University of St. Thomas Athletics
Saturday, February 19
Mendota Heights, Minn.
7:07 p.m.
3-28-1, 3-20-1
1
vs
5
Lake Superior State
15-16-1, 11-13-0
1
2
3
F
Lake Superior St.
3
0
2
5
St. Thomas (MN)
0
1
0
1
Team Stats
LSS
UST
Shots
24
24
PPG
0
0
SHG
1
0
Penalties
3
1
Penalty Mins
6
2
Faceoffs Won
26
25
Game Leaders
+/-
1
Goals
1
Sh
3
A
0
+/-
0
Goals
0
Sh
1
A
1
+/-
-2
Goals
0
Sh
4
A
0
+/-
-1
Goals
0
Sh
3
A
0
Players Mentioned
Photo by: Rebecca Twite
Early hole hard to dig out of in Men's Hockey home loss
2/19/2022 9:34:00 PM | Men's Hockey
Mendota Heights, Minn. -- Lake Superior State scored three goals in the game's first 4:49 on the clock and went on to record a 5-1 road victory over St. Thomas in Saturday's night's CCHA men's hockey clash at Saint Thomas Ice Arena.
The Lakers (15-16-1 overall, 11-13 CCHA) earned a split of the weekend series and improved their chances to secure a top-four league finish and first-round home playoff berth. They received goals at 1:02 into period one and again at 2:15 and 4:49 for the fast 3-0 lead.
The Tommes (3-28-1, 3-20-1) were denied in a bid for their first series sweep in their inaugural Division I season. The Purple pulled within 3-1 on Andrew Kangas' second-period goal, but the Lakers scored twice in the third period to close out the win.
Kangas' goal, assisted by Christiano Versich, was his first in Division I. The junior scored four goals in two seasons of Division III play.
Tommie senior Jacob Berger came on and played the final 55:00 in net. Berger stopped 17 of 18 shots in his final home game.
St. Thomas coach Rico Blasi said the steep early deficit made the game an uphill fight.
"You can't give anybody three goals and expect to come back, he said. "Unfortunately we weren't ready for their jump. We knew they were going to come. We warned them, we had to be intense. That's why it's so hard to sweep in Division I.
"When you win Friday night you have to be probably better than you were Friday night to win another game on Saturday. We didn't have it in the first seven minutes, they capitalized. I thought our second period was arguably our best period of the year, we played really well.. We only got one (goal) out of it. We did a decent job in the third (period), unfortunately we give them a 4-on-1, and we turned the puck over a couple of times on their two goals. We weren't sharp enough to sweep this weekend. This is another part of the learning ;process for our program. When you win on Friday night you have to be better Saturday. You know teams are going to come out hard and want to win as well, that's a lesson that's sometimes hard to understand until you go through it. That was our first crack at that, we had never won on a Friday night, so now we have that under our belts, too. A lot of firsts this year."
Blasi said the seniors playing their final home game continue to work hard through difficult stretches during this transition season into Division I.
"This was a tough year," the coach explained. "Nobody really knew what to expect. I give (the seniors) a lot of credit. I'm proud of the way they have handled things from day to day and kept working hard. We've gotten better, our program has gotten better, we have established an identity. Moving forward that group can look back and say they had a big part in that."
St. Thomas plays two at Bemidji State next Friday and Saturday to close the regular season.
The Lakers (15-16-1 overall, 11-13 CCHA) earned a split of the weekend series and improved their chances to secure a top-four league finish and first-round home playoff berth. They received goals at 1:02 into period one and again at 2:15 and 4:49 for the fast 3-0 lead.
The Tommes (3-28-1, 3-20-1) were denied in a bid for their first series sweep in their inaugural Division I season. The Purple pulled within 3-1 on Andrew Kangas' second-period goal, but the Lakers scored twice in the third period to close out the win.
Kangas' goal, assisted by Christiano Versich, was his first in Division I. The junior scored four goals in two seasons of Division III play.
Tommie senior Jacob Berger came on and played the final 55:00 in net. Berger stopped 17 of 18 shots in his final home game.
St. Thomas coach Rico Blasi said the steep early deficit made the game an uphill fight.
"You can't give anybody three goals and expect to come back, he said. "Unfortunately we weren't ready for their jump. We knew they were going to come. We warned them, we had to be intense. That's why it's so hard to sweep in Division I.
"When you win Friday night you have to be probably better than you were Friday night to win another game on Saturday. We didn't have it in the first seven minutes, they capitalized. I thought our second period was arguably our best period of the year, we played really well.. We only got one (goal) out of it. We did a decent job in the third (period), unfortunately we give them a 4-on-1, and we turned the puck over a couple of times on their two goals. We weren't sharp enough to sweep this weekend. This is another part of the learning ;process for our program. When you win on Friday night you have to be better Saturday. You know teams are going to come out hard and want to win as well, that's a lesson that's sometimes hard to understand until you go through it. That was our first crack at that, we had never won on a Friday night, so now we have that under our belts, too. A lot of firsts this year."
Blasi said the seniors playing their final home game continue to work hard through difficult stretches during this transition season into Division I.
"This was a tough year," the coach explained. "Nobody really knew what to expect. I give (the seniors) a lot of credit. I'm proud of the way they have handled things from day to day and kept working hard. We've gotten better, our program has gotten better, we have established an identity. Moving forward that group can look back and say they had a big part in that."
St. Thomas plays two at Bemidji State next Friday and Saturday to close the regular season.
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
