BOSTON, Mass. - Salve Regina, coming off the first-ever appearance by a Commonwealth Coast Conference program in an NCAA title game, will start the year as the CCC men's ice hockey preseason favorite. The Seahawks received 59 points in the preseason coaches' poll.

Included among the 59 poll points were four of the eight first-place votes cast by the leagues' eight men's ice hockey head coaches. Endicott was picked to finish second, collecting three of the remaining four first-place votes, while the University of New England garnered the other first-place vote and finished with 51 points. 2018 CCC Champion Nichols rounded out the top four with 43 points.

Curry (31 points), Wentworth (22), Western New England (15), and Becker (13) made up the bottom half of the ledger in that order.

The conference is coming off a banner season with three teams (Salve Regina, University of New England, and Nichols) all earning NCAA Division III Tournament berths. All three of those teams, as well as Endicott were nationally ranked at one point during last season.

After a one-year hiatus, the Leopard hockey team qualified for the postseason during the 2017-2018 season and with 17 letterwinners returning, including five of their top six scorers, Wentworth looks to make another run at the postseason. Of the five players who were among the leading scorers last season, four are juniors, including Georgy Gorodetskii (Yekaterinburg, Russia) who tied for the team lead with nine goals as a sophomore and finished with 17 points. Six of his nine markers came on the power play. Nate Chase (Plainfield, Ill.) was second on the team with 10 assists to go along with 16 points, while CJ Grinnell (Burlington, Mass.) had seven goals and nine assists to also finish his sophomore season with 16 points. Rounding out the quartet from the class of 2020 is Connor Beaudet (Buffalo, N.Y.) who had 12 points (three goals, nine assists). Senior Ethan Weiss (Troy, Mich.) also returns for Wentworth after scoring 11 points on three goals and eight assists a season ago.

Wentworth opens up the 2018-2019 schedule on Friday, October 26, at Castleton. In addition to playing 17 conference games, the Leopards' non-conference schedule is highlighted by games against nationally ranked teams from last season in UMass Boston (October 27) and Colby (November 25). Colby joined Salve Regina at last season's NCAA Division III Frozen Four.

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