Men's Hockey unable to get on track in 3-0 home loss to NMU

Mendota Heights, Minn. -- Tommie Men's Hockey took its first home shutout loss of the season Friday night as Northern Michigan rolled up a 3-0 road victory in CCHA play at Saint Thomas Ice Arena.

The Tommies (8-19-2 overall, 7-12-2 CCHA) trailed 1-0 after a first-period breakaway goal by Vincent deMey.

Northern Michigan struck for two goals in a 1:11 span late in period two to build a 3-0 lead. The second NMU goal, recorded by deMey, came short handed.

St. Thomas was blanked on five power-play tries. The Purple killed off all four Northern power plays and outshot NMU 29-27, but Wildcat goalie Beni Halasz had 29 saves.

Quoting Coach Rico Blasi

"Give (Northern Michigan) credit, they deserved to win tonight. They were on their toes and they forced us to do a lot of things we didn't want to do.... (From our side), when you have that many power plays, you have to score some goals.

"We've been talking a lot about taking the next step in our program. Taking the next step is playing in meaningful games and learning how to play in them, and how hard you have to play and how detailed you have to be. We got a good schooling today from Northern Michigan.

"This time of the year.... you have to commit to be ready to go... You manage your own performance, you manage your own thoughts. You have to be within the team, you can't try to do it yourself. You can't forget about the details of the game. At the end of the night (those details) add up, good or bad. Tonight for us they put us in a bad spot... We have an opportunity (Saturday) to come out and play a lot better."

Next Up

The teams play the final game of the weekend set Saturday here with a 6:07 p.m. puck drop.

Did You Know?

St. Thomas fell to 0-3 in the D-I era against Northern Michigan.
Luke Manning played in his 100th D-I game on Friday with part of one season at Air Force and the last two full seasons with the Tommies.
The Purple need a win or tie Saturday to extend a streak of CCHA series points. Blasi's team has scored at least one win or tie in six consecutive conference series.
The Toms were shutout at home for just the third time in 28 games here in the D-I era.
Freshman Ethan Roberts played the final 20 minutes in net and stopped all 10 shots he faced. It was his first game action since Nov. 19.

Next Event

Team Stats

Jake Braccini

Luc Laylin

Nolan Sawchuk

Cooper Gay

Players Mentioned

Luke Manning

Ethan Roberts