Central Connecticut–Hartford rivalry

The Central Connecticut–Hartford rivalry is the collegiate athletics rivalry between the Central Connecticut (CCSU) Blue Devils sports teams of Central Connecticut State University and Hartford Hawks sports teams of the University of Hartford. Unlike most in-state rivalries, Hartford and CCSU compete in different conferences. Hartford competed in the America East Conference until the school's 2023 reclassification to Division III and move to the Conference of New England and CCSU competes in the Northeast Conference.

College Comparison

	Central Connecticut	Hartford
Founded	1849	1957
Type	Public	Private
Conference	Northeast Conference	Commonwealth Coast Conference
Students	9,653	5,740
School colors
Nickname	Blue Devils	Hawks

Central Connecticut–Hartford rivalry

Central Connecticut Blue Devils Hartford Hawks

5km
3miles

Central Connecticut

Hartford

  

Locations of the two universities in Connecticut.

Basketball

Central Connecticut–Hartford men's basketball rivalry

Central Connecticut Blue Devils Hartford Hawks
Sport	Basketball
First meeting	December 13, 1958
Latest meeting	February 8, 2023 Central Connecticut 82, Hartford 73
Statistics
Current win streak	Central Connecticut 2 (2021-present)

The two schools starting playing each other as division II rivals in 1958. After the 2002 edition the series went on hiatus until 2010 when both schools competed against each other in the Connecticut 6 tournament held at Mohegan Sun Arena.^{[1] [2][3]} During the break in the series Central Connecticut became a power in the Northeast Conference under head coach Howie Dickenman making the NCAA tournament in 2000, 2002, and 2007.

Traditionally the game is played at the beginning of every season.^[4] In the 2017 matchup Central's head coach Donyell Marshall and assistant coach Anthony Anderson were both suspended for the game due to an altercation at practice, assistant coaches Mike Witcoskie and Anthony Ross handled the coaching duties for the Hartford game.^[5]

Basketball series record

Central Connecticut victories

Hartford victories

No. Date Location Winner Score 1 December 13, 1958 Central Connecticut 82–73 2 February 10, 1960 Central Connecticut 69–60 3 February 7, 1961 Central Connecticut 92–79 4 February 5, 1971 Central Connecticut 82–79 5 January 26, 1972 Central Connecticut 91–82 6 December 1, 1972 Central Connecticut 69–67 7 December 1, 1973 Central Connecticut 80–68 8 December 7, 1974 Hartford 84–67 9 December 6, 1975 Hartford 84–76 10 December 10, 1976 Hartford 79–78 11 December 10, 1977 Central Connecticut 83–81 12 December 8, 1978 Hartford 71–67 13 December 7, 1979 Central Connecticut 67–66 14 December 5, 1980 Central Connecticut 80–68 15 November 20, 1981 Central Connecticut 79–57 16 February 5, 1983 Central Connecticut 67–49 17 January 14, 1984 Hartford 77–72 18 February 27, 1991 West Hartford, CT Hartford 68–53 19 January 22, 1992 New Britain, CT Central Connecticut 81–80 20 January 11, 1993 West Hartford, CT Hartford 83–53 21 January 25, 1994 New Britain, CT Hartford 122–103 No. Date Location Winner Score 22 December 5, 1997 West Hartford, CT Hartford 85–72 23 December 4, 1998 Hartford, CT Hartford 89–82 24 December 3, 1999 Hartford, CT Central Connecticut 64–61 25 November 30, 2000 West Hartford, CT Central Connecticut 81–65 26 November 29, 2001 West Hartford, CT Central Connecticut 73–59 27 December 11, 2002 Hartford, CT Central Connecticut 70–66 28 November 13, 2010 [6] Uncasville, CT Central Connecticut 64–62 29 November 26, 2011 New Britain, CT Central Connecticut 92–58 30 November 24, 2012 West Hartford, CT Hartford 80–77 31 December 10, 2013 [7] New Britain, CT Central Connecticut 73–59 32 December 6, 2014 [8] West Hartford, CT Central Connecticut 56–47 33 November 13, 2015 [9] New Britain, CT Hartford 92–83 2OT 34 November 11, 2016 [10] New Britain, CT Central Connecticut 75–60 35 November 10, 2017 [11] West Hartford, CT Hartford 85–84 OT 36 November 6, 2018 West Hartford, CT Central Connecticut 75–68 37 November 5, 2019 New Britain, CT Hartford 74–59 38 December 4, 2020 West Hartford, CT Hartford 80–65 39 December 18, 2021 New Britain, CT Central Connecticut 75–65 40 February 8, 2023 West Hartford, CT Central Connecticut 82–73 Series: Central Connecticut leads 25–15

^[12]

Baseball

Central Connecticut and Hartford first played each other in baseball in 1985. Central started to dominate the series in the early part of the millennium, with its teams making multiple trips to the NCAA tournament. In 2010 CCSU completed construction of Balf–Savin Field on campus, their first game in the new stadium was a 12-11 loss to Hartford.^[13] Starting in 2018, Central Connecticut and Hartford played against each other at Dunkin' Donuts Park in downtown Hartford in March and in May. The two schools played again at Dunkin' Donuts Park in May 2019. In 2020 the series will be moved back to campus with Central Connecticut hosting a single game in March.

Baseball series record

Central Connecticut victories

Hartford victories

No. Date Location Winner Score 1 April 1, 1985 West Hartford, CT Central Connecticut 7–4 2 April 15, 1986 New Britain, CT Hartford 15–4 3 April 30, 1986 East Hartford, CT Central Connecticut 6–3 4 April 20, 1987 East Hartford, CT Central Connecticut 1–0 5 April 20, 1987 East Hartford, CT Central Connecticut 5–3 6 April 16, 1988 New Britain, CT Hartford 3–1 7 April 16, 1988 New Britain, CT Central Connecticut 8–1 8 April 17, 1988 New Britain, CT Central Connecticut 3–2 9 April 22, 1989 East Hartford, CT Hartford 9–0 10 April 22, 1989 East Hartford, CT Central Connecticut 3–2 11 April 23, 1989 East Hartford, CT Hartford 13–11 12 April 14, 1990 New Britain, CT Central Connecticut 8–1 13 April 14, 1990 New Britain, CT Central Connecticut 2–1 14 April 16, 1990 New Britain, CT Central Connecticut 2–1 15 May 2, 1991 East Hartford, CT Hartford 8–6 16 April 22, 1992 East Hartford, CT Hartford 6–5 17 April 21, 1993 Simsbury, CT Hartford 11–8 18 April 28, 1993 East Hartford, CT Hartford 6–2 19 April 20, 1994 East Hartford, CT Hartford 8–5 20 April 27, 1994 New Britain, CT Hartford 12–5 21 April 19, 1995 East Hartford, CT Central Connecticut 5–3 22 April 26, 1995 New Britain, CT Central Connecticut 17–3 23 April 4, 1996 New Britain, CT Central Connecticut 11–9 24 April 24, 1996 East Hartford, CT Central Connecticut 17–9 25 April 22, 1997 East Hartford, CT Hartford 9–7 26 April 21, 1998 New Britain, CT Central Connecticut 11–10 27 April 14, 1999 East Hartford, CT Hartford 3–2 28 April 21, 1999 New Britain, CT Central Connecticut 9–6 29 April 12, 2000 New Britain, CT Central Connecticut 6–4 30 April 17, 2001 New Britain, CT Central Connecticut 12–10 31 May 1, 2001 East Hartford, CT Hartford 22–11 No. Date Location Winner Score 32 March 19, 2002 New Britain, CT Central Connecticut 15–3 33 April 17, 2002 East Hartford, CT Central Connecticut 17–4 34 April 16, 2003 East Hartford, CT Hartford 4–3 35 April 21, 2003 New Britain, CT Tie 12–12 36 March 11, 2004 Simsbury, CT Central Connecticut 22–1 37 April 12, 2004 Bristol, CT Central Connecticut 19–6 38 March 8, 2006 West Hartford, CT Central Connecticut 10–4 39 March 15, 2006 New Britain, CT Central Connecticut 13–7 40 March 14, 2007 New Britain, CT Central Connecticut 2–1 41 March 14, 2007 New Britain, CT Central Connecticut 13–9 42 March 27, 2009 West Hartford, CT Hartford 9–8 43 March 10, 2010 New Britain, CT Hartford 12–11 44 May 4, 2010 West Hartford, CT Central Connecticut 19–6 45 March 9, 2011 New Britain, CT Tie 3–3 46 March 7, 2012 West Hartford, CT Hartford 5–2 47 May 2, 2012 New Britain, CT Hartford 3–2 48 May 15, 2013 West Hartford, CT Central Connecticut 9–4 49 May 13, 2014 West Hartford, CT Central Connecticut 5–1 50 March 11, 2015 New Britain, CT Hartford 4–3 51 May 12, 2015 West Hartford, CT Central Connecticut 8–5 52 March 9, 2016 New Britain, CT Hartford 11–9 53 May 17, 2016 West Hartford, CT Hartford 10–0 54 March 8, 2017 New Britain, CT Central Connecticut 6–4 55 May 17, 2017 West Hartford, CT Central Connecticut 11–10 56 March 31, 2018 Hartford, CT Hartford 2–1 57 May 6, 2018 Hartford, CT Hartford 3–0 58 May 7, 2019 Hartford, CT Hartford 7–3 59 March 4, 2020 New Britain, CT Hartford 8–5 60 May 3, 2022 West Hartford, CT Central Connecticut 14–9 Series: Central Connecticut leads 33–25–2

References

1. "Connecticut 6 basketball tournament cancelled". CT Post. Retrieved January 21, 2018.
2. "Central-Hartford Basketball Rivalry Is Blooming Once Again". Hartford Courant. Retrieved January 21, 2018.
3. "Central not eager to see Hartford's streak stop". The Middletown Press. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
4. "HAWKS, BLUE DEVILS SIGN FIVE-YEAR AGREEMENT". Hartford Athletics. 10 August 2016. Retrieved January 21, 2018.
5. "Central Connecticut's Donyell Marshall, Assistant Remain 'On Leave'". Hartford Courant. 13 November 2017. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
6. "Cent. Connecticut St. 64, Hartford 62". Associated Press. Retrieved January 21, 2018.
7. "Central Connecticut State tops Hartford 73-59". Associated Press. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
8. "CCSU gets first win, tops Hartford 56-47". Associated Press. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
9. "Hartford survives against CCSU, 92-83 2OT". Associated Press. Retrieved January 21, 2018.
10. "Central Handles Hartford 75-60 In Donyell Marshall's Debut". Hartford Courant. 12 November 2016. Retrieved June 2, 2018.
11. "Hartford holds on, beats Central Connecticut St. 85-84 in OT". Associated Press. Retrieved January 21, 2018.
12. "CCSU men's basketball record book" (PDF). CCSU athletics. Retrieved June 24, 2023.
13. "Late Comeback Fuels 12-11 Victory in Baseball's Opener at CCSU". Hartford Athletics. 10 March 2010. Retrieved October 14, 2019.