So far, Curry is liking the way 2014 is treating the Colonels compared to how 2013 ended.
Curry has a 5-4-1 record in the new year after a 2-5-1 start to the season.
For coach T.J. Manastersky, it’s a nice start, but there are plenty of things for his club to work on for the final month of the season.
“Even when weren’t winning a lot of games, we were doing a lot of good things, but we were hurting ourselves,” Manastersky said. “We were hurting ourselves because we were taking too many penalties, for one. We are starting to do a better job to be more disciplined in that regard, although our last game was terrible in the number of penalties we took. We still have a long way to go with that.”
Manastersky also added that his team still needs work on special teams, which have been a little better in 2014, but aren’t where he wants them to be. The power play is 8-for-93, which comes out to a mere 8.6 percent. The penalty kill is slightly over 80 percent.
Offensively, the team has been led by sophomore forward Brandon Gilmore, who has seven goals and seven assists in 18 contests this season. Michael Vallescuro is the only other player in double digits with 10 points (two goals and eight assists).
Manastersky said Gilmore is a guy who can be counted on a nightly basis to create offensive chances for the team.
Goaltender Dan Mohney has been solid with a 5-5-1 record, a 2.05 GAA and a .932 save percentage.
“I feel really good for him because now [Mohney is] getting some wins on his stats because he was playing well all along,” Manastersky stated.
Most of Curry’s wins have come from outside of ECAC Northeast play in 2014. The Colonels are currently sitting in seventh place in the conference, which is one spot out of the postseason conference tournament.
The team hopes their winning ways continue.
“When you go through a stretch of games where I think were were winless in six games, you start thinking if you are ever going to win again,” Manastersky said. “Why is it so hard? It gives you a respect of how hard it’s to win again and the way you have to play. It doesn’t matter if they are conference games or nonconference games. It doesn’t matter if they are against ranked [teams] or not, the bottom line everyone is good enough to beat you if you shoot yourself in the foot or don’t show up.”
Manastersky hopes the adversity his team faced early in the year will help them in the final 30 or so days in the season. He also added every game from here on out is a four-point game
The next four games, the competition gets stiffer with games against Western New England on Saturday, Nichols next Tuesday, Salve Regina on Feb. 8 and Johnson and Wales on Feb. 13
“It will be a good test,” Manastersky said. “We feel good, we have won some games and we have been able to do our jobs. Now we get to find out where we really stand here. Are we capable to step in the meat of the conference? Let’s be honest – there are a lot of great goalies in the league and the teams are really well-prepared by their coaches. Can we do that? Can we win some games and find some ways to win and play the disciplined game we need to? We are all anxiously waiting to see what happens.”
