University of St. Thomas Athletics
Friday, October 14
Mendota Heights, Minn.
7:07 p.m. Central
2
vs
5
USA Hockey NTDP
Men's Hockey drops 5-2 score to elite U.S. 18s team
10/14/2022 10:28:00 PM | Men's Hockey
Mendota Heights, Minn. - Tommie Men's Hockey saw more progress on Friday, this time in a home exhibition game against a talented group representing the U.S. National Development and Training Program (USNDPT).
The elite U.S. 18-under team posted a 5-2 win, capped by an empty-net goal in the game's final 70 seconds.
St. Thomas outshot the 18s team 41-22. Ryan O'Neill and Tim Piechowski scored goals, the latter letting the Toms climb within 3-2 early in period three.
Aaron Trotter had 17 saves for the Purple.
Quoting Coach Rico Blasi
"They're a good hockey team, they have a lot of playmakers...
"From the second period on, I thought we played really well. I thought Aaron made some big saves, kept us in it. Our guys worked hard from that point on. A guy falls on the power play, they score back door. Then (they make) a really big-time play on that second power-play goal.
"Other than that, I thought we played pretty well. I thought we got better tonight, that was important for us, that's was our mindset. Go out and play hard and play our game, and get better. I thought we did that... A lot of guys got a chance to play, and we're healing up... Their goaltender played really well tonight, I thought we had some really good chances."
Next Up
St. Thomas (1-3) plays two non-conference games next Thursday and Friday night at Penn State.
Did You Know?
The USNDPT 18s are 9-0, off to the best start to a season in the history of the program.
Players Mentioned
Press Conference: Rico Blasi January 27th 2025
Monday, January 27
St. Thomas Men's Hockey 2023-24 Intro Video
Friday, October 27
Rico Blasi Pre-Season Press Conference, September 26th, 2022
Friday, October 21
Rico Blasi Press Conference October 3rd
Friday, October 21
