TCNJ club hockey searching for hardware at Crab Pot Tournament

EWING – When thinking of states associated with ice hockey, New Jersey likely isn’t one of the first ones that comes to mind. Taking a peek a little further behind the curtain shows that the national winter sport of Canada is becoming more popular in the Garden State.

Right here in Mercer County, The College of New Jersey’s club ice hockey team – established in 1977 – is wrapping up its second season at the Division I level. The team decided to make the leap following a decade of success as a Division II team.

Head coach Andrew Ducko was behind the bench for much of that success, leading the Lions to four consecutive Colonial States College Hockey Conference titles (2017-2020) and six straight conference championship games (16-22). TCNJ averaged 19.8 wins across Ducko’s first six seasons as head coach.

Now in his eighth season and ninth year leading the Lions club hockey program (the 2020-21 season was canceled due to COVID-19), Ducko continues to build a culture at the state school while trying to navigate the program to new heights.

“It’s a process,” Ducko said. “We’re going through growing pains. We decided when we moved up that we were going to move our team up. We weren’t going to recruit an entire new team. We wanted to bring our team from D2 to D1. We want to build it over time.”

Ducko and longtime assistant Paul Batcho concocted a four-year plan for the team, starting with scheduling Division I competition while still playing at the Division II level. Once the move to Division I was complete, the next phase was being competitive on a nightly basis.

That hasn’t always been the case for the Lions across their first two seasons of Division I play. After a seven-win campaign in 2022-23, TCNJ has won three of its 24 games so far this season.

“The biggest thing is knowing night in and night out we have to put our A-effort on the ice just to be competitive, let alone to win the game,” Ducko said. “Every team takes it very seriously. The hockey is very competitive. If you don’t put a good product on the ice, you can lose every single game.”

The Lions finished their Northeast Collegiate Hockey League schedule with a 2-8 record, placing them sixth among the six teams in the conference. They’ll face the third-seeded Rochester Institute of Technology in the NECHL quarterfinals on Feb. 16.

Before that though, TCNJ heads to Annapolis, Maryland to play in the 46th annual Crab Pot Tournament at the United States Naval Academy.

Established in 1978, the Crab Pot Tournament is the oldest non-varsity college ice hockey tournament in the country. The Naval Academy has hosted and participated in every installment of the tournament, winning 19 times while reaching 39 championship games.

The four-team tournament has featured 21 different schools with the last three editions featuring all Maryland schools. The University of Maryland, Towson University and Stevenson University joined Navy in 2020, 2022 and 2023 with the Midshipmen winning each year.

The University of Maryland had to pull out of this year’s tournament due to its conference tournament falling on the same weekend, which opened the door for a non-Maryland team to fill-in.

Enter TCNJ, which built a relationship with the Naval Academy as it teased the transition to Division I. The Lions and Midshipmen met three times across two seasons in 2019 and 2020 as TCNJ got a taste of the top level of collegiate club ice hockey.

The respect shown between both programs made Ducko’s answer easy when Navy asked TCNJ to play in the 2024 Crab Pot Tournament.

“We hold the Naval Academy in high regard,” Ducko said. “They’ve had a successful, long-standing D1 program. We have a lot of respect for the Naval Academy as an institution and the student-athletes that go there and serve in our military.”

TCNJ plays Towson in the semifinal round, a foe the Lions are familiar with. The two teams played a home-and-home series last season with the road team winning both games.

Those contests are giving Ducko confidence that his team can make some noise and give Towson a run for its money when they meet at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.

“Having split with Towson last year and knowing where its team is, we think the game will be a 50-50 battle,” Ducko said. “Whatever team wants to win more is going to win.”

Despite the struggles on the ice in recent years, Ducko speaks highly of his team and hasn’t lost sight of what really matters when it comes to building the program.

“We’ve been very lucky that the student-athletes who are interested in TCNJ are typically a good student, a good person,” Ducko said. “That’s the type of kid that’s been on our team for 10 years. It makes it fun to come to the rink every day.

“Our attributes are guys trying hard and playing above their level. They come to the rink every day with a good attitude. They love the game.”

A chance to play for a trophy is something that probably would have eluded TCNJ this season had it not been invited to the Crab Pot Tournament. The Lions aren’t taking the opportunity for granted and will try to join Ramapo College as the only New Jersey schools to hoist the Crab Pot Trophy.

“We’re honored to have the opportunity to be invited to the tournament,” Ducko said. “If we can go there and have a strong showing, that would be really special.”