After a year away, the 44th Annual Crab Pot Tournament is upon us and what better way to go into it than looking at the participants?? This will be a tour of the team and their stats according to the ACHA website– so if anything is inaccurate– go to them about it. We’ll start first with the Stevenson University Mustangs.
Things looked promising for the Stevenson University Mustangs program in the off-season, as they had formed a D3 team to compliment the D2 team. Yet, with the times being as they are– those plans had to be altered somewhat, as I mentioned on here when they merged both teams due to roster issues on both sides.
Stevenson had a solid showing their first Crab Pot in 2020, as they played Navy in the opening round and hung with the Midshipmen most of the game, pushing it to overtime before dropping a well-battled game. Things were looking up for the Mustangs, as they had a solid season in the infacy of the program. The interest in the team was blossoming, which led to the formation of the D3 team. But, the pandemic did what pandemics do and cancelled their 2020-21 season with the exception of a few intrasquad Turtle Cup match-ups to keep in shape.
As things got started for the 2021-22 season, the D2 team looked solid with an opening 3-2 win over Georgetown. The D3 squad dropped a couple of tough games to start, including holding their own against Adrian College– one of the nation’s top programs. Then on October 26th, the two teams formed what we have now. Things didn’t go as planned after that, as they went on an 11-game winless streak before beating Millersville University 6-5 on December 5th. They scored another win against a top-notch Rider University team at the end of January.
The Mustangs were led by veteran forwards Brenden Jesse (6g, 6a) and captain Josh Watterson (5g, 5a), who are 1-2 in goals and points on the season. JJ Fecteau and Zac Garneau were clutch when called upon, while Jonah Carlson and Nick Hoover added some physical play from the blue line. There were several options in net, but veteran David Shahady got the bulk of the calls in net and registered two of the three wins for the Green Horses.
Stevenson has played both Maryland and Towson this regular season, dropping both games to the Terps in October and coming up short in the lone game against the D1 Towson squad. They’ll take on Towson in the first game of the tournament on Friday, which could prove to be an interesting sort as both teams play with a chip on their shoulders from the season and wanting to prove themselves on the biggest stage the state has to offer.
Clutch And Crab Hockey 