BOSTON – A month away from returning to the ice, the 2021-22 Suffolk men's ice hockey schedule has officially been announced by head coach Chris Glionna. The campaign features 25 contests with 14 taking place at Emmons Horrigan O'Neil Rink.
Suffolk prepares for their returns to the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) with a pair of exhibition outings as the Rams travel to Babson Park, Massachusetts, to take on the Beavers on Saturday, Oct. 16 and Beverly, Massachusetts, seven days later to face Endicott.
The Rams 2021-22 season starts in the friendly confines of Charlestown against Franklin Pierce, a familiar non-conference foe, on Friday, Oct. 29. This will be the third full season in a row in which Suffolk and the Ravens meet on opening night.
From there, the blue-and-gold lifts the lid on its CCC campaign with a home-and-away weekend series against Wentworth, Nov. 5-6.
Suffolk continues league action made up primarily of home-and-home series to start off. Over the next two weekends the Rams will face Curry (Nov. 12-13) and University of New England (Nov. 19-20).
When the students return to Boston they will get a chance to catch the Rams step away from contests Sunday, Nov. 28 when UMass Dartmouth comes to town.
The contest with the Corsairs serves as prep for a weekend battle with Salve Regina. Suffolk will host the Seahawks Friday, Dec. 3, before venturing to Newport, Rhode Island, the following day (Dec. 4). First semester wraps up Friday, Dec. 10 against Western New England.
Second semester starts after a month-long hiatus at Salem State Tuesday, Jan. 11.
The Tuesday tilt with the Vikings preps the Rams before conference action picks up again with Western New England (Jan. 14-15), Nichols (Jan. 21-22) and Endicott (Jan. 28-29) consuming the blue-and-gold's weekends throughout January.
A rematch with Salem State will jump start February as the Vikings make the trip to the city Tuesday, Feb. 1.
The Rams will flip-flop between home-and-away the rest of the way with a different conference counterpart on tap in the six remaining outings. Suffolk will host Salve Regina (Feb. 5), Nichols (Feb. 12) and Wentworth (Feb. 19) and travel to Curry (Feb. 4), University of New England (Feb. 11) and Endicott (Feb. 18).
Gilonna will look on veteran leaders to pace the Rams in their return to the competitive CCC. Key returners from last season's squad that went 1-1 in the COVID shortened season including juniors Alex Kolowrat (3g), Griffin Clark (1g, 2a) and seniors Joe Feeney and Billy Roche (3a), as well as netminders Jarret Bovarnick and Cal Wilcox.