Vol 107 Issue 13

W W W.CENTR A LR ECOR DER .COM Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Central Connecticut State University

Volume 107 No. 13

Paying the Price

CCSU club sports lacrosse, hockey and rugby have been struggling to find the funds to pay required fees.

PhotoS: Left: CCSU LaCroSSe, Drew BLythe Center anD right: kenny Barto | the reCorDer

Club Sports Struggling for Funds in Economic Recession Brittany BUrke the recorder

If you want to be a part of the lacrosse, rugby or hockey clubs at CCSU, you must be prepared to pay for the love of the game.

Club sports such as hockey, lacrosse and rugby are allocated budgets from the CCSU student governing body, the Student Government Association, and sometimes that budget is barely enough to cover the minimum club essentials.

Each year a club must put in a request to the SGA for the upcoming year’s budget. After a club makes its presentation members of

the SGA decide how much money it will be allocated, but in the cases of the three club sports, the money allocated still isn’t enough. The large funding discrepancy forces the different members of the club to look elsewhere for funding, and most of the time the budget has to be made up in dues, fundraising and donations from family and friends.

“These parents for the hockey players, they’re already responsible for $1,500 right up front for the whole season,” said Kevin Leaver, the hockey club treasurer. “And if we don’t get the funding the parents end up paying more and more money and it gets to the point where the students or kids are asking their

parents for even more money, not in the most ridiculous manner but kind of like a real aggressive sales manager that’s really irritating.”

“They send out emails to their own family members saying ‘Here we would like another $50 donation here’ and then two weeks later ‘oh can you give us another $100 donation?’ It’s incredible all these students might as well end up graduating and going into sales force because they’re trying to get so much money from their own family and friends,” said Leaver.

The hockey club has the most extreme case, requiring a budget close to $85,000 for the entire season, the majority of which goes

CCSU Fills Chief Diversity Officer Position miChaeL waLSh the recorder

The void at chief diversity officer at Central Connecticut State University has been filled after a search ended in the university hiring Rosa Rodriguez to fill the position beginning Jan. 10.

An announcement was made regarding the hiring at Wednesday’s Student Government Association meeting by SA/LD Director Scott Hazan on behalf of Student Affairs Vice President Dr. Laura Tordenti.

Rodriguez has over 20 years of higher education experience and has held numerous positions including equal opportunity

and diversity director, special assistant to the vice president and interim associate vice president for student affairs at Metropolitan State University in Minnesota.

Rodriguez also spent time at St. Cloud Technical College holding positions including counselor, students affairs manager and vice president for student affairs.

“The university is really excited,” said Hazan on Wednesday.

“This is somebody I think is super qualified.”

Rodriguez has experience in affirmative action, diversity and anti-racism training.

“I wasn’t on the search committee but I did interview a lot

of the candidates and I think the university did a good job here in hiring this candidate,” said Hazan.

The university spent the past few months interviewing candidates, an involved process which included having each candidate be available for students, faculty and the general public for questions.

While the position of chief diversity officer has been filled in the interim by Ernest Marquez, the position has been vacant since Moises Salinas, the school’s first chief diversity officer, was removed from the position in March stemming from an incident that led to Salinas’ arrest in August on charges of sexual assault.

to renting the actual ice time. For the 2010 season the team was allocated $5,000 from the SGA, requiring them to raise the additional $80,000 by themselves.

The lacrosse club is facing a similar situation. The team requires $20,000 at the very least to conduct a successful season, but the SGA was only able to allocate $4,000.

The expenses that make up the team’s estimated initial budget are fixed numbers, including $6,000 for a coach. Like the hockey club, lacrosse must also work to raise the additional funds.

“Pretty much every year for the past few years we’ve gotten between $7,000 and $9,000 from the SGA,

and that’s reasonable,” said Lacrosse President Greg Lokitis. “What’s unreasonable is we ask for about, like, 20 grand and we try to tell and show them as much as possible how important it is that we need this 20 grand for specific things like coaching, like league dues because we pay $3,000 to play in the league.

Buses, referees, these are all set numbers that we can’t change and when we ask for $20,000 if we don’t get 20 grand from the school then the players make it up in their dues and every year that’s been increasing and increasing.”

Club rugby was allocated $5,400 CLUBS | Cont. on 3

SGA News, Notes and Briefs: * At Nov. 22’s finance meeting, a motion was passed that would limit the amount of contingency and co-sponsorship requests at the Dec. 6 and Dec. 8 hearings to no more than $10,000. The motion, which passed with six yes votes to zero no votes, was a creation of SGA’s overspending of its desire contingency requests budgets. At the Dec. 1 SGA meeting a motion was made to exclude this motion from the minutes. This motion passed, meaning there would be no limit to the amount of money SGA could give out at those contingency requests. SGA as a whole still feels they need to be more strict on their contingency request handouts. * As of last Wednesday’s meeting, President Matt Vekakis said Wiener Week was going “fantastically” and that roughly 150 signatures had already been collected with another day to spare. Wiener Week is an effort by SGA to get students involved and aware of possible education budget cuts that could come with Governor Dan Malloy’s entrance to Hartford. SGA crafted a letter that they hope grabs Malloy’s attention and exchanged hot dogs in return to student support and signatures last week. * Senator Erika Dawson-Head made a motion to create a financial sustainability committee. Dawson-Head’s proposal springs off of the newly created “Road to Success” ad-hoc committee that is attempting to create programs to help SGA sustain itself. Dawson-Head called the committee the “financial arm” of the SGA. The motion will be voted on at an upcoming SGA meeting.

- Michael Walsh

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NEWS

THE RECORDER Wednesday, December 8, 2010

The Recorder

Student Center 1615 Stanley Street New Britain, CT 06050 T 860.832.3744 editor@centralrecorder.com centralrecorder.com twitter.com/therecorder

Editor-in-Chief Michael Walsh Managing Editor Matt Kiernan Art Director Ashley E. Lang News Editor Jason Cunningham Opinion Editor Nicholas Proch Entertainment Editor Max Kyburz Sports Editor Brittany Burke Photo Editor Kenny Barto Copy Editor Sara M. Berry Staff Writers Chris McLaughlin Ashley Foy Chris Cox Zach Perras-Duenas Sarah Bogues Kevin Jachimowicz

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CCSU Police Force Looks Toward Safety Next Semester Zach Perras-Duenas The Recorder

It’s 11 in the morning, and the forecast is cool and sunny. Sergeant Jerry Erwin, or as some students know him, O.J., is on his way back from an early morning meeting only to sit down in his office with me for yet another, albeit more lighthearted, meeting.

The topic for the agenda: James Hall, and the outlook for next semester.

To students, the “James Intruder” episode might be on the road to a forgotten incident, but given the fact that it has left some questioning the integrity of CCSU’s police force, it’s something that needs to be examined as this semester comes to a close.

However, I put those two words in quotes because it should be known that the man who was involved was not an intruder into the residence hall. In fact, he was a guest of a student resident. The real intrusions were into the rooms of students who happened to leave their doors unlocked.

Are the university’s resources

as a whole to blame, then? In one word: No. “James Hall was a serious incident,” Erwin said. “What should be realized is that the man involved was arrested for burglary charges and sexual assault charges and immediately removed from campus.

At no point then was he a threat to anyone else.”

Initially, the charges might make the story sound more intimidating than it should be. But what the student population and the worried parents of students should know is that the police did their job, and they did it effectively.

“We quickly eliminated a threat from the campus,” Erwin explained.

“I was very pleased with the response of our officers.”

So while it was easy for students and parents to point fingers, it’s also easy to have a brighter opinion when the full story is told.

“When you look at community policing, a dialog between the police force and its community is essential,” Erwin said. “When students tap the resources of all of our officers, you’ll end up with positive results.”

Reexamining what this semester

has given the campus, and there have been quite a few jaw-droppers, Sergeant Erwin believes that it has provided a good look at what areas the police department has been able to show its professionalism in.

“We maintain a high level of public safety on this campus 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every single day of the year. We don’t close,” Erwin said.

Aside from that, Sergeant Erwin explained how being an officer on campus involves more than security measures.

“When our officers come to work, they portray a positive image of Central. It shows that we’re more than just police,” he said.

And as CCSU’s campus is looking to expand, its image as a whole needs to continue to relate into something positive. But students need to contribute as well, and perhaps look at their actions rather than place the blame on someone else’s shoulders.

“I think that when you step back and dissect what’s happened, it becomes a collaborative effort to see how things can be done differently for the future,” Erwin said. “This

is the way our university’s community is going to grow.”

In other words, in order for CCSU to get ahead of the curve, the population – that means the faculty, the police and the students – needs to be prepared for anything.

What’s happening in today’s society and what’s happening at the university will constantly be in motion. Looking to the future, CCSU needs to be prepared for the changes so that when errors are made it can quickly brush itself off and get back up.

“We will always do what we have to do,” Erwin finished. “It’s our job to protect, and we will never stop working at that.”

Sergeant Erwin’s message is that safety must be upheld from many angles at CCSU. For students, always lock room doors when not in the room; don’t prop open any doors to the residence halls; and always be aware of personal belongings and keep them close by.

The CCSU police can be reached at any point in the day via their number, 860-832-2375.

Student Jazz Ensemble Brings Talents to Torp Theatre Zach Perras-Duenas The Recorder

A class is divided into two sextets, made up of students from a CCSU music class was the centerpiece for the Jazz Combo Concert last Thursday night.

CCSU’s Music 147B class, Improvisatory Jazz Ensemble, directed by Tom Melito, hosted the performance in Torp Theatre.

Each group played a total of five songs, with arrangements in the mix by composers like Wayne

Shorter, J.J. Johnson and Bill Evans. Some of the songs played included “Footprints” by Shorter, “Peri’s Scope” and “Interplay” by Evans and “Lady Bird” by Tadd Dameron.

Jeff Spitzer, a senior majoring in Jazz Studies, has been playing trombone for 12 years and plays with the ensemble. He’s been studying jazz seriously for the past year while taking lessons under Scott Bean.

“Of the tunes that we played, my favorite is probably “Lament”

by J.J. Johnson,” Spitzer said. “The changes in that tune make it stand out from a lot of other ballads. The head isn’t all that tricky, though, which leaves a lot of room for inflections and some quick lines.”

Spitzer explained how the traditional jazz combo style allows the band to have trombone, alto and tenor saxophones, trumpet, guitar, bass guitar, and a drum set. There can be also be a piano player, but CCSU’s combo did not have one.

While the two groups are

composed of mostly music majors, students who are not in the major can join as well. Admission to the group is by audition only, however, which applies to majors and nonmajors. The only requirement is that anyone auditioning must know how to read music.

The sister class to the improvisation class, Music 147A, Traditional Jazz Ensemble, has its concert this coming Thursday Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m. in Torp Theatre. The class, directed by Dr. Carl Knox, will play in the form of Big Band jazz.

Faculty Senate Approves Continued Use of Collegiate Learning Assessment Jason Cunningham The Recorder

After a near month-long gap between Nov. 8’s faculty senate meeting and Monday’s meeting, announcements were made including plans for several faculty holiday events, filing new grievances against salary cuts and the introduction of the new faculty senate meeting time.

The new meeting time is at 3:05 p.m. opposed to this semester’s 3:00 p.m. because of next semester’s new time block schedule. Changes made by the Curriculum Committee in minor class requirements and class structure changes across a broad variety of subjects and courses were also made.

The main course of Monday’s meeting came when Faculty Senate Vice President James Mulrooney called a vote to continue the use of the Collegiate Learning Assessment, a standardized testing initiative for higher educational evaluation and assessment. The CLA is administered online and consists of open-ended questions that measure a student’s abilities in critical thinking, analytic reasoning, problem solving and written communication skills.

“Our three year, sort of pilot study is over. So at this point we’re committing to the CLA….This is a long term commitment,” said Mulrooney.

According to Mulrooney, there’s no perfect test out there that would address the issues that would make every single department happy in terms of understanding how students lean.

“I think when you couple the CLA now with a lot of our own assessment efforts on campus and where we’re going with it; we really get a much better picture of how we teach our students,” said Mulrooney.

The motion’s goal was not only to continue administering the test, but to publish the results with a Voluntary System of Accountability report. According to its website, the VSA is an initiative by public fouryear universities to supply basic, comparable information on the undergraduate student experience to important constituencies through a common web report known as the College Portrait. When the results will be published has yet to be determined.

“The actual design of the instrument itself is wonderful….

The basic mechanism takes the SAT

scores of our students, predicts how well somebody with that SAT score would do and then measures how well they do. And if they do better than their SAT score suggests, that is reported, or if they do less well than they’re SAT score suggests,” said Mary Anne Nunn, a member of the Ad Hoc Committee for General Education at CCSU. It is unclear, however, how the exact scores provided by the CLA are completely measured.

“It is the first year this year that we have a group of seniors to take the test that also took it as freshman, and the test scoring is based on a cross sectional design. So this is a wonderful way to really validate that in our own heads….It is minimally difficult to administer, it costs us less than $8,000 a year to do several hundred students and I think it gives us an interesting measure. When we look at the value added for CCSU students compared to the expected value added, we’re above the line and that’s a very happy place to be,” said Nancy Hoffman, the Director of Institutional Research and Assessment for the Committee on Academic Advising 2010-11.

Participation in the CLA currently remains voluntary.

“No one is forced to take it at this point….It’s an innovation with

encouragement and occasionally incentives, especially incentives for seniors…usually a raffle for some sort of technology they could be interested in owning, frankly, for the seniors. The freshman are more compliant,” said Hoffman.

The two-part motion was passed with five abstentions and no opposition.

The meeting wrapped up with a unanimously approved list for undergraduate and graduate graduation.

Monday’s meeting was the last of the semester. The meeting came a week earlier than traditional to the schedule to accommodate next week’s finals.

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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, December 8, 2010 / NEWS CLUBS | Cont. from 1 at the beginning of the semester, which is enough to get by, but team President Chris Pritchard has also commented on how difficult it is to get money to make up for the budget gaps created by a low budget. This season was the first time the rugby club has had to do fundraising, but it won’t be the last.

The rugby club hosted a car smash, a fundraiser which allows students to pay to demolish an old car, which raised $140 and awareness for the team. While Pritchard realizes not a lot can be done with a small sum of money, any amount helps, especially when team members are struggling to pay their yearly dues.

“Some of the guys can’t even pay $30 for dues, so it’s definitely tough to get money on campus from other college kids,” said Pritchard.

All three club sports are required to pay dues to a governing body. Rugby must pay dues toward the rugby union and USA Rugby, which is $650, and $30 a player.

Lacrosse pays to be a member of the Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse League, while the hockey club is a member of the American Collegiate Hockey Association and Super East Collegiate Hockey League.

While dues for rugby remain under $50, members of the lacrosse team can pay upward of $700, and incoming members of the hockey team are required to pay close to $1,500.

“A lot of guys on the team, if the parents aren’t paying for it they are and a lot of the guys are,” said Lokitis. “I expect a $150 deposit, like a down payment on the dues because we’re not gonna ask for $600 all at once and a lot of these guys are only giving me $50 at a time because a lot of the guys are going to school and going to work and on top of it going to practice so they’re real real busy. It really goes back to money.”

The recession is making it more difficult to raise funds on campus because the majority of college students are struggling, and if it’s not the athletes who are paying it’s the parents.

“If it’s not the students its gonna be the parents who are struggling it’s a terrible loss right now with the economy it puts such a damper on what we’re trying to accomplish because funds are so low,” said Leaver.

The initial budget for the hockey club only covers regular season play, it does not include the money needed if the team were to make the SECHL tournament, the ACHA nationals in San Jose or two game series at Florida Gulf Coast. With each tournament made the team has to try and raise even more money, which gets increasingly tougher.

The lacrosse club faces the same difficulties. After winning its division in 2008 the team had to abstain from going to the MCLA tournament in Colorado because the team wouldn’t have been able to raise $25,000 in a week’s time.

Like the rugby club, both lacrosse and hockey have resorted to fundraising. The hockey team was able to raise $2,080 with an Outback Steakhouse fundraiser, selling $20 lunch tickets, 75 percent of which goes to the team. In January the team is also planning to host a breakfast fundraiser at Applebees where the team becomes the servers, in addition to the weekly 50/50 raffle.

The lacrosse team sells shirts that say “CCSU Lacrosse Club” to friends and family, for an estimated profit of $900, while also planning an Outback Steakhouse fundraiser similar to the hockey club’s. The team is also working with parents of the team members to display business banners at home games for $500.

With the budget cutbacks and the way the economy is the teams will have to continue to not only worry about practices and advancing in the respective leagues, but also how to survive financially.

“I wish they [SGA] would give us a little bit more money,” said Lokitis. “It would make it a little easier on us and we’d be able to focus on practice and winning games…I’d be able to focus on being a captain rather than being ‘Hey get your dues in. Where’s your money? I need you to pay me so we can order these jerseys.”

CCSU Campus a Continual Contributor To Blood Drive sarah bogues The Recorder

If you took a peek into Alumni Hall last week, you might have seen CCSU students, faculty, staff and administration lying on medical tables. But don’t be alarmed - they weren’t sick.

The student center, a long-time sponsor of CCSU campus blood drives with the central Connecticut chapter of the American Red Cross, hosted its first of three blood drives of the school year, Nov.28 to Dec. 2.

With a goal to obtain 65 pints of blood each day during the four-day long blood drive, the American Red Cross volunteered many of its staff to help out with donations.

Many students, faculty and staff made their way to Alumni Hall to be among the few hundred people on the CCSU campus to lie on tables and pricked by needles over the course of the blood drive.

The first day of the blood drive welcomed 76 donors though the door, producing a total of 53 viable pints of blood, a little under the starting goal.

“Those donors were students, faculty and administrators, a great mix of the CCSU community,” blood drive coordinator

Elizabeth Mongrello stated.

CCSU is no stranger to campus blood drives ever since the campus blood drive at CCSU began around 1947, organized and recruited by fraternity members of Alpha Phi Omega. The blood drive expanded under the leadership of Richard Judd, the director of the newly established student center, into its current position as a major service project of the student center.

CCSU has proved to be a major contributor of the American Red Cross with its Blood Drive’s record collection level over 1200 pints in the late 60’s and 70’s. Despite recent weeklong drives bringing in a little over 500 pints of blood, there is still optimism that the number of donating pints of blood will increase.

“Educating the community on the safety of donating and emphasizing the need for community service will increase the number of pints we are able to provide for patients in need,” Associate Director of the Student Center Katherine Poirier said.

Although the Blood Drive is coordinated by the Student Center, success of the project relies heavily on involvement from student organizations, residence hall and commuter recruitment, and the campus’s community’s willingness to volunteer time and/or donate.

Students Shine In ‘Swinging on a Star’ Event Ashley foy The Recorder

CCSU students from the Earth Science 278 Observational Astronomy class were staring into the galaxy last week as they shared their capstone project with the community the during the four day “Swinging on a Star” event in Copernicus Observatory.

The event was free as well as open to the public and brought in several hundred visitors over a four-day span, despite cloudy weather.

The students who ran the event demonstrated mastery of telescopes and were well informed

on the astronomical objects which were being viewed, including Jupiter and its moons, the seven sister star cluster and the Andromeda Galaxy.

This event is one of many that the CCSU planeterium and observatory offers. More similar events can be found at www.ccsu.edu/ astronomy and the class is offered every fall.

The project was put together by a number of CCSU students including Rocky Boussias, Carly Browning, Mary-Jo Callaghan, Allison Devoe, Paola Evangelista, Eileen Gonzalez, Alyssa King, Christopher Kyle, Justine Lore, Keith McGinnis and Felicia Wehr.

Thought-Provoking ‘Yo Soy Latina!’

Triumphs With Strong Message Sara M. Berry The Recorder

Torp Theater housed a celebration of all things Latina last Wednesday, as the Ruth Boyea Women’s Center, along with the Latin American, Latino and Caribbean Center at CCSU and the Office of Diversity & Equity sponsored Yo Soy Latina!, a play performed

by Latino Flavored Productions.

Written by Linda Nieves-Powell and starring Nadya Encarnacion, Nicolle Guerra and Jenny Saldana, Yo Soy Latina! was an enjoyable portrayal of the trials and tribulations of young Latina women coming of age in the US. The set was simple, but the story was not. The stage, set simply with three chairs, initially struck me as underwhelming. But it quickly became apparent that the props were so sparse to keep the audience’s attention on the story and the message.

The plot was multi-layered, with the larger story being that of Linda, a struggling Latina writer who wanted to fit in. She began with a manuscript stuffed in the back of a drawer and ended up with the stories

of Latina women throughout the country and around the world. She had given a friend a copy of the manuscript for an audition, not thinking that it would go any further. But her story was a hit, and drew attention from near and far.

The plot then begins to thicken as we meet six of the women who sent Linda their stories.

The three actresses change characters to tell their stories. Through funny stories and sad stories, the audience learns that the commonly held stereotypes of Latina women do not always hold true, and that Latina women are as unique and different as the countries they have originated from. We see the stars of each story overcome their own unique issues and find themselves in the process. They all learn to embrace their culture as part of their identity and take pride in their heritage.

Yo Soy Latina! may have dealt specifically with the issues faced by Latina women, but any woman struggling to balance family heritage, current culture and her own identity will be able to relate, whether Latina, European, Middle Eastern or Asian. It was an enjoyable, thought provoking event that had the audience laughing from beginning to end.

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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, December 8, 2010

OPINION

THE RECORDER Wednesday, December 8, 2010

EDITORIAL

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The Recorder: Not Just a Newspaper Anymore

As we’re reaching the end of another semester, we all must look at the future. For some of us this will mean moving on to the post-graduate world. For most, this will be a short break before heading back to the classroom.

At the beginning of this semester, The Recorder staff had high hopes for itself. We had a good group of editors who were looking to make this more than just a paper. For all that we did as a small group and for as proud as we all are of our thirteen printed publications and our continual online coverage, we may have fallen short.

One of the most important aspects of any organization is growth. This paper is going to be looking to grow to a new level next semester.

We will be partnering with Professor Darren Sweeney’s news broadcast courses, where the students will be making video news packages for our website that will certainly beef up our multimedia coverage, something that we haven't had the staff to dedicate towards. The

idea of bringing The Recorder's news to the campus radio station is also a possible goal.

Journalism and the way news is broadcasted is changing, and we at The Recorder realize that.

Our staff is tired of begging and pleading for more staff writers. It’s hard for us all to figure out why the paper isn’t more popular than it is and the conversations have dominated our newsroom more than anything else this semester. It seems like a dream to be able to have access to a publication that will publish your work for thousands to read every week. Perhaps it is our romanticized view of the whole concept, but shouldn't a position on a campus newspaper, no matter what the school, be heavily desired, instead of handed out like it's nothing? We have absolute control over what goes in our newspaper, an ultimate freedom that few student newspapers share across the country. We need to know from you, the readers, the students of CCSU, what

LimeWire’s End Won’t Stop Downloads Zach Perras-Duenas The Recorder

By now, most of the student population at CCSU, and most likely everyone else around the country, if not the majorly populated regions of the globe, knows about LimeWire’s shutdown.

Anyone visiting LimeWire’s website will be greeted with a pop-up message that reads, “LimeWire is under a court order…to stop distributing the LimeWire software….

We have very recently become aware of unauthorized applications on the Internet purporting to use the LimeWire name….We further remind you that the unauthorized uploading and downloading of copyrighted works is illegal.”

If you’re reading this and scratched your head because you weren’t aware of the situation, consider yourself out from under your rock and somewhat in the know.

Truth be told, I wasn’t shocked by LimeWire being finished. The reason behind that is most likely because I didn’t care enough about LimeWire to be shocked.

I’ll say up front that I haven’t used LimeWire in at least five years and that most of the music on my current computer came from a friend’s or family member’s computer.

Whether or not they chose to illegally download the music is another story for another time.

Yet I’m sure that any student reading this can remember their first experience using LimeWire, probably somewhere back in the glory days of middle school. Hell, I sure do.

And I’m also sure that any student reading this can remember that music wasn’t the only thing they were downloading via LimeWire.

Hell, I sure do…again.

All dirty jokes and memories aside, LimeWire being snuffed out probably pissed off a lot of people, considering the hundreds of millions of users it had. If any of you can picture the geek from South Park’s World of

Warcraft episode, do so now. On the other hand, if you were one of those users, I’ll allow a moment of silence for you to lament your loss.

Done? Good, because I’m moving on.

Still, the major question is this: Will the shutdown stop illegal downloading?

If you want my humble opinion, it would be this: Absolutely not.

I’d be willing to bet money (gambling is illegal on campus, so don’t come looking for me, by the way) that music, porn or whatever else someone’s heart desires is being downloaded as I write at this very moment, and most likely as you’re reading this.

The point is that when it boils down to the nitty-gritty, LimeWire was just one of many illegal downloading programs. At its finest point, its name was synonymous with the word “virus,” just like many of the other free programs out there. And since those free programs are available in an abundant amount, there’s really no saying when illegal downloading will stop, if ever.

I’m sure that some of you reading this know of other places that you can get music for free from and are saying, “LimeWire?

Pshaw, I’ve got backups for my backups!”

I believe it. Because free music is not, by any means, hard to find, even on reputable websites like the Times.

Know this, though: there are repercussions. While it seems slightly farfetched, there are true stories from the past of people who were sued for millions because of illegal downloading. Final verdict: Use any free downloading programs at your own risk.

If you’re someone who absolutely refuses to pay for music and are recklessly determined to keep on downloading for free, LimeWire is wheezing its last few breaths until its complete shutdown on December 31, so take advantage of that.

Or just Google the phrase “free music download” and see what happens.

Letter to the Editor: Fight Against Black Discrimination in Cuba

A group of about 40 people from the CCSU community attended a presentation

by Tomás Fernández Robaina on the Limitations and Advances in the Fight Against Black Discrimination in Cuba.

Professor Robaina’s presentation covered the changes in thinking in Cuba in recent years around the question of racism in Cuba. Among the points that the professor made was that the question of whether or not racism is still alive within the Cuban Revolution. It is one that is being addressed with renewed vigor, particularly by youth.

Robaina spoke about how culture, music (including hip-hop), dance and folk art was being used to explore what it meant to be “Cuban” of one “racial” group or another.

Cuban, like most nations in the Americas (including the United States) has a diverse “racial” background and these differences have been used to divide. The Cuban Revolution opened up the path breaking this down once and for all, a path still being

walked.

Special thanks are due to the organizers of the event: the Department of Geography, the Center for Public Policy and Social Research, the Latin American, Latino and Caribbean Center, CCSU Department of Geography and the Greater Hartford Coalition on Cuba.

Too often talk about Cuba occupies opposite poles: one pole seeing Cuba as den of evil and oppression which refuses to acknowledge the important historical gains that were achieve starting in 1959. The other has a starry-eyed view of the island as a “workers’ paradise,” and ignores the hard work that goes into mobilizing the population to overcome centuries of oppression and domination by foreign powers (including the United States).

I hope that this will open up an ongoing discussion on campus.

- Peter Krala

it is we can do to better ourselves overall.

The editors next semester don’t want to have to write all of the stories. We don't want to dominate the front page or the opinion page. It’s becoming the voice of a few and no one else’s. A newspaper should be a vast representation of the student body, but it’s hard to do that when you have five or six of the same people writing for your publication every week. If you get a chance, look at the mast head at the front of this paper. Beyond the editors, there’s not much there.

As a staff we admittedly haven’t done enough to reach out to the campus community and we realize that now. For some reason, it’s become quite clear that the average person doesn’t want to take the risk and have their work in print. We need to repair that image.

There is no risk involved with bringing your stories to us and we will help you along the way if you need it. Ask any one of us and we’ll tell you the more writers we can pack into our

office every week and into our Monday night meetings, the better.

Our last staff meeting of the semester was a sad sight. Beyond the editors there were three other people there. A total of six votes were cast to re-elect the editor-in-chief.

Six students out of an entire university. Why even have the meetings? There is no reason that it should be like this. We want students, staff members or not, to come to us with ideas, thoughts and problems. We want it to be our job to look deeper into what fuels their happiness or anger at this university.

It's been our slogan for nearly a month now: We're not just a newspaper anymore.

We’re trying to succeed, but we can barely do that with the input we’re getting from the community. The future can be bright if we all step up and make this what it has the potential to be. You're only in this position once in your life. Be excited about it.

The Lighter Side: Alcohol and Marijuana nicholas proch The Recorder

It’s been an entire semester of politics, semantics and other things that end in ‘tics’.

As the opinion editor of this publication, I may have forgotten what brings the readers to this paper. There are certain things that don’t really matter to the average college student and, frankly, you’re probably looking to read something that you won’t read in the larger papers.

So what does matter to students? It’s easy to dance around the subject of drugs and alcohol and think that we’re too mature for that subject. But are we really? This article will now be done in two parts.

Alcohol On Campus: This is an age old debate. We’ve been a dry campus for over two decades now, but we’ve seen signs that this may end. The allowance of tailgating for football games shows that the university may be growing tolerant of legal age consumption on its property, while at the same time they are making decisions that make you scratch your head. If in the future a student is caught in their dorm with the liquid contraband, they could potentially face a mandatory ban for several days off campus.

So what should be done going forward?

With the university police caring so much about preventing and catching the culprits of drunk driving, they could reduce their occurrence vastly by opening up something that we used to have on this very campus. A bar.

That’s right, for those of you who don’t know, Semesters used to be a bar, and there was also a bar in the basement Carroll Hall.

Why would this be allowed? It obviously calls in some moral questions of why it would be good for a university to profit from alcohol sales, but the benefits of the operation could outweigh the bad light it would cast. If it would help reduce the amount of drunk driving to and from campus and the usual weekend hordes of inebriated patrons to the local watering holes and surrounding houses it will certainly be worth it.

This university is trying to become more of a campus environment and less of a commuter school, but to do that they might just have to break some of their newly formed habits. The surrounding community would love to no longer hear the yelling of postadolescents at three in the morning.

The police could have less to do in finding the drinking spots around campus and ruining the nights of many as they bust up a party for a noise complaint. Of course, drinking would have to be restricted to those who were of age, but it would be far easier to filter out the fake identifications, when you’d have to show your university i.d. which is linked to the university server. I’m sure that this will come up again, and it should.

The Legalization of Marijuana in this ‘Great’ Country: Boy, this is going to be an endeavor for me to take on, but I’ll give it my best. I find it silly that it’s legal for someone to consume alcohol to a point of no return, end up in a hospital and not get in any trouble.

Realistically, alcohol is far more dangerous

to your health and to your peers health, potentially, than pot.

Compare the health risks to cigarettes, one of the leading killers in this country.

Cigarettes are filled with chemicals, many of which are carcinogens. Marijuana, in its purest form, is just the plant itself. And currently, the FDA has said that there is no proven long-term negative effects from smoking the drug. Can the same be said for cigarettes? I don’t think so. As a matter of fact, it’s completely the opposite.

One of the biggest issues in this country is the illegal drug trafficking within and over our borders. The legalization of marijuana would basically eliminate the need to go down to the corner and make a shady deal with someone in an alley. If you could go to a store to buy the drug, just as you can alcohol or tobacco, you could control its supply, tax it and eliminate much of the violence that ensues from the cartels who control its supply.

The idea that pot is a gateway drug is widely considered to be false by the majority of its users. It’s actually the environment which you become a part of due to the secrecy and the individuals you have to come in to contact with that leads to trying other things. A drug dealer is always looking to make more money. If they can get you addicted to another substance, they will open up the door to make a higher profit for themselves.

It will also open up many industries which go along with the substance. The contraband that goes with it, the employees of these potential ‘pot shops,’ and the growing and harvesting which can be done on our soil by the struggling farming communities in this nation.

This will also help the law enforcement of this country. They will not have to patrol and enforce this drug, but the other benefit is much greater. They can turn their focus to the real killers in this country, the harder drugs. If you think that marijuana is at the same level as heroin and cocaine, then you should have your head examined. They don’t compare at all. There are plenty of students who come to class after having a smoke and they function like a normal individual. If they had come in on heroin, I don’t think they could have flown under the radar.

It’s not going to be easy for this to be passed on the federal level, but there will be a huge following and an unrest until this happens. If and once it is passed, the option will be left open for states to ban it on an individual level. This happened after prohibition. Several states didn’t allow alcohol for years to come.

Conclusion: If we’ve learned anything from prohibition, it’s that you can’t keep the people away from what they want, when they want it. The U.S. law enforcement wasted far too many of its resources in fighting a losing battle against bootleggers and speakeasies. People on this campus will find a way to drink and will continue to find a place to drink, mostly while driving to these places and putting the public at risk.

And in this country, people will smoke.

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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, December 8, 2010 / UPGRADE

REVIEWS

‘Putnam’ Spells Theatrical Delight max kyburz The Recorder

I relish the Scripps National Spelling Bee. More specifically, I enjoy the ones from the 90’s (which were fondly mocked on ESPN’s defunct Cheap Seats, the Mystery Science Theater 3000 for sports), mostly because of their abundance of laughable kids. Call it a flash of my cruel streak, but there’s something oddly fun about watching nerds duke it out – cerebrally, of course.

Yes, there’s an unequivocal entertainment value to these competitions, which is why they are great fodder for musical theatre.

With that, I say a long overdue “bravo” to Rebecca Feldman, William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin, the copious minds that birthed The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical that’s enjoyed a well-deserved legacy since its premiere in 2005.

Along with the writers of the show, I’d also like to extend a warm congrats to the young men and woman who brought the big little show to life in CCSU’s Black Box Theatre. Directed by Paul Revaz, Putnam is simply a delight; a one-act jamboree of silly, safely bawdy fun that bursts with youthful energy. Though its original run was enacted by older adults, it works best when acted out by younger kids. This production got that part, among others, well-tuned.

As you may have already guessed, Putnam is about a spelling bee, and a colorful one at that. The assembly is populated with the stock elementary school characters: the frustrated bookworm, the overachieving militant, the nasally know-it-all, the Boy Scout and the reason childproof bottles were invented. In a neat twist, some audience members are brought up to compete as well, making the play a very interactive experience.

Joined by an eager former champion, a less than eager (and definitely bitter) vice principal and an ex-con who seems two drug deals shy of a life sentence, the spelling

The Boy Least Likely To Christmas Special

+1 Records November 29

max kyburz The Recorder

Hurts me to say it, but Christmas music just doesn’t excite me like it used to.

I don’t know; part of it has to do with the fact that working in the food industry five holiday seasons in a row irks me now and again. It’s may just be that it’s usually the same old stuff, and that most of the newer Christmas songs just don’t cut it. Basically anything that was made after Wham!’s “Last Christmas” I can do without.

To clarify, this appllies to both commercial and non-commercial Christmas music. Just as I get sick of hearing Simple Plan over and over again, I believe that Weezer half-assed it with their holiday EP. But out of the many bands to have tried to sound like the Island of Misfit Toys house band, the Boy Least Likely To actually pulls it off. Their snowflake laden Christmas Special is a merry and bright jam session from the UK pop duo, and it’s a perfect fit into the rest of the band’s catalogue.

bee takes off, switching between the present and flashback. These asides provide the most tender moments of the show, especially during “The I Love You Song,” which is a moving short departure from the rampant zaniness. The kids and adults belt songs centering on adolescent woes, from gay daddy drama to body-conscious anxiety, adding a semi-serious tinge to it.

Not serious to the point of bleakness, thank God. Again, it’s all in good fun; if they lose, they get a juice box and a hug!

The acting, as I’ve usually thought with CCSU Theatre students, is terrific.

Lucas Veo stole the show as Barfee, who is nerdiness defined. In short, he’s a geek from the 7th circle of geek hell. Kyle Reynolds, in his first role at Central, plays Leaf, a slightly more competent form of Ralph Wiggum, with spunk and charisma. Julie Jarvis, in her third main stage role, is particularly adorable in her portrayal of the semi-sad, super-smart Olive. As for the adults, the highlight was Ally Brown as Rona Lisa Peretti self-proclaimed “number one realtor in Putnam County,” who possesses a golden singing voice. Bully job, young whippersnappers.

I mentioned audience participation earlier. As the spelling bees themselves are wholly unpredictable, the play based upon them allows some room for flexibility and improvisation. Four audience members (probably friends of the cast members) were chosen to also compete in the bee - they even had their own contestant numbers! Fitting in with the show’s written text, they naturally had to lose, but one little unprecedented twist was enjoyed: a certain young Mr. Ramsey (probably about the age of the characters) spelled the surefirestumper “kidymangel” correctly, leaving the audience (and the cast) stunned. Flubs like that are a rarity, and a nice touch to the already pleasant evening. Also, how many shows have you gone to give out candy?

Despite some minor biffs (beginning 20 Of their first album, The Best Party Ever, Rolling Stone wrote, “if your stuffed animals got together and started a band, it might sound like the Boy Least Likely To.” Indeed, their sound evokes childhood memories of lullabies and Playskool instruments, with a calming, hushed voice that can put any child to sleep. The Boy Least Likely To are not sedatives, though; their albums are soundtracks to the most carefree tappings into the inner-child.

For that matter, Christmas Special should accompany the building of a snowman. It’s bright, poppy mood dances like sugarplum visions, through which the boys sing love songs and odes to friends that offer warmth in the most frigid of seasons. The third track, “Blue Spruce Needles,” sweetly asks, “How can it be Christmas if we are apart?” Not the most original phrasing, but the traditional stylings of The Boy Least Likely To are what make it special.

Sometimes the combination of the new and old stylings gets a little too quirky at times; the suggestiveness of the line “You jingle my bells, and I’ll jingle yours” is an odd distraction from the overall sweetness.

Thankfully, that’s as low as it gets.

Given their cutesy, semi-ironic sound, The Boy Least Likely To seems like they would cover a Christmas pop standard. Something like the aforementioned “Last Christmas”?

Well, the boys have something better than that: a hosanna to the 80s pop duo called “George and Andrew.” It’s a neat tribute, part of it being the music video that reunites the two of them. No major stepping stone for Wham!, as they have reunited several times, but the Boy Least Likely To knows that each reunion with a good friend is what Christmas is all about.

These twinkle-eyed playground-hogging Brits have presented a solid piece of Christmas cheer. It’s a love album, like their other releases, but this one is specifically meant for what some consider the most loving season of all.

But it doesn’t beat the Twisted Sister Christmas album, that’s for sure. Ho ho ho.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was presented by CCSU theatre last week. minutes late, sound inconsistencies), Putnam was a joy to watch, and while its run may be over at CCSU, it’s bound to pop up elsewhere

Agalloch

Marrow of the Spirit

Profound Lore November 23

Chris Cox

The Recorder

Agalloch has reached cult status among the mysterious genre known as black metal. Their music is poetically macabre and mixed with acoustic instruments to create a dark naturey atmosphere.

Most of the lyrical content is poetically brilliant and uses nature and winter as metaphors for depression, suicide and love. Their unique genre, ‘dark metal’ is black metal with strong folk influences.

The music creates an imagery of nature and winter that is sought after by many other musicians within the black metal scene, and since I discovered them in early 2005 I have never heard anything else like them.

in the future. Pure confectionary brain-food, all thanks to the talented members of the Central Theatre Department.

There has not been another band to utilize poetic lyrical content with a dark wintery feel like Agalloch. The intelligence behind the lyrics of Agalloch is a writing style that I admire.

Finally returning with their long awaited album Marrow Of The Spirit, Agalloch hasn’t failed to impress again. This album once again recreates their magical atmosphere given off by their music with cello and acoustic instruments on many parts in their songs.

This time drawing influences from second and third wave black metal bands like Immortal, Sacramentum, Rotting Christ, Dissection and early Ulver. Fast tremolo picking to create that black metal atmosphere created by such acts is a great new addition to the band’s music.

The album opens up with the natural soundscapes and violin of “They Escaped the Weight” then into a fast tempo tremolo picking in “Into the Painted Gray” which is played in a low key and doesn’t sound “brutal” at all but sets up the melancholic mood of the album. This sound is like Sacramentum’s “Far Away From The Sun.” “Black Lake Nidstang” is another favorite of mine on this album, the track starts off with a great Chopin-like piano that is very slow and passionate and breathes atmosphere, showing strong neo-folk influences.

I hope more music lovers will come to know Agalloch and enjoy their music as many metal fans have. They aren’t very successful commercially, and aren’t well known, but are probably one of the best obscure bands I can think of. Their older albums Pale Folklore and The Mantle are accessible to new listeners, and are remarked as some of the best metal albums ever written.

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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, December 8, 2010 / UPGRADE

Ten of ‘10-Best Films of the Year Max Kyburz The Recorder

2010 has been an interesting year for film. If anything, it’s been a testament of Hollywood burrowing deeper into its more-miss-than-hit streak. When I say “hit,” I refer not to profitability (if there’s one thing America still has credibility in, it’s that), but rather to quality. Some would argue that American movies have hit a decline in the last ten years, but I would not be so quick to agree. If anything, it’s proved that the independents are going to be taking home the Oscar gold, proving that the best actors and directors in the biz are not always recognizable names and faces.

We’re currently in the belly of Oscar season, which makes this list somewhat premature; Black Swan has yet to come to a theatre near me, True Grit has been slapped with a “Don’t Open ‘Til Xmas” sticker, and the new Steven Soderbergh, Sophia Coppola and Alejandro González Iñárritu films can’t come any sooner. Upon seeing those films, I’m positive this list will change, but for now here are my top 10 films for 2010.

Enter the Void – My apologies to Animal Collective fans: ODDSAC is a failure. Despite their efforts, they couldn’t out-trip, out-weigh, or out-last Enter The Void, the newest film from egocentric sonuvabitch Gasper Noe. Inspired by the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Void is a first-person odyssey through the events leading up to and following a drug dealer’s murder in Japan. Unlike most films, we are not the fly on the wall; Noe makes the wall collapse, and we turn from spectators into contestants. Void is bloated, spastic, icky, dazzling, and disturbing, almost as if Noe personally force fed you a hippie’s wish list of hallucinogenics.

At last, the first blacklight movie.

Drink it in.

Inception – I’m still floored by that hallway fight scene. Some say Inception panders (or even confuses) too much, but I wouldn’t expect much different from a big-budget movie. Personally, I found it to be a breath of fresh air: a blockbuster that actually makes you think. We may never figure out the ending – I’ve stopped trying altogether – but that just proves the grappling hold this film has on its viewers.

It’ll get a baker’s dozen of Oscar nominations, and knowing how the Academy works, it’ll be a leading contender for Best Picture.

Leo’s performance is nomination worthy, but his best work is yet to come.

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Leonardo DiCaprio, Inception Life During Wartime – Over a decade after Happiness cordially upset the status quo of American film, Todd Solondz brings the longsuffering Mellencamp family back for another trot through middle-class tortures. Life During Wartime, as a result, is a much darker film that acts more as a straightforward drama, but retaining Solondz’s signature gasp-inspiring, “should-I-laugh-or-not” shock value.

Like his influential Palindromes, Solondz once again toys with the concept of characters being played by other actors.

Those expecting the familiar faces of Happiness to return will be confused, but (strangely) comforted once they see how much more distraught and developed the characters become as a result.

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Dylan Riley Snyder, Life During Wartime

Winter’s Bone – Of the films from this year that tackle family issues, Winter’s Bone dwarfs them all. Jennifer Lawrence gives a stunningly fearless performance as the steadfast Ree Dolly. Winter’s Bone is a low-key mystery with a mighty spirit that incorporates flashes of a frontier Western. The difference here, though, is the world of Ree is one where men are inherently weak; her home and family threatened with foreclosure, Ree takes journey to find her meth-brewing father. It’s a suspenseful journey that challenges the meanings of “family” with excellent direction from Debra Granik. If the next Oscars are a ten Best Picture nod affair, this will surely be in the running.

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Machete

– The best action ffilm of the year, hands down. Perhaps, also, the best ffilm of Robert Rodriguez’s career. I’m not kidding.

Danny Trejo was the real star of Grindhouse, so his revival of the most badass Federale in recent memory was long-awaited and Dogtooth – If there warmly received. The surprisingly were such a thing as Greek well-handled marriage of skillful Unorthodox, Dogtooth craft and total exploitation at would be it. A low-budget play by Rodriguez and Co. is hard family drama that has brains to come by, as is the crafting of a true hero: a vengeful dude who and imagination, and look! No special doesn’t back down, abuse women, effects! A harrowing parable about overzealous parental protection that or, most importantly, text. proves that the words “I’ll never let anything happen to you” are both the most pleasant and most awful words a parent could say. A savage quirkiness it has; laugh and you may choke.

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Trash Humpers – Thought that Paranormal Activity 2 was the scariest mock-doc of the year? Wait ‘til you see Trash Humpers, Harmony Korine’s low-fi tour-de-freak that impresses as much as it repulses. Basically, it’s a collection of “home videos” chronicling the exploits of some very, very odd people with seemingly too much time on their hands. How do they find the time to shoot hoops after performing oral on tree branches? Tune in for answers to this, and more!

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Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone

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Sullivan Stapleton & Jacki Weaver , Animal Kingdom Animal Kingdom – It’s truly an actor’s showcase; Jacki Weaver shines (and digs) as the nurturing but subtly malicious motherhen, and Ben Mendelsohn is evil personified. At the forefront is a masterfully understated performance from newcomer James Frecheville, who portrays J with such inscrutability.

Animal Kingdom is a compelling brew of police procedural and family drama that hits all the right points in terms of pace, writing, and direction. Director David Michod also manages to score some points with the impressive (and nearly impossible) feat of employing Air Supply’s “All Out of Love” with sincerity, and if that’s not enough of a high point, I don’t know what is.

Dinner for Schmucks – Boy, was I glad I took a chance on this one. Thanks to this movie, I can’t listen to the Beatles’ “Fool on the Hill” without picturing mice juggling flaming torches. Aside from the fact that it is relentless in its assault on the funny bone, Dinner for Schmucks rules for two reasons: the hilarious, scene-stealing deadpan of Jemaine Clement, and the film’s inability to make Jeff Dunham seem funny.

Sometimes our flaws are, indeed, our biggest strengths.

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Jesse Eisenberg , The Social Network

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The Social Network – This is sort of a “well, duh” pick, but damn, was it a well-crafted film. Directed by the always captivating David Fincher, The Social Network is a solid success story, sharply penned by Aaron Sorkin. Jesse Eisenberg plays Mark Zuckerberg with an awkward finesse that pulls him away from complete detestability. A real turn for Fincher, whose previous film, Benjamin Button, was an expensive near-miss. Now he’s in stripped down Steve Carell and Paul Rudd, Dinner for Schmucks form, and once again proves he’s the man.

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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, December 8, 2010 / UPGRADE

Ten of ‘10-Best Albums of the Year Max Kyburz The Recorder

Tobacco – Maniac Meat - Tom Fec, aka the Vocoder-tongued frontman of Black Moth Super Rainbow named Tobacco, returned with another tripped-out crop of headache inducing pop. With the help of Beck on a couple tracks, Tobacco’s Maniac Meat wants to rock out just as much as it wants to chill. Tobacco’s got a lizard tongue who lets the words melt to the ground once uttered.

The beats and rhythms are dizzying and creative, always with a personal, experimental tone. Best played for pitch-black nights after 2 a.m., when the party just doesn’t want to end.

Wavves – King of the Beach - I very much doubt that hipsters truly enjoy the beach, and I’m pretty sure very few of them actually surf. But hot damn, they sure love to sing and riff about it, and no album of 2010 does it better than Wavves’ King of the Beach. From the boardwalk-shredding title track to the faux-Animal Collective stylings of ‘Mickey Mouse’, with a happy-go-lucky stoner vibe riddled throughout, King of the Beach transcends Wavves’ previous effort while retaining some of its lo-fi experimental joy.

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Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles - Just when they couldn’t be any more eccentric, Crystal Castles disoriented the masses (as well as my iTunes) by giving their newest album the same name as their first. That aside, CC2 is an astonishing reinvention, showing that they are far from monotonous. Sure, the 8-bit punk is still intact, but there’s a lot more experimentation at the helm. Alice Glass with her dramatically sexy shrieks and coos get most of the glory, but Ethan Kath’s digital-smorgasbord setup takes the cake.

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Darkthrone – Circle the Wagons - While Black Breath represents the more polished side of black metal/crust punk integration, old reliable Darkthrone channels the more raw (and borderline camp) end.

Their fourth departure from the straightforward black metal sound that got them noticed, the Norwegian duo bust out nine tracks of speed metal hell, each one more ball-busting than the last. If a grave-robbing motorcycle gang ever needed a soundtrack, Circle the Wagons is it.

David Byrne and Fatboy Slim - Here Lies Love - The duo’s album felt like the soundtrack to Punch Drunk Love, but extended and remixed. If this were adapted for the stage, I’d be there with bells on. Byrne and Slim present an all-star roster of musical heroines, from Florence Welch to Cyndi Lauper to Santigold, to “play” former First Lady of the Philipines Imelda Marcos in this rousing faux-musical. Centering on Marcos and her nanny Estrella Cumpas, each track tells tales of yearning, hardship, and the unrequited.

Moving from the stage to the discotheque and in every part of a woman’s heart, Here Lies Love is an album with a great concept that doesn’t suffer from arrogance.

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Ladies of CCSU’s TGFI A Cappella Group Recieve Rousing Response Kevin jachimowicz The Recorder

With everyone getting their holiday decorations out for display, there could not have been a better time to hold a concert infused with such festivity. Founders Hall was decorated to match the beautiful voices of the performing a cappella groups.

As I entered the hall I was greeted with a brochure for the show. To my surprise, the University of Hartford’s a cappella group, creatively titled Hawkappella, were the initial performers. Hawkappella consisted solely of male students and boasted an interesting variety of sounds.

The group became very engaged with the crowd throughout their portion of the show.

Hawkappella offered a number of different things, including short comedy segments, as well as taking difficult songs and implementing some serious percussion noises as a group.

They brought their performance to an end with the final two songs being “The Twelve Days of Christmas” and Matchbox Twenty’s immediately recognizable track “How Far We’ve Come.”

Once Hawkappella’s segment of the show was over, the ladies of Central Connecticut

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. She and Him – Volume Two - Though I’m sure she doesn’t regret taking up acting, Zooey Deschanel must have first and foremost wanted to be a singer. Her second duet with M. Ward, under the pseudonym She & Him, released Volume Two, another thirteen tracks of old-school country pop. Beginning with the swaying ballad “Thieves,” the duo bops through a series of tunes that almost sound like Nancy Sinatra’s long-lost tapes. “Me and You” and “Home” are Opry-bound, and the finale “If You Can’t Sleep” is just heavenly.

Zooey is not just trying to be a pop star; she is a pop star.

Black Breath – Heavy Breathing - Velvethooded motorhead punks Black Breath are as foul as their name implies. Their debut full length from Southern Lord Records admonishes its listeners to drop all guard and let loose, and with strong conviction. With titles like “Black Sin (Spit on the Cross),” “Escape from Death,” and “Wewhocannotbenamed,” you can’t expect more than pure, uninhibited vexation with a little blasphemy thrown in here and there. And that’s exactly what you get.

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Electric Wizard – Black Masses - I’m not the biggest fan of doom metal, which may have something to do with my short attention span. Electric Wizard is an exception. Their spliffpassing, fuzzbox brand of doom metal makes you feel like you’re in an old Hammer horror film on acid. Black Masses is another piece of the demonic space cake that these Brits have been making since 1993. “Turn Off Your Mind” is pure Sabbath worship, “Venus in Furs” drips with acidity. The whole album is a psyched-out slump through a witch’s coven, and what more can you expect from these guys?

State University’s a cappella group Too Good For Instruments arrived. They not only performed, but provided the audience with a chance to celebrate the season. For those who were interested there was also the option available to pre-order their soon to be released album for the low price of $7 A favorite of mine from Too Good For Instruments would have to be Marvin Gaye’s classic song “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” which was perfectly executed by the group and featured a great solo by Cassandra Montanez. The Foundation’s track “Build Me Up Buttercup” was also a crowd favorite. Their final piece before the intermission was “Lady Marmalade” which featured a number of very impressive solos.

Every single person in Founders Hall instantly jumped up on their feet to give the amazing performance a standing ovation.

Recent allocations the group has obtained include acceptance into the International Championships of A Cappella. Although a number of groups are entered into this tournament, the ladies of Too Good For Instruments happen to be the only group in all of Connecticut entered in the competition, which is quite an impressive feat.

For additional information on TGFI, you can visit their website at tgfi.webs.com or their YouTube page at youtube.com/tgficcsu.

The Black Angels – Phosphene Dream - I am an admitted sucker for acid rock throwbacks, and though Tame Impala solidly delivered with Innerspeaker, it was the Black Angels of Austin, Texas that won me over. Combining the best elements of The Doors, Buffalo Springfield, the Stooges and every other band that took peyote in the 1960’s. Songs o n Phosphene Dream teeter between garage-rock madness and pure psychedelia, and it turns the body electric. Out of the litter of bands that feebly try to sound 60s, The Black Angels actually succeed in mastering the sound while making it their own.

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Parasytic – Poison Minds - In my initial review of Poison Minds, I wrote, “Consider your face melted.” I still haven’t recovered one bit. Parasytic brought the noise this year, returning in full-swing with their follow up to 2008’s Hymn. Each track is a swift hammer to the heart, pummeling you mercilessly. I don’t enjoy pain, but I had no problem letting a few crusties from Richmond kick my ass around the block for 30 minutes. In repeat shifts, no less. Nick “Nikropolis” Paulos is one of the best guitarists around today, and if you don’t believe me, the riffs will speak for themselves. Parasytic is all rage, no mercy. Get it.

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Positions Available: - News Editor - Assistant News Editor - Lifestyles Editor - Videographers - Photographers - Copy Editor

If interested send an email and resume to editor@centralrecorder.com.

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, December 8, 2010 / SPORTS

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SPORTS BEGINS ON BACK PAGE

The Other Whalers of Connecticut

Athletic Director Schlickmann Continues Community Initiative

not so much about athletics it’s about having pride in the school The Recorder and wanting to display that and having a part of it,” he said regarding It has been five months since the student participation he has Paul Shlickmann accepted his new seen during his first full season position as athletics director for with CCSU. the CCSU Blue Devils, and within Instilling that pride starts with those five months he has already the little things and evolves to the established a strong presence not larger aspects. Walking in to Kaiser only with the university community the first thing you see is the thirty but the surrounding area as well. different championship trophies “I think it’s really important pictures of the building’s namesake to me and us as a department, us as well as that of the Detrick being a very viable component Gymnasium have also been hung to campus life and an integrated so students can recognize and learn component to campus life and about their school’s history. being a very positive front porch Another yet equally important for the university and I think we’ve piece that Schlickmann wanted accomplished some good things to work on was reaching the with working with faculty and staff people outside of the campus, and working with student affairs including local businesses and and engaging students and some alumni. However, one of the most of the things we did early on in important parts of the external piece the year and trying to isn’t necessarily market and engage luring people our students,” said to the CCSU Schlickmann. home games, to In taking on the Schlickmann it’s role of AD in May, about the athletics one of Schlickmann’s department doing main goals for the good things such athletics department as volunteerism was to get more of within the the CCSU campus New Britain involved and excited community. to be a Blue Devil. To Relationships ensure he really listens have already to what the students started to grow want he has gone to between the speak with SGA, and CCSU athletics implemented “Go Blue department and Paul Schlickmann.

Fridays” within the the New Britain athletics department, Friendship Center, which has already the New Britain Boys and Girls begun to spread beyond athletics.

Club and the New Britain Hospital.

“It just inspires people to be It is Schlickmann’s objective to get prideful and energetic about being the department staff and primarily a Blue Devil and having pride for the athletes out and volunteering, your campus and your school it’s whether it is cooking and serving food in the Friendship Center or conducting sports clinics at the hospital and Boys and Girls club.

“We talked on the onset about the competitive piece and that’s the most visible piece of what we do but it’s not everything…helping them to get a great education and allowing them to grow and become contributing members “Oglesby has been great, she is of the community and learn the really athletic and can get boards value of that selfless approach to and get to the basket.” said Piper. community service and all the “Brooke Bailey is giving us great things that go along with that and minutes, she causes mismatches on continually talking about doing offense and has improved so much the right things and working hard on defense. Daamen is coming and being respectful of others and of a career high, and Jessica Babe all those kind of general concepts can come in and give Dowdy rest, we all preach, I really believe in which is what we need.” strongly so that’s the piece at this Following the game against level of athletics and again the Rutgers, the Blue Devils travel to competitive piece and the scores Monmouth, to play another revenge appear in the paper are often the game. Monmouth beat CCSU most visible but there’s other parts,” twice last year, and the Blue Devils said Schlickmann. are looking to prove themselves.

“I think if you’re doing them “Monmouth is definitely correctly and believe in them as another revenge match,” said Piper. an educator which I do I think that “We have to come out ready to play. contribute to the success piece and I Our defensive intensity is so much truly believe they are intertwined.” better, we’re really going to make The competitive part is also a them work.” large factor in Schlickmann’s first With four seniors on the court, season as AD, which produced a and Piper at the helm, losses like co-championship for the football the one to Rutgers will be few team, a defending championship in and far between. The Blue Devils men’s cross country and numerous are geared up to return to their other accomplishments from the winning ways when they play Blue Devils, but this semester is Monmouth. They will play at home only the beginning. Schlickmann on December 19 to take on New is excited for what’s to come of the Hampshire after playing on the future of CCSU athletics, believing road for over a month. that they can truly do great things.

Brittany Burke

The Danbury Whalers are an original six team in the FHL’s inaugural season this year.

Brittany Burke The Recorder

The chant “Let’s go Whalers” reverberated off the walls as the young hockey team, donning the classic Hartford Whalers blue and green, took the ice for pregame warm-ups, but it wasn’t the Hartford Whalers on the ice, it was the Federal Hockey League’s Danbury Whalers.

The Danbury Ice Arena became the home to the Danbury Whalers as part of the FHL in its inaugural season. The FHL was launched in 2010, with the Whalers as one of the original six teams. As a new single A minor league, the FHL houses teams in New York and Ontario as well as Danbury.

A hockey night in Danbury is truly a family night and offers a good alternative for Connecticut residents who can’t make it to the newly rebranded Connecticut Whale games. Despite being on a smaller scale, the Whalers managed to pack the house with 2,512 fans crowding along the glass and in the stands as the puck dropped against the New York Aviators. The Whalers were just 250 fans shy of

matching the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers attendance.

“It’s pretty awesome because the Whalers have an awesome organization, on a night like tonight they had 2,200 fans, they put on a great show for the city of Danbury and it’s not like this anywhere else in the league,” said Joe Dabkowski, former CCSU Blue Devil and current Danbury Whaler.

Saturday night’s game against the Aviators was a white out with the first 1,000 fans receiving a free Whalers t-shirt. The game was also a “Dream Come True Night” sponsored by the Danbury based organization, Western Connecticut Dream. The objective of the organization is to grant wishes to seriously ill children throughout the Litchfield, New Haven and Fairfield counties.

The Whalers organization truly made the night fun for the fans in the audience. Giveaways were done between face-offs, chuck-a-puck was conducted during intermission and the Brass Bonanza rang loud and clear, which only elicited another round of “Let’s go Whalers.”

Despite the Whalers falling at home for the first time of the

kenny barto | the recorder

season in a shutout loss against the Aviators, the fans remained in their seats until the final buzzer and stayed after the game to meet the players and stand in line for autographs.

Even as the deficit grew the fans didn’t become deflated, they cheered as if the Whalers were in the lead, continually banging on the glass with the faint sound of a vuvuzela in the background try and keep the momentum going.

The Whalers are currently 8-71 following the loss to the Aviators and are fourth in the league, nine points behind the league leader, Akwesasne, but the team manages to lure in the best fan base in the league. The team is 7-1 at home, and it is clear the Danbury community has embraced the team with open arms.

Even if you are not a hockey fan the Danbury Whalers experience is another good example of professional sports in Connecticut alongside the CT Whale, Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Hartford Colonials and New Britain Rock Cats.

The next home game is on Saturday Dec. 11 against the Rome Frenzy at 7:05 p.m.

Despite Loss, Women’s Basketball Team Remains Perseverent Christopher mclaughlin The Recorder

Despite losing to Rutgers on Sunday, the CCSU women’s basketball team remains on their best start in school history.

The Blue Devils got off to a 5-0 start before Sundays loss to Rutgers.

Their previous best start was in 1985-86 when they went 4-0. While Head Coach Beryl Piper is excited by the hot start, she isn’t getting complacent.

“It’s awesome for the program, school, and alumni, but we understand that it’s a long season.

We cant be satisfied with what we’ve done. We can be proud, but we still have to work hard,” said Piper.

The strong start has come with some impressive victories over good teams, including the Jen Rizzotti coached Hartford. Although they were overmatched by Rutgers, the Blue Devils have been playing very well this season. They’ve picked up three wins on the road, and got redemption over Maine University, who beat them at the buzzer last season.

During the game, CCSU was

sparked by Alexzandria Dowdy, who caught fire late to lead the Blue Devils to victory.

“The Maine game was an obvious revenge game. The kids knew we should have beat them last year,” said Piper. “I’m happy to win at Maine, but not satisfied. We had 28 turnovers, we need to work on better decision making and be more careful.”

After defeating Maine, CCSU won an overtime thriller at Siena.

The Blue Devils shooters came alive in OT, and shot lights out to help CCSU come out on top. They matched their first half total in the five minute OT, by scoring 18 points shooting 80 percent from the field.

“Siena was another huge win,” said Piper. “We did make 29 turnovers, but still came out with a victory. Our senior leadership has been really helping, and they found a way to will us to a win. Getting another win on the road says a lot about our character.”

Unfortunately, once the Blue Devils beat Siena, injuries started to set in. Justina Udenze broke her finger, and Jaleen Thomas came down with mono. Despite the

injuries, CCSU still pulled out a victory at Holy Cross.

With Udenze out, Kirsten Daamen stepped up, and had a monster game. She scored 17 points and had five rebounds and two blocks. The Blue Devils battled all game, and sent the game into overtime, when Dowdy tied the game with five seconds left.

For the second straight game, CCSU pulled out an overtime victory on the road.

“We still felt good even with players out. We know we have the depth so we remained confident.

They came out and hit the first three in OT, but we continued to battle and came out with an unbelievable win.” said Piper.

While CCSU persevered against Holy Cross, they weren’t as fortunate against Rutgers. The loss may have ended the Blue Devils undefeated streak, but they’re still in a good position.

Though Piper believes her team needs to cut down on turnovers, she is pleased with the performance of her players. In addition to the four seniors, the rest of the team is contributing as well.

10

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, December 8, 2010 / SPORTS

COLUMN

Support Shouldn’t End With Winter Break

Brittany BUrke the recorder

A week of cramming, staying up late and putting in long hours in front of the computer or in the library is about to begin, but on the other side of that week is what every student has been counting down to since the first day of classes: winter break.

Break means a five week time span with no worries. No homework, no early morning classes, no tests or quizzes and no projects. As a student hands in their last exam and drives away from the CCSU campus the last thing on their mind is coming back to New Britain.

However in the five weeks that we have off students shouldn’t forget that the CCSU campus exists.

The men’s and women’s basketball teams are having the best season starts that either team has had in years, and over break home play is going to pick up.

The student body should still come and support their school, especially if home games are few and far between.

The student presence during the fall season hasn’t gone unnoticed by the athletics department.

“I think that’s been great,” said Athletic Director Paul Schlickmann of the campus wide athletic support. “People have been active and engaged in it and it’s caught on on campus and with some of the students. They’ve made up their own t-shirts for the last football game, which I loved and thought was great.”

Having the crowd and the fans around to make noise and cheer on the home team lifts the atmosphere on the field, in the rink or on the court and it gets the athletes pumped during a game. Playing in front of empty stands won’t excite the athletes. Instead they need and deserve to have people on the sidelines to root them on in the clutch.

There are 12 home games for the men’s and women’s basketball teams over winter break and it would be a shame if the only people in the stands were the athlete’s families.

Yes, break is about having fun and for a short while forgetting that school exists, but the brief hiatus shouldn’t include throwing all school pride out of the window.

Shemik Thompson Reaches Career and CCSU Milestone ChriStoPher mCLaUghLin the recorder

Three years ago, Shemik Thompson was named the NEC Rookie of the Year. Now in his final year of eligibility, Thompson has joined another elite class of players. On Nov. 20, Thompson became the 32nd player in CCSU history to score 1,000 points.

“It feels good to be in that class of players, but I try not to think of it as out of the ordinary, my goal has always been to help my team,” said Thompson.

Over the past three years, Thompson has developed from a star rookie into the heart and soul of CCSU basketball. He has put in the time and effort to become the unquestioned leader of the team. His progress has encompassed all facets of his game, and shows up both on and off the court.

“After four years I can tell a difference,” said Thompson. “My decision making, my growth as a person and a leader is noticeable.

I put a lot of work in over the summer, and it’s really helped my performance, I have to thank my coaches and teammates for really helping me out.”

During his career at CCSU, Thompson has showed countless times that he is willing to give his all for this team. Through heart, hustle and determination Thompson has earned not only the trust of his teammates, but the respect of his coach.

“I’ve never coached a tougher player,” said Head Coach Howie Dickenmen. “Not just physical toughness but mental as well, Shemik’s a winner and I don’t say that about many people.”

While scoring 1,000 points is a significant accomplishment that anybody would be proud of, it’s not how Thompson wishes to be remembered.

“I may set more records, but I’m not interested in the individual awards. I’m working really hard on playing on March 9. Being on the team that made it to the NCAA Tournament is what I want to be known for,” said Thompson.

With the men’s basketball team off to their best start in a decade, Thompson’s goal may soon be realized. It’s a long season, however, and Thompson knows this. He thoroughly prepares for each game and expects his best each time.

“I take every game very seriously,” said Thompson. “If I don’t perform well I take it personally. Right now we have the best record we’ve had, and we have to keep going in that direction. Every conference game

Shemik Thompson has averaged 14.7 points per game so far this year, and is tied with Ken kenny Barto | the reCorDer Horton for the team lead. we make sure we go hard, or we won’t be playing in March.

In addition to his own performance, Thompson takes the performance of his teammates just as seriously. His leadership both on and off the court is something that Dickenmen can rely on.

“The overall leadership he has shown has been remarkable, not just on the court but off it as well,” said Dickenmen.

Thompson remembers what it was like to be nervous before games, so he always makes sure his teammates feel comfortable.

Blue Devil Box Scores

Men’s 1000 Point Club 1. Damian Johnson. 1989-93. guard. 1734 2. Corsley Edwards. 1998-02. center. 1731 3. Rich Leonard. 1980-84. forward. 1697 4. Bill Reaves. 1968-71. forward. 1647 5. Rick Mickens. 1996-00. guard. 1632 6. Tristan Blackwood. 2004-08. guard. 1605 7. Gene Reilly. 1962-66. guard. 1597 8. Bryan Heron. 1985-89. forward. 1558 9. Kevin Hightower. 1979-83. guard. 1477 10. Tyrone Canino. 1983-88. forward. 1401 11. Steve Ayers. 1979-82. forward. 1372 12. Bill Wendt. 1970-1973. guard. 1333 13. Ron Robinson. 2000-04. forward. 1309 14. Javier Mojica. 2003-07. guard. 1302 15. Jim Muraski. 1962-66. forward. 1291 16. Bob Plosky. 1963-67. forward 1276 17. Obie Nwadike. 2003-07. forward. 1265 18. Greg Roberts. 1975-80. center. 1261 19. Dean Walker. 1997-01. guard. 1196 20. Ken Hightower. 1980-84. center. 1175 21. Paul Gregerick. 1957-61. guard. 1159 22. Dwayne Jones. 1983-87. guard. 1154 23. Howie Dickenman. 1966-69. center. 1145 24. Justin Chiera. 2002-06. guard. 1135 25. Chris White. 1977-80. forward. 1114 26. George Benoit. 1966-69. guard. 1088 27. Rich Nappi. 1982-86. guard. 1045 28. Bob Reagan. 1959-63. forward. 1040 29. Bill Hunter. 1968-71. center. 1033 30. Shemik Thompson. 2007-11. guard. 1011 31. Jere Quinn. 1973-77. guard. 1006 32. Joe Seymore. 2006-10. guard. 1001

“We have a lot of young guys, so I try to make sure that they’re loose. I’ve been there before, I’ve gone into games tense, it’s why I make sure everyone’s mindset is where it should be. That comes from being here for four years,” said Thompson.

As the season continues on, Thompson will continue to climb the CCSU leader boards. In addition to his place among the scoring leaders, Thompson ranks sixth alltime in steals and seventh all-time in assists.

Though he may rise in these categories, he still has his sights set on one goal: making it to the NCAA Tournament.

Wednesday, Dec. 1 W. Basketball CCSU: 68 Holy Cross: 64 (OT)

Saturday, Dec. 4 M. Basketball CCSU: 46 Fairleigh Dickinson: 48 Hockey: CCSU: 2 Montclair State: 4

www.flickr.com/ photos/centralrecrder

Sunday, Dec. 5 W. Basketball CCSU : 32 Rutgers: 73 Hockey: CCSU: 3 UConn: 5

11

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, December 8, 2010 / SPORTS

From Blue Devil to Whaler Brittany Burke The Recorder

For the past 20 years hockey has been life. Family vacations were considered to be time spent in a hotel room during a hockey tournament and when other kids were out playing other sports, Joe Dabkowski knew that hockey was it.

That is why when Dabkowski, the former captain of the CCSU club hockey team, graduated last May he knew not playing hockey was not an option.

“You should absolutely have a plan to fall back on, like I have my degree and can go out and fend for myself if I need to,” Dabkowski said.

“But having it in my head that it wasn’t an option not to play made me work that much harder to make sure I made it a reality.”

Dabkowski’s new reality is the life as a professional single A minor league hockey player.

Early fall Dabkowski was signed as a center for the Danbury Whalers, the newly formed minor league team as part of the Federal Hockey League.

Dabkowski’s contract is for the season and when it comes time he will either be resigned or will move on to the next step of his career, but right now he’s focusing on getting better and advancing his game.

“I have a little bit of a learning curve to get through,” said Dabkowski. “I’m still learning and I’m a little behind because a lot of guys have played in Division 1 schools and professionals, but it’s one day at a time and hopefully I’ll pick up something get myself better each and every day so I can go out and perform.”

The process began in March, following the Blue Devils’ run at nationals. After hearing about the open try out, Dabkowski sent in his information, attended and got the

call back for training camp. Training camp led to minicamp, then main camp and eventually after months of training and preparation he made it through and was officially signed as a Whaler.

“I was shooting 1,000 pucks a day and that’s what’s gotten me to this point,” said Dabkowski. “I continue to do it, I just love to be at the rink. Some people like to play other sports or do whatever, but I just like being at the rink.”

As a Whaler, Dabkowski takes to the ice each home game in front of a crowd like none he has ever played in front of before. A typical Saturday night game can draw in 2,200 fans to the Danbury Ice Rink.

Fans who attend the games in green and blue, who make noise even when the team skates out for warm ups and who wait in line after for autographs.

The entire atmosphere still remains bizarre for Dabkowski, who still can’t fathom the idea that someone other than his family wants to wear his number 20. However skating on to the ice in front of the home crowd and pulling on a jersey with his name plate on the back for the first time makes all of his hard work worth it.

“I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be, especially first year pro,” said Dabkowski. “Get a lot of support from the city. They want us to do well and it’s just a great place to be. There’s a lot of other places, even other places, higher levels than what I’m at right now that don’t have the same environment and I’m grateful for that a game like tonight I loved going out and competing with everybody, just building off their energy.”

As the season wages on and Dabkowski works to get back on track from injuries acquired early in the schedule, it is evident that there is nothing he would rather be doing than playing. While his parents

were telling him to go to college he knew in the back of his mind that hockey was the only option, and being a part of the Whalers is the next step in his career.

“They’re very supportive and I appreciate all the support they’ve given me because it’s been my dream,” Dabkowski said of his family. “A part of me does it for

them too…and the biggest thank you I can give them is to keep playing and keep having fun with it and keep getting better, leave it all out on the ice when I can.”

CCSU Hockey Alum Joe Dabkowski skates with the puck during a game on Dec. 4th against the New York Aviators. kenny barto | the recorder

CCSU BLUE DEVILS SCHEDULE December

January

Thu. Dec 9

Sun. Jan 2

SWIM @ Florida International: 11:00 a.m.

W Basketball @ Monmouth

W Basketball @ West Virginia: 2:00 p.m.

W Basketball @ Quinnipiac: 12:00 p.m.

Sat. Dec 11

Mon. Jan 3

M Basketball @ Quinnipiac: 3:00 p.m.

M Basketball @ Albany at Albany: 7:00 p.m.

M Basketball vs. Massachusetts: 7:00 p.m.

Mon. Jan 17

Sun. Dec 19

Thu. Jan 6

W Basketball @ Sacred Heart: 7:00 p.m.

W Basketball vs. New Hampshire: 1:00 p.m.

M Basketball vs St. Francis (NY) :7:00 p.m.

Thu. Jan 20

M Basketball vs. Niagra: 3:30 p.m.

Sat. Jan 8

M Basketball @ Monmouth: 7:45 p.m.

Wed. Dec 22

W Track and Field @ U.S. Military Academy : 08:00 a.m.

Fri. Jan 21

M Basketball vs New Hampshire: 7:00 p.m.

W Basketball vs. Long Island: 1:00 p.m.

W Track and Field @ U. Albany - Great Dane Classic: 8:00 a.m.

W Basketball @ Fairleigh Dickinson: 7:00 p.m.

M Basketball vs. Long Island : 3:30 p.m.

M Track and Field @ U. Albany - Great Dane Classic: 8:00 a.m.

Wed. Dec 29

Sun. Jan 9

Sat. Jan 22

M Basketball vs Brown: 7:00 p.m.

SWIM @ Vermont: 2:00 p.m.

W Basketball vs. Fairleigh Dickinson: 1:00 p.m.

W Basketball @ St. Peter's St. Peter's College Holiday Classic 7:30 p.m.

Mon. Jan 10

Sat. Jan 22

W Basketball @ St. Francis (NY): 7:00 p.m.

M Basketball vs. Fairleigh Dickinson: 3:30 p.m.

Thu. Jan 13

Mon. Jan 24

M Basketball @ Sacred Heart: 7:00 p.m.

W Basketball vs Monmouth: 7:00 p.m.

Sat. Jan 15

Thu. Jan 27

W Track and Field @ Yale Invitational: 8:00 a.m.

M Basketball vs Mount St Mary's: 7:00 p.m.

Thu. Dec 30 W Basketball vs Ole Miss/Stamford St. Peter’s Holiday Classic at Jersey City, NJ 7:30 p.m.

M Track and Field @ Yale Invitational: 8:00 a.m.

12

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, December 8, 2010 / SPORTS

Third Period Comebac k Not Enough for CCSU Hoc key Brittany burke The Recorder

The CCSU club hockey team traveled to the UConn campus to take on the Husky club hockey team for the second matchup of the season in a 5-3 loss.

The Blue Devils entered the night’s game following a 4-2 loss against Super East opponent, Montclair State on the road. CCSU was suffering from the after effects of the night before, as the team took to the ice looking lethargic and sloppy.

“We had a long game last night [Saturday], we didn’t get home until three in the morning so I mean the first five minutes they score two goals so it was kind of an uphill battle the whole game, so it kind of hurt us and we came back in the third period but its what ultimately cost us the game,” said Ryan Stanley.

The Huskies got off to a quick start, scoring two first period goals in 28 seconds with over 15 minutes remaining before the first intermission. The first goal was made off of a UConn power play, as Evan Mink served time in the box.

“We finished the third period of last night’s game real slow and it cost us there too,” said Head Coach Ben Adams. “Them scoring two goals in 28 seconds certainly don’t help and that’s been our problem all year long. Once they score or we score it’s almost a good bet to put 30 seconds down that somebody’s gonna score again and that’s what happens when somebody scores it’s a momentum shift good or bad.”

CCSU came out in the second with a new found fire and momentum. The team was able to

keep UConn in its own zone and was no longer allowing the Huskies to dominate. With goalie Ross Mocko in net, both teams were held off the boards for the second period.

The Blue Devils began to stage a third period comeback against the Huskies, which began with a power play goal from Captain Tommy Carroll with 12:40 left in the game.

Still down 3-1, off an early period goal from UConn, the Blue Devils were able to net a second goal, from Stanley with the assist by Jon Knobloch, cutting UConn’s advantage to one.

Stanley scored again with 2:33 left off a pass from Dan Vasquez, but an empty net goal from UConn sealed the two goal advantage and eventual win for the Huskies.

“We had a pretty serious talk in the locker room between the periods and I just said we got to pick it up and the message was sent and they understood and came out a little harder in the second and third,” said Carroll. “We held them to two and we got a couple and we were flying, we held them in their zone for quite a long time and I thought we were dominating but things didn’t quite go our way at the end.”

The third period wasn’t enough time for CCSU to stage a complete comeback. Starting slow is something CCSU has had trouble with all season.

“I think we need to improve on our all around game, obviously we skated harder in the third but putting together 60 minutes will really help us out and we haven’t really done that lately,” said Stanley.

The team also needs to focus on moving up the ice as one unit and getting the shots on net. One of the main things that needs to be improved on is the passing game.

Short, crisp passes are what will make the difference, not the fancy stretch pass attempts that result in a CCSU turn over.

The Blue Devils hosted the Huskies last month as part of the CT Governor’s Cup, falling to UConn 7-6 Sunday night’s defeat was the second loss for the Blue Devils against the in state rivals, but the two teams will meet again on February 19 for an outdoor game at Rentschler Field in East Hartford

as part of the February Hockey Fest 2011.

Until then the Blue Devils will travel to Danbury on December 10 to play the Western Connecticut State University Colonials at 7:50 p.m. before taking the ice in Simsbury against Endicott on December 11 at 8:15 p.m.

Ryan Stanley and Jon Knobloch celebrate CCSU’s second goal of the game scored by Stanley in the third period. kenny barto | the recorder

Men’s Basketball Looks To Make A Stand on the Road christopher mclaughlin The Recorder

Senior Markeys Deans, who was referred to as the most underappreciated player by Coach Dickenman. kenny barto | the recorder

Although the men’s basketball team got off to its best start since the 2001-02 season, Head Coach Howie Dickenman still sees room for improvement.

The team came out of the gate strong, going 4-1 before dropping their next two games. Despite the strong start, Dickenman doesn’t believe they are clicking on all cylinders yet.

“We haven’t put it all together yet,” says Dickenman. “This team is like a puzzle, even though we were 4-1 we’re not in synch just yet, we have different parts ahead of schedule, but I believe we will get there.”

With the return of Ken Horton and the increased play time of the freshmen, the Blue Devils are essentially a new team this year.

Like most teams with new players, the Blue Devils are still trying to gel on the court. Though they are still figuring it all out, Coach Dickenman sees the potential his team has.

“I see a lot of camaraderie between them,” said Dickenman.

“It appears that they are focused and determined on having an overachieving season.”

Thanks to the return of Horton and the continued development of Joe Efese, the Blue Devils have a stronger inside presence which will help keep teams out of the paint.

Markeys Deans is another player who Dickenman feels is vital to his team’s success. All three of these players are crucial to a team that lacks a true center.

“Efese has made great progress all around,” said Dickenman. “He won’t play the next couple games because of an injury, but he is someone needed for his inside presence. Horton missed 19 months

and is still inconsistent, but has shown improvement on rebounds.

Deans is our most underappreciated player. He does all the dirty work that won’t show up in the box score but is what needs to be done.”

While the front court has been upgraded, the back court is similar to what CCSU had last year. Shemik Thompson continues to lead the team and Robby Ptacek retains his role of starting two guard. While Thompson is still performing at a high level, Ptacek has struggled so far.

“Shemik is having a great year.

He is playing like he’s possessed,” said Dickenman. “I expect more from Robby, but I know he will return to form.”

Although Dickenman doesn’t feel everyone is where they need to be, he is pleased with his team’s mentality. Three of CCSU’s four wins have come on the road, and the losses have come from high profile teams.

“When I look at our four wins, we were successful in all of them,” said Dickenman. “Any time you put on a dark uniform and get the win is a plus, and we have three road wins. That says a lot about our toughness.”

Winning on the road is something that the Blue Devils will have to make a habit of, as that is where it will play four games in a row. This stretch of games will either build upon their hot start or erase it completely.

With losses to Providence and Fairleigh Dickinson, the Blue Devils will need to bounce back quickly to finish their road trip.

“After Fairleigh, we go to Ohio to face a very talented Dayton Flyers and then it’s on to Albany. After that we can put the dark unis away as we being our home-stand,” said Dickenman.

With the win against Monmouth and the loss against Fairleigh Dickinson, CCSU is 1-1 in the conference play. In order to make it to the NCAA Tournament, the Blue Devils are going to have to win the conference first. Each conference game is important for all teams, as it helps determine home court advantage in the play-offs.

“After Fairleigh Dickinson we get into the league more,” said Dickenman. “We need to bring more intensity because we know that home court advantage is in the back of every team we plays mind.”

After their hot start was cooled, the Blue Devils will look to regain their momentum when they return home on December 19 and square off against Niagara to begin their six game home-stand.

Junior forward Ken Horton. kenny barto | the recorder