University of St. Thomas Athletics
Lake Superior State
St. Thomas Men’s Hockey back on the road for CCHA play, at Lake Superior State
10/14/2021 11:46:00 AM | Athletics, Men's Hockey
Conference Time
Under first-year head coach Rico Blasi, St. Thomas Men's Hockey continues its inaugural Division I CCHA campaign with a conference road series this weekend at Lake Superior State.
The Purple (0-4 overall, 0-2 CCHA) travel to Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., for games on Friday, October 15 (6:37 p.m. Minnesota time), and again on Saturday, October 16 (6:07 p.m. Minnesota time.)
These games mark the CCHA season debut for Lake Superior State (1-3, 0-0) and their home-ice start after four road games.
This is the second of 13 CCHA conference series that the Tommies will play this fall and winter – and the first of two against Lake Superior. The teams play in Mendota Heights, Minn., on Feb. 18-19 in the final home-ice series of the season.
About Lake Superior State
The Lakers ended last season as with a 19-7-3 record, losing in the NCAA playoffs to eventual champion UMass. They took second in the WCHA with a record of 9-5-0. The Lakers won the WCHA playoffs to earn the Jeff Sauer Trophy and received an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. They had a six-game winning streak snapped with the loss to UMass.
The Lakers were picked No. 6 of eight in the Preseason CCHA preseason poll. Their roster has an international flavor with athletes from seven different countries. The team lost twice on the road to the Michigan Wolverines last weekend (6-1, 7-4), a week after it split an opening series with Nebraska-Omaha (won 4-3 in overtime, lost 3-0).
Brandon Puricelli (three) and Louis Boudon (two) have recorded five of the team's nine goals. LSSU graduated a three-year starter in goal and has been rotating two players so far this season at goalie.
The Last Time?
This weekend will mark just the second all-time Tommie Men's Hockey meeting with Lake Superior State -- the Lakers topped the Toms 9-2 in the 1974 NAIA playoffs.
Rear View Mirrow
Last weekend, Coach Rico Blasi's Toms lost 4-1 and 8-3 at Northern Michigan to open CCHA play in their inaugural D-I season.
The Toms trailed 3-1 after two periods on Friday and a late empty-net score gave the host team a three-goal win. The Purple were tied 3-3 after two periods on Saturday before running out of gas in the third period and giving up five more scores.
Kyler Grundy scored two goals on Saturday. Lucas McGregor added his first of the season in period two – a goal that gave the Toms a brief 3-2 lead. Luke Manning scored a Friday goal on the power play
Did You Know?
The Tommies' five power-play goals ties them for third most nationally. They rank 12th in power-play conversion at .294.
Quoting Rico Blasi (after Saturday's 8-3 loss)
"You have to learn how to win you have to learn how to play in the third period. You have to learn how to execute. It was another step forward for us. Now we have to understand when you get to the third period, things can't change and we're still taking care of the details of the game.
"We've done some good things in stretches. Our power play looks good, our penalty kill looked good until the end stages (on Saturday). A lot of good things (are happening), it is just that we're doing in spurts, we just haven't been able to put it together for three periods or do it for long stretches of time. Most of it are things we're doing to ourselves. We're trying to make plays that aren't there or that we're not quick enough to make, like forcing pucks in areas where there's no need. You have guys trying to do too much because they care, and then good teams come back at you and make you pay.
"If we can clean those things and control the puck better, we will be in a lot of games this year, but right now we're trying to figure things out and trust each other. These are all necessary things we have to go through in the process. You aren't going to just show up and win a game, you have to earn it. There are no shortcuts for St. Thomas. We're going to go through this head on, we're not going to tip toe around it. We're going to work to win. We're going to earn it."
Poll Talk
In this week's Division I men's poll by U.S. College Hockey Online (USCHO), among CCHA teams, Minnesota State is No. 1 after a sweep of last season's NCAA champions and a split with St. Cloud State; Michigan Tech is No. 16; and Bemidji State is at No. 20.
Lake Superior State (1-3), Northern Michigan (2-0) and Bowling Green (1-0-1) are among 15 teams receiving votes outside the 20 ranked teams.
Remaining at No. 2 this week is St. Cloud State (3-1), which beat the Tommies on Oct. 2-3 by scores of 12-2 and 2-0.
Firsts
St. Thomas (0-2), closed out its first weekend series of its inaugural Division I season on Oct. 2-3, after facing the No. 2-ranked St. Cloud Huskies, falling 12-2 on the road and 2-0 on neutral ice in St. Paul.
Christiano Versich scored the first D-I goal for the Tommies on a power play in Saturday night against the Huskies. Cameron Recchi also scored a goal on Saturday in his first collegiate game for the Purple.
Goalie Talk
Transfer Peter Thome has been busy over his first four games. The graduate student has played three and a half games and has stopped 115 shots out of 134 faced (.858 save clip, 5.44 GAA). That's an average of more than 40 shots faced over 60 minutes.
Radio
St. Thomas games are carried live on AM 1500 Skor North with Sam Ekstrom on the play-by-play call.
TV
The weekend games will stream on Flo Hockey
CCHA Talk
Later in October, St. Thomas will continue conference play in the eight-team Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA). They travel again to face Lake Superior State Oct, 15-16; then open their home CCHA slate Oct. 22-23 against Ferris State.
2021-22 CCHA Preseason Coaches' Poll:
1. Minnesota State – 67 (5 first-place votes)
2. Bemidji State – 63 (1)
3. Michigan Tech – 55 (2)
4. Northern Michigan – 54
5. Bowling Green State – 46
6. Lake Superior State – 45
7. Ferris State – 32
8. St. Thomas – 30
Around the CCHA
This weekend, LSSU and the Tommies play the lone CCHA two-game series. Elsewhere in the league, Bemidji State plays two against North Dakota; Michigan Tech is home for two against Notre Dame; Minnesota State faces Providence on Friday and a second opponent on Saturday in a tournament in Duluth; and Michigan Tech plays two exhibitions against the National U18 Team.
More Schedule Talk
Besides their season-opening games against St. Cloud State, the Tommies' 2021-22 nonconference schedule includes these three series:
• a November 23-24 home series with Penn State at Saint Thomas Ice Arena
• an October 29-30 road series in Tempe, Ariz., at Arizona State;
• a February 11-12 road series at Alaska-Fairbanks.
St. Thomas is scheduled to play an outdoor game in CCHA play in Mankato in January 2022 against Minnesota State as part of Hockey Day in Minnesota.
Did You Know?
St. Thomas won its final five games in 2019-20 and reached the NCAA D-III playoffs but the postseason was abruptly halted by the March 2020 Covid outbreak.
Last season, in its final year in Division III, St. Thomas finished 6-1-2, losing one overtime game and tying two others.
New Staff
Blasi was hired in April 2021 and brings three decades of experience as a Division I hockey player, grad assistant coach, assistant coach, head coach and administrator. During his 20-year era as Miami (Ohio) University head coach (1999-2019), Blasi and his RedHawks won 398 games. They earned 10 NCAA tournament appearance, highlighted by one championship game berth (2008-09) and one other Frozen Four appearance (2009-10).
Blasi was selected as National Coach of the Year in 2005-06. He also coached one Hobey Baker Award winner and eight other Hobey finalists; 10 All-America players; one CoSIDA Academic All-America recipient; and 25 RedHawks who went on to play in the National Hockey League.
Assistant coach Leon Hayward is starting his 15th season in coaching. He also built a deep playing resume, in Division I at Northeastern University, plus six years in professional leagues. The Seattle, Wash., native served as assistant coach the last four seasons at Colorado College, working with defensemen and penalty kills on the ice while also coordinating the Tigers' recruiting operations.
Assistant coach Cory Laylin enjoyed a standout career with the Minnesota Gophers and later played 16 seasons professionally. Laylin served as head men's hockey coach at Hamline University over the last seven seasons, and coached at the high school, college, juniors, pro and international level over the last 13 seasons.
Roster Talk
St. Thomas' roster includes 24 skaters and three goalies: four graduate students, three seniors, six juniors, six sophomores, and eight freshman. Fourteen Toms are native Minnesotans with five from Wisconsin.
Thirteen Tommie players have been on a Division I roster before transferring and enrolling at St. Thomas over the last 13 months:
• Senior G Jacob Berger (Minnesota State)... in seven games last season with Tommies went 4-1-1 with one shutout, a 2.00 GAA and a .933 save percentage.
• Sophomore D Ethan Gauer (Bemidji State, Alaska-Anchorage)... played in four games last season at Bemidji State with no points.
• Senior F Matthew Jennings (Ohio State)... in 40 career games with Buckeyes had two goals and one assist.
• Sophomore Kimball Johnson (Mercyhurst)... in eight games at St. Thomas last season had two goals and two assists.
• Senior F Grant Loven (Northern Michigan)... in 81 career games at NMU had eight goals and 15 assists; and last season in nine games with Toms had a team-best 10 points including four goals and six assists for 12g-21a total in 90 games.
• Junior F Luke Manning (Air Force Academy)... in 35 games in 2019-20 as a freshman had eight goals and 12 assists at AFA, and in nine games last season at UST added three goals and four assists for 11g16a total in 44 games.
• Sophomore F Sam Renlund (Colorado College)... in 26 games in 2019-20 had one goal and four assists.
• Graduate student D Nolan Sawchuk (Massachusetts-Lowell)... in 61 career games at UML had one goal and seven assists
• Graduate student John Schuldt (Nebraska-Omaha).. in 58 games at Omaha had two goals and six assists.
• Senior F Joey Sofo (Alaska-Anchorage)... in 64 career games at Anchorage and St. Thomas has three goals and nine assists
• Graduate student G Peter Thome (North Dakota)... in 42 games for UND had 19-14-5 record with three shutouts, a .903 save percentage and a 2.24 GAA.
• Graduate student F Christiano Versich (Colorado College)... in 106 games for the CC Tigers, scored 13 goals and 32 assists.
Berger, Johnson, Loven, Manning and Sofo played for St. Thomas for all or part of last winter's 6-1-2 season that was reduced to just nine games by Covid protocols.
Eight other players from the Tommies' D-III era have made the jump up to Division I: G Henry Baribeau; defensemen Vincent Weis and Shayne Monahan; and forwards Andrew Kangas, Lucas McGregor, Justin Kelley, Aaron Swanson and Logan Ommen.
Other newcomers joining the Purple from Juniors hockey included defensemen Michael Ferrandino and Trevor Ladonne; and forwards Tim Piechcowski, Paul Schmid, Blaine Warnert, Kyler Grundy and Cameron Recchi.
Returning Player Stats
• Henry Baribeau 2020-21 Recap: Played in four games with a 2-0-1 record, .900 Save % and 2.42 GAA. UST Career (through 2020-21): Played in 16 games with a 10-3-2 record, .923 Save % and 2.35 GAA .
• Jacob Berger 2020-2021 Recap: Played in seven games with a 4-1-1 record and .993 Save %, 2.00 GAA Before UST: Played his first two seasons at Minnesota State.
• Kimball Johnson 2020-2021 Recap: Played in eight games with two goals and two assists… Andrew Kangas 2020-21 Recap: Played in six games with two goals and three assists... UST Career (through 2020-2021): Played in 25 games with four goals and 10 assists.
• Justin Kelley 2020-21 Recap: Played in all nine games with one goal and five assists... UST Career (through 2020-2021): Played in 35 games with 11 goals and 8 assists.
• Grant Loven 2020-2021 Recap: Played in all nine games with four goals and six assists Before UST: Played in 75 games in two seasons at Northern Michigan before transferring to the University of St. Thomas for the 2020-21 season.
• Luke Manning 2020-2021 Recap: Played in all nine games with one goal and three assists… Before UST: Scored eight goals in 35 games in his last season at Air Force Academy before transferring to the University of St. Thomas for the 2020-21 season.
• Lucas McGregor 2020-2021 Recap: Played in one game… Shayne Monahan 2020-2021 Recap: Played in eight games and had one goal… UST Career (through 2020-2021) Played in 42 games and has two goals and 10 assists,
• Logan Ommen 2020-2021 Recap: Played in four games.
• Joey Sofo 2020-2021 Recap: Played in three games with two goals and one assist… Before UST: Played three seasons at the University of Alaska-Anchorage scoring one goal and eight assists.
• Aaron Swanson 2020-2021 Recap: Played in seven games with one goal and two assists… Vincent Weis 2020-2021 Recap: Played in eight games with four assists.
Unprecedented Move
St. Thomas is the first NCAA institution to move all of its athletics teams directly from Division III to D-I in one season. Tommie teams have begun competing in four conferences across all 21 sports: The Summit League (18 sports); the Pioneer Football League; the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) for women's hockey; and the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) for men's hockey.
The Toms were a charter member of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics Conference in 1920. In May 2019 they were involuntarily removed from the conference, and a statement of league presidents cited "competitive athletic parity."
St. Thomas ended its NCAA D-III and MIAC chapters in June 2021. It won 16 national team championships in eight different sports, all in a 40-year span since 1981. Purple teams posted 30 national top-two team finishes in 11 different sports.
D-III Chapter and Tradition
Program's All-Time Record: 1,164-671-105, most wins of any D-III program before it left to move into D-I this season Best NCAA finish: 2nd in 2000, 2nd in 2005
The program has posted 38 consecutive winning seasons through 2020-21 an won or shared six of the last nine MIAC championships.
NCAA D-III Tournament Appearances (17): 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2020
MIAC Regular-Season Championships (34): 1923, 1934, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1947, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1974, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018
MIAC Playoff Appearances (36 of 36): Every year as a member since format started in 1985
St. Thomas was the first MIAC hockey program to reach the NCAA Division III championship game, with two appearances. The 2000 Tommies lost 2-1 to Norwich in the finals, while the 2005 Toms lost 5-0 to Middlebury. St. Thomas made 17 NCAA DIII playoff appearances, including 10 in their last 22 seasons as a member.
The Tommies have received 50 All-America honors in the last 49 seasons, and had two CoSIDA Academic All-America honorees in the last 20 seasons.
St. Thomas placed first or second in the MIAC 52 times, including 32 of their last 37 seasons.
The Tommies won the conference seven years in a row from 1989-95. Terry Skrypek, who was named National Coach of the Year in 2004-05, surpassed 400 career victories before retiring in March 2010.
Jeff Boeser coached St. Thomas over the last 11 seasons.
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