University of St. Thomas Athletics
Friday, November 3
Mendota Heights, Minn.
7:07 p.m. Central
3-5-1, 1-2-0
4
vs
2
Northern Michigan
1-5-1, 1-2-0
1
2
3
F
Northern Mich.
1
0
1
2
St. Thomas (MN)
2
0
2
4
Team Stats
NMU
UST
Shots
23
35
PPG
2
0
SHG
0
1
Penalties
7
4
Penalty Mins
14
8
Faceoffs Won
31
30
Game Leaders
+/-
2
Goals
2
Sh
4
A
0
+/-
1
Goals
1
Sh
5
A
0
+/-
1
Goals
0
Sh
2
A
1
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Hockey
D
/ Men's HockeyF
/ Men's Hockey
F
/ Men's Hockey
D
/ Men's Hockey
D
/ Men's Hockey
D
/ Men's Hockey
F
/ Men's Hockey
G
/ Men's HockeyF
/ Men's Hockey
Photo by: Abby Bondi
Metz, Byers, and Wahlin score to give Men’s Hockey 4-2 conference win
11/3/2023 11:39:00 PM | Men's Hockey
It was a big day for the three goal scorers; J.D. Metz sent home his first collegiate goal, Mack Byers got one against his old team, and Lucas Wahlin scored twice for nine points in nice games to start the season.
MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. – The University of St. Thomas Men's Hockey team (3-5-1, 1-2-0 CCHA) put together a complete effort in front of the home crowd on Friday night and downed the Northern Michigan Wildcats (1-5-1, 1-2-0 CCHA) by a score of 4-2. The Tommies secured their first CCHA points from the victory.
RECAP
With the first period nearly halfway gone freshman J.D. Metz scored his first collegiate goal from just inside the blue line after a beautiful skip pass from James Marooney found its way through NMU's defense.
The Tommies would strike once more off the faceoff after Metz's scoreless tie-breaking goal as fourth-best draw winner in the country won possession of the puck back to his defenseman. The puck was dumped into the corner where Prokop won a board battle and squeezed the puck out to Lucas Wahlin who finished it home with a well-placed wrister from the slot.
Northern Michigan's power play came into Friday night's game with a power play that ranked among the best in the country. The Wildcats did what they do best, taking advantage of two Tommie penalties in the first and then just seconds into the third period to tie the game at two.
After their first two penalty kill attempts ended in disaster, things were not looking bright for the Tommies after Ethan Gauer was sent to the box for hooking 2:47 into the final frame.
The Wildcats had sustained pressure in the offensive zone with three shots fired toward Aaron Trotter in net. Their fourth shot of the sequence was blocked by St. Thomas' captain Lucas Wahlin at the blue line. The puck took a fortunate bounce off the sophomore's lower half and it was a mad dash for the puck through the neutral zone. A dash won by Wahlin who had no one to beat but the goalie. The Woodbury, Minn. native finished the play off shorthanded with his second goal of the game for his team-leading ninth point of the season.
Former Northern Michigan forward Mack Byers scored with 2:36 to go off a rebounded shot fired by Matthew Gleason. The goal was Byers' second against his former team.
Aaron Trotter was stout in net stopping 21 of 23 shots faced for a .913 save percentage and his second win of the season.
The Tommies outshot the Wildcats 35-23 and won 30 of 61 faceoffs in the circle. Noah Prokop won 13 of his 20 draws and Luke Manning won 10 of 18.
Freshman defenseman, Mason Poolman earned a +3 rating while James Marooney, Lucas Wahlin, and Carson Peters each finished the game at +2.
The struggling St. Thomas power play went 0-6 and penalty kill was 1-3 with a shorthanded goal.
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Rico Blasi on his team's win, "We always talk about the process and about playing to our identity, that is the only chance you have in this game to have some sort of success. Whether you win the game or not sometimes you get the bounces and sometimes you don't but when you don't play to your identity you will never have a chance. That was the message during the week, 'we had to play like ourselves' and that's what we did tonight."
UP NEXT
The Tommies finish off their weekend home series with Northern Michigan tomorrow night at 6:07 p.m. at the Saint Thomas Ice Arena.
RECAP
With the first period nearly halfway gone freshman J.D. Metz scored his first collegiate goal from just inside the blue line after a beautiful skip pass from James Marooney found its way through NMU's defense.
The Tommies would strike once more off the faceoff after Metz's scoreless tie-breaking goal as fourth-best draw winner in the country won possession of the puck back to his defenseman. The puck was dumped into the corner where Prokop won a board battle and squeezed the puck out to Lucas Wahlin who finished it home with a well-placed wrister from the slot.
Northern Michigan's power play came into Friday night's game with a power play that ranked among the best in the country. The Wildcats did what they do best, taking advantage of two Tommie penalties in the first and then just seconds into the third period to tie the game at two.
After their first two penalty kill attempts ended in disaster, things were not looking bright for the Tommies after Ethan Gauer was sent to the box for hooking 2:47 into the final frame.
The Wildcats had sustained pressure in the offensive zone with three shots fired toward Aaron Trotter in net. Their fourth shot of the sequence was blocked by St. Thomas' captain Lucas Wahlin at the blue line. The puck took a fortunate bounce off the sophomore's lower half and it was a mad dash for the puck through the neutral zone. A dash won by Wahlin who had no one to beat but the goalie. The Woodbury, Minn. native finished the play off shorthanded with his second goal of the game for his team-leading ninth point of the season.
Former Northern Michigan forward Mack Byers scored with 2:36 to go off a rebounded shot fired by Matthew Gleason. The goal was Byers' second against his former team.
Aaron Trotter was stout in net stopping 21 of 23 shots faced for a .913 save percentage and his second win of the season.
The Tommies outshot the Wildcats 35-23 and won 30 of 61 faceoffs in the circle. Noah Prokop won 13 of his 20 draws and Luke Manning won 10 of 18.
Freshman defenseman, Mason Poolman earned a +3 rating while James Marooney, Lucas Wahlin, and Carson Peters each finished the game at +2.
The struggling St. Thomas power play went 0-6 and penalty kill was 1-3 with a shorthanded goal.
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Rico Blasi on his team's win, "We always talk about the process and about playing to our identity, that is the only chance you have in this game to have some sort of success. Whether you win the game or not sometimes you get the bounces and sometimes you don't but when you don't play to your identity you will never have a chance. That was the message during the week, 'we had to play like ourselves' and that's what we did tonight."
UP NEXT
The Tommies finish off their weekend home series with Northern Michigan tomorrow night at 6:07 p.m. at the Saint Thomas Ice Arena.
Press Conference: Rico Blasi January 27th 2025
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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
