University of St. Thomas Athletics
Saturday, December 9
Mendota Heights, Minn.
7:07 p.m. Central
9-8-1, 7-5-0
2
vs
1
Minnesota State
7-7-2, 5-4-1
1
2
3
F
Minnesota St.
0
1
0
1
St. Thomas (MN)
0
0
2
2
Team Stats
MSU
UST
Shots
29
27
PPG
0
0
SHG
0
0
Penalties
3
3
Penalty Mins
6
6
Faceoffs Won
32
36
Game Leaders
Skaters
+/-
1
Goals
1
Sh
1
A
0
+/-
1
Goals
1
Sh
1
A
0
+/-
1
Goals
0
Sh
2
A
1
+/-
1
Goals
0
Sh
2
A
1
Players Mentioned
D
/ Men's HockeyD
/ Men's Hockey
F
/ Men's HockeyF
/ Men's HockeyF
/ Men's HockeyF
/ Men's Hockey
G
/ Men's Hockey
F
/ Men's Hockey
Photo by: Kylie Macziewski
Late game spark ignites fiery 2-1 win
12/9/2023 11:44:00 PM | Men's Hockey
The Tommies closed out their 2023 conference schedule on a winning note against Minnesota State with two timely goals and a fantastic showing in net.
MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. – The University of St. Thomas Men's Hockey team (9-8-1, 7-5-0 CCHA) was held scoreless by Minnesota State (7-7-2, 5-4-1) for over 46 minutes on Saturday night on home ice but pounced for two goals in three minutes for a 2-1 come-from-behind win in front of a sellout crowd.
RECAP
The Mavericks scored their only goal at the 5:39 mark in the second period on a messy play in the crease of Jake Sibell. The junior goaltender continued his CCHA-best play making stops on 28 of 29 shots faced. He lowered his season total goals against average to 1.65 and raised his save percentage up to .940.
Outside of that goal in the second period, the first two frames came and went without much fanfare. Both teams came up empty on their only power play opportunities and after 40 minutes the Mavericks had a 20-14 advantage in shots on goal.
Fortunes flipped in the final period for the home Purple who turned their 14 to nine shots on goal edge into a two-goal three-minute back-breaking sequence.
The Toms were unable to solve the Mavericks' netminder until the 13th minute of the third. Tobias Abrahamsson roped a blue line pass to his defensive partner Ethan Gauer who sent the puck into a sea of bodies in the low slot. The puck took a fortunate bounce out to the backdoor where Luc Laylin found himself with the puck on his stick and a yawning net in front of him. The sophomore buried the chance and tied the game.
With the crowd still buzzing from the Toms' first goal, Noah Prokop lined up face-to-face with a Minnesota State centerman to the right of the Mavs' net. The fifth-year from Colorado won the draw clean back to Quinton Pepper. The sophomore rifled a shot on net that rebounded high into the air off the goaltender's blocker. Prokop found the puck after it had landed and released a perfect wrist shot into the back of the net with under four minutes to play.
Minnesota State did not go down quietly. The visitors pulled their goaltender with 53 seconds to play and fired five shots toward the Tommie net. One was blocked by the captain Lucas Wahlin, three were saved by Sibell, and the final shot of the game was blocked at the point by a diving Matthew Gleason. The Toms finished with 14 blocks, the most in a game since their season-opener.
QUOTABLES
Coach Rico Blasi after the game.
"I thought tonight we probably blocked more shots than we had all season, that was a really good effort from our guys especially the forwards getting in front of shot lanes. Gleason is like that man (referring to the final shot block), he's a warrior, he'll block anything if the game is on the line, he would try to eat a puck if he had to."
"Obviously it was a big win against a really good hockey team. We've got a long break now and we get to enjoy it a little bit."
UP NEXT
The Tommies have the next 20 days off until they play at the Catamounts of Vermont on Dec. 29th.
RECAP
The Mavericks scored their only goal at the 5:39 mark in the second period on a messy play in the crease of Jake Sibell. The junior goaltender continued his CCHA-best play making stops on 28 of 29 shots faced. He lowered his season total goals against average to 1.65 and raised his save percentage up to .940.
Outside of that goal in the second period, the first two frames came and went without much fanfare. Both teams came up empty on their only power play opportunities and after 40 minutes the Mavericks had a 20-14 advantage in shots on goal.
Fortunes flipped in the final period for the home Purple who turned their 14 to nine shots on goal edge into a two-goal three-minute back-breaking sequence.
The Toms were unable to solve the Mavericks' netminder until the 13th minute of the third. Tobias Abrahamsson roped a blue line pass to his defensive partner Ethan Gauer who sent the puck into a sea of bodies in the low slot. The puck took a fortunate bounce out to the backdoor where Luc Laylin found himself with the puck on his stick and a yawning net in front of him. The sophomore buried the chance and tied the game.
With the crowd still buzzing from the Toms' first goal, Noah Prokop lined up face-to-face with a Minnesota State centerman to the right of the Mavs' net. The fifth-year from Colorado won the draw clean back to Quinton Pepper. The sophomore rifled a shot on net that rebounded high into the air off the goaltender's blocker. Prokop found the puck after it had landed and released a perfect wrist shot into the back of the net with under four minutes to play.
Minnesota State did not go down quietly. The visitors pulled their goaltender with 53 seconds to play and fired five shots toward the Tommie net. One was blocked by the captain Lucas Wahlin, three were saved by Sibell, and the final shot of the game was blocked at the point by a diving Matthew Gleason. The Toms finished with 14 blocks, the most in a game since their season-opener.
QUOTABLES
Coach Rico Blasi after the game.
"I thought tonight we probably blocked more shots than we had all season, that was a really good effort from our guys especially the forwards getting in front of shot lanes. Gleason is like that man (referring to the final shot block), he's a warrior, he'll block anything if the game is on the line, he would try to eat a puck if he had to."
"Obviously it was a big win against a really good hockey team. We've got a long break now and we get to enjoy it a little bit."
UP NEXT
The Tommies have the next 20 days off until they play at the Catamounts of Vermont on Dec. 29th.
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
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Rico Blasi Press Conference October 3rd
Friday, October 21
