University of St. Thomas Athletics
Minnesota State
Weekend series with No. 2 Mavericks ahead for Men's Hockey
1/19/2022 6:37:00 PM | Men's Hockey
Tommie Men's Hockey 24-Game Team Notes -- Jan. 19
Breakthrough
No. 2-ranked Minnesota State (21-5 overall, 15-3 CCHA) tests St. Thomas (2-22, 2-16) in a Thursday/Saturday series. Thursday's puck drop is 7:07 p.m., in Mendota Heights. Saturday's game is outdoors in Mankato with a 4:30 p.m. start.
St. Thomas broke a 15-game losing streak and claimed the program's first Division I road victory last Saturday with a 4-3 win at Ferris State. John Schuldt scored on a scramble in front of the net with 3.1 seconds to go, the fourth goal tallied by both teams in the period. Ferris rallied from a 3-0 deficit and tied the game with an extra-attacker goal with 56 seconds to play before St. Thomas countered.
Tim Piechowski scored two breakaway goals for the Purple, one short handed. Peter Thome stopped 38 shots, tied for his second most of the season.
St. Thomas has started to click as a unit since early December over five CCHA tests plus an exhibition game with the Minnesota Gophers. In the third period of each of those last six outings, the Toms either led, were tied or trailed by only one or two goals. In those six they took two OT defeats and were outscored just 19-13 in regulation time, including two empty-net goals given up.
Radio/Stream/Live TV
St. Thomas games air live on AM 1500 Skor North with Sam Ekstrom on play-by-play. Tommie home games can be accessed for a fee or subscription on Flo Hockey.
Saturday's game from Blakeslee Stadium airs live on TV on Bally Sports North.
Milestones/Streak Watch
St. Thomas' first-year coach Rico Blasi recently coached his 800th college game on the ice. Last Saturday he became the 10th member of the 400-Win Club for active Division I coaches. He won 398 games in 20 seasons at Miami (398-311-76):
NCAA Division I Men's Hockey 400-Win Club -- Active Head Coaches
(Some coached in multiple D-I programs)
Source: College Hockey News/Through Jan. 17 games
Wins....Coach... Current Team...Coach... Tenure...Age
1,118: Jerry York, Boston College, 50 seasons (76)
577: Rick Gotkin, Mercyhurst, 34 seasons (62)
565: Rand Pecknold, Quinnipiac, 28 seasons (54)
546: Jeff Jackson, Notre Dame, 22 seasons (66)
493: Mike Schafer, Cornell, 26 seasons (59)
469: Bob Daniels, Ferris State, 30 seasons (62)
466: Frank Serratore, Air Force 32 seasons (64)
443: Don Vaughan, Colgate, 30 seasons (60)
419: Scott Sandelin, Minnesota-Duluth, 22 seasons (57)
400: Rico Blasi, St. Thomas, 21 seasons (49)
Minnesota State Talk
The Mavericks, a Frozen Four team last season, rank No. 2 nationally in both scoring and fewest goals allowed per game. They fell one spot from No. 1 to No. 2 in this week's national polls after splitting two league games last weekend at Northern Michigan.
Led by elite goaltender Dryden McKay, MSU has allowed just 1.3 goals a game, including just 12 in its last 14 contests. Four players have 10 or more goals, and six have recorded 20 or more points.
New Era
Last week's 640-mile bus ride to play Ferris State in Big Rapids, Mich., was a hair shorter than St. Thomas' Nov. 5-6 trip to Bowling Green, Ohio. Not counting their plane trips to series at Arizona State and Alaska-Fairbanks, the Tommies will make nine bus trips for single games or two-game series in 2021-22 for an average of 340 miles (680 round trip average ).
For comparison, in their last two complete season is Division III, Tommie Men's Hockey made 11 bus trips in 2018-19 (no Moorhead trip) with an average one-way drive of 60 miles (120 round trip). They made 12 bus trips in 2019-20 (Moorhead trip) with an average one-way drive of 110 miles (220 round trip).
Did You See This?
Eighteen of St. Thomas' 22 losses have come against teams that currently have a .500 or better record. Sixteen of those losses have come against teams currently ranked in the top 20 or receiving votes.
Tommie Talk: Quick Facts By-The-Numbers
35: Average number of career D-I games played by the 28 Tommie players
24: Number of St. Thomas regular-season games played -- with 10 to go
14,403: Total six-game home and away attendance for six Men's Hockey against in-state opponents St. Cloud State, Minnesota State and Bemidji State
39: Points for Tommies who are Division I newcomers (18 goals, 21 assists)
3280: Career minutes played in net by Tommie grad student Peter Thome (four seasons at North Dakota, one at St. Thomas)
29.9: Saves per game for Thome and teammate Jacob Berger, including 69 in two games at Ferris for Thome, who just surpassed 1,300 career saves.
5: Points for Cameron Recchi, including three goals, over his last four games.
Third-Period Blues
In 15 of their last 21 losses, the Tommies were tied or within one or two goals in the third periods. Aided by six empty-net goals, opponents have outscored St. Thomas 42-12 in the third periods this season through 24 games.
Special K
Kyler Grundy (six) leads St. Thomas goal scorers. Christiano Versich and Recchi follow with five each. Grant Loven has scored four. Luke Manning, Matthew Jennings and Tim Piechowski have each scored three goals. Those seven have contributed 29 of the Tommies' 39 season goals.
Looking Back
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, 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 25 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.
Twelve Tommie players have been on a D-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 (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 LeDonne; and forwards Tim Piechowski, 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;
• the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) for men's hockey.
The Times They Are a Changin'
The Toms were a charter member of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics Conference in 1920. In May 2019 they were involuntarily removed from the Division III 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-2 team finishes in 11 different sports.
D-III Chapter and Tradition
- • Program's All-Time D-III 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.
