and the game in the state.”

For now, the tournament will be in Bridgeport, but the question comes about if it could be rotated among the venues in the state.

“I’m a Hartford guy. That’s our home rink. I’m just glad we’re playing here at Webster Bank next year and will see what happens down the road,” said Cavanaugh.

A major component to this plan is to have a youth portion in which Bantam age (13-14-year-olds) teams all the way to beginning Mites (6-8-year-olds) will compete on the very same ice as the big boys they watch and cheer for. A Friday night doubleheader will feature, a public school, and prep school hockey matchup, again bringing a whole new generation of youth hockey under one umbrella.

“We were approached in 2017 about whether we could get youth hockey involved as part of the overall event,” said the Past President of the CT Hockey Conference, and USA Hockey Director, Tom Regan. He played both his high school and collegiate hockey in Connecticut. “We had discussions the last two years over timing, the format, but getting the four colleges was key. It’s the first event, it takes time and effort to get four schools when they are all in league play to commit to this. That shows you how important they all want this.

“To do it (the tournament) in January in the heart of hockey season rather than something earlier in the year, might not have had the same (punch), and it’s at ALL the levels and that makes it very important.”

To get all levels involved was critical for the ability to grow hockey. Having a sport that requires some cash to play was not lost on Regan.

“To get the kids on the ice to play and watch the college kids play, it will give real inspiration to those (young) players. The next Brian Leetch, the next Chris Drury will see this grow the game, increase the excitement around the game, and for the tournament.”

The event had some warm light-hearted moments after the audio didn’t match up with the video at the beginning. Cavanaugh in his remarks uttered the best line of the day, “I could read Chris Drury’s lips and he was saying, if he were playing, he would have gone to UCONN!”

C.J. Marrotolo, the head coach of the Sacred Heart University Pioneers, relayed a childhood story. “When I was nine or ten, I begged my parents to go to Yale games.”

Keith Allain, the Yale head coach deadpanned in his opening remarks, “I was disappointed C.J didn’t mention he wanted to see me playing goal,” Allain, who played at Yale and still holds the record for career saves in addition to guiding the Bulldogs to winning their first NCAA title in 2012, said with a laugh.

Quinnipiac’s assistant coach, Bill Riga, stood in for head coach Rand Pecknold, who is in preparation for his team’s NCAA regional on Friday in Allentown, PA. The game will be played at the PPL Center against NCAA Independent Division I’s Arizona State Sun Devils, who will be making their first appearance in the tournament just four years after upgrading their program to NCAA DI status. The Bobcats have reached the NCAA tourney five of the last seven years.

Festival Weekend Schedule (Tentative):

Friday, January 24, 2020

1:00 – 4:00 pm – Mites Cross Ice Jamboree

4:30 – 6:00 pm – Girls U12 Championship

6:30 – 8:00 pm – Connecticut Prep School Championship

8:30 – 10:00 pm – Connecticut High School Championship

Saturday, January 25, 2020

11:30am – 1:00 pm – Squirts Boys Championship

1:30 – 3:00 pm – USA Hockey On-Ice Clinic – U12-U14 (Skills, Checking, Goaltending)

4:00 – 6:30 pm – SNY COLLEGE TOURNAMENT GAME 1

7:30 – 10:00 pm – SNY COLLEGE TOURNAMENT GAME 2

Sunday, January 26, 2020

11:30 am – 1:00 pm – Peewee Boys Championship

1:30 – 2:30 pm – USA Hockey On-Ice Clinic – Girls

3:30 – 6:00 pm – COLLEGE TOURNAMENT CONSOLATION – TBD v. TBD

7:00 – 9:30 pm – COLLEGE TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP – TBD v. TBD

Tickets for the inaugural Connecticut Ice Festival are on sale now via: sny.tv/CTice

Discounted ticket packages are available for all Connecticut Youth Hockey League families, as well as for students from the four participating colleges. Group ticket rates are also available for groups of 15 or more. Regular price two-day passes for Saturday, January 24 and Sunday, January 25 are $35.00 for kids (18 & under) and $70.00 for adults. General admission tickets for Friday night’s high school rivalry games will be available at the Webster Bank Arena Box Office.

For more information on Connecticut Ice please go to www.SNY.tv/CTice