Quinnipiac, with five state players, ready for Connecticut Ice
HAMDEN — Youngsters chasing a dream of playing hockey in college can wind up on teams in some far-flung locales for school and junior hockey. It’s relatively unusual for this many to have found their way back to Quinnipiac.
With the Connecticut Ice tournament coming this weekend, the Bobcats’ men’s hockey roster boasts five players with Connecticut hometowns. Two were on the national championship team last year; three more, who had all played together at Brunswick, arrived this year, two as freshmen, one by transfer.
“It’s awesome. I grew up playing with them. I’ve known them so long,” freshman Matt McGroarty of Westport said. “The fact we all came back to play college hockey together, it’s honestly really cool. It’s prety nervewracking coming to a new team, a new school. Having those guys here, having my roommate I’ve known for years, it’s been great.”
McGroarty’s roommate is fellow freshman Andon Cerbone of Stamford. Cooper Moore of Greenwich transferred to Quinnipiac after three years at North Dakota.
Victor Czerneckianair and Tim Heinke of Southington are sophomores.
They briefly had a sixth when junior Ryan Solomon of Durham got a call up from the club team in November to fill in as a third goalie while Noah Altman recovered from injury.
Quinnipiac hasn’t had five players listed with Connecticut hometowns since 1997-98. This year’s five are as many as the team carried in total between current NHL referee Jordan SamuelsThomas’ arrival via transfer in 2011 and Czerneckianair’s and Heinke’s entrance in 2022.
“For the guys who live far away, we open our homes so they can always come over,” Heinke said.
“Everyone came to my house Thanksgiving, at Christmastime. My mom has dinners for us on Sundays sometimes.”
McGroarty remembered the team going to Heinke’s house even earlier than that.
“Tim’s parents, everyone’s willing to help out the guys, whatever guys need,” McGroarty said. “We have guys from overseas, guys from western Canada, really far. “Having people that close, including myself, people willing to help guys feel as close to home as possible, that’s really great. That’s why our culture is so good.”
The Bobcats and the state’s other three Division 1 hockey teams meet this weekend at the XL Center in the fourth Connecticut Ice tournament. Quinnipiac meets Yale on Friday night after Sacred Heart faces UConn. The winners meet Saturday night after a consolation game.
Quinnipiac has won the past two, including last year at its own home M&T Bank Arena, after the tournament took a year off with Yale out for the pandemic. Sacred Heart won the first edition in 2020 in Bridgeport, which also hosted in 2022.
“I enjoyed it last year when it was here. It was a great time,” Heinke said. “We had a great crowd. I think it’s going to be cool playing in the XL Center. I grew up going there for UConn games, Wolf Pack games. I think it’ll be an exciting time.”
One of the goals of this tournament, talked about even when the thing was on the drawing board a decade ago, was helping build interest in hockey around the state. Heinke and McGroarty said they’ve seen it grow even in their own young lives.
Yale captain Reilly Connors of Madison talked on a media call this week about playing on different youth programs and seeing the love for the sport around Connecticut.
“My senior class has another kid from Connecticut, Nik Allain,” coach Keith Allain’s son, Connors said. “He and I have seen how the game has grown in the state. I’m really excited to play in these games, especially against a lot of talent from home here.”
UConn has seven state players. Yale also has five. Sacred Heart has a couple.
Hockey is a small sporting world: Not only did Moore, Cerbone and McGroarty all play at Brunswick, most of the five have played either with or against each other before. Heinke and Czerneckianair grew up two minutes apart from each other. McGroarty remembered playing against Czerneckianair; “I remember seeing Victor’s name also because it’s really long,” he said.
The split among them is only a little different from the entire roster’s makeup: The Bobcats have 14 players back from the title team, six freshmen and six transfers.
“We had a bunch of fifthyears last year who showed everybody who was here, like, the ropes, of the school and what it means to be on this team,” Heinke said. “We’ve got 12 new guys, so it has definitely been a big change in that. But I think everyone came in well, accepted, I guess you can say, the rules here, how to act.”
Quinnipiac ranks seventh in the USA Hockey/ The Rink Live poll and eighth in the US College Hockey Online poll. UConn is receiving votes in both.
And McGroarty is looking forward to the weekend, beginning with Yale, which is also a conference game. Cerbone had a goal and an assist when the Bobcats defeated Yale 5-2 on Nov. 11.