University of St. Thomas Athletics

Friday, November 29
Mendota Heights, Minn.
7:07 p.m. Central

vs

Lake Superior State

Ethan Gauer
Photo by: George Dannecker

Final home games of 2024: Men’s Hockey hosts Lake Superior State

11/27/2024 4:41:00 PM | Men's Hockey

The Tommies look for revenge against the team that eliminated them at the end of last season

THIS WEEKEND'S GAMES
  • Tommie Men's Hockey (3-6-4 overall, 2-3-3 CCHA) return home for the final time in 2024 for a rematch from last season's CCHA Quarterfinals with the Lake Superior State Lakers (5-6-1 overall, 3-1-0 CCHA). Friday night's game is set for 7:07 p.m. and Saturday night's game has a 6:07 puck drop. 
  • The final two games of the four-game season series with the Lakers will be played at Taffy Abel Arena in Sault Saint Marie, Michigan on Friday, January 17th and Saturday, January 18th.
  • The Lakers come into the series as winners of four of their last six games (4-1-1 since 11/8). Most recently, they played Alaska Anchorage in Alaska and came back home with a 4-4 game-one tie and a 4-2 game-two victory. They swept the CCHA's last place Northern Michigan Wildcats with 5-0 and 5-1 wins before splitting with the conference's second to last place team, Ferris State (4-2 W and 3-2 L). They are led on the offensive side by junior, Connor Milburn with 10 points and senior, Timo Bakos with six goals. In goal it has been freshman, Rorke Applebee with 11 starts, a 5-4-1 record, .914SV% and 2.77GAA this season. They have one of the best penalty kill units in the country at a .913 percentage. They did not allow a power play goal through their first 10 games of the season. 
  • The Tommies managed one point from their series in Bemidji last weekend with a tie and shootout loss in game one and a 2-1 loss in game two. Cooper Gay continues to lead the conference and the Tommies with seven goals and Liam Malmquist leads both with 14 points. The Toms split time in net again last weekend with Aaron Trotter playing on Friday and Jake Sibell going on Saturday. Sibell has been fantastic in November with a .942SV% and 1.59GAA. The Tommies' 20.9 power play percentage is fourth in the conference and their 83.6 penalty kill percentage is third in the CCHA. 
ON THE RADIO
  • ESPN 1500 is the home of all St. Thomas Men's Hockey games. 
  • Fans can listen on the radio at 1500 AM, online at https://live.skornorth.com/listen/ or on the Varsity Sports App. 

CCHA TV ON MIDCO SPORTS PLUS
  • All St. Thomas and CCHA games will be live-streamed on Midco Sports Plus
  • Midco Sports Plus provides each subscriber with access to all content and events with the purchase of a monthly or yearly subscription.
  • Midco Sports Plus is available on IOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, and Chromecast.

CCHA RANKINGS
  • Cooper Gay leads with 7 goals
  • Matthew Gleason and Liam Malmquist T-7th with 5 goals
  • Gay 3rd with .54 goals per game
  • Gleason and Malmquist T-8th with .38 goals per game
  • Malmquist leads with 9 assists
  • Chase Foley T-6th with 7 assists – 2nd among defensemen (Evan Bushy of LSSU with 8)
  • Malmquist 2nd with .69 assists per game
  • Foley T-7th with .58 assists per game
  • Malmquist leads with 14 points
  • Gay T-6th with 10 points
  • Malmquist leads with 1.08 points per game – only player above a point per game
  • Gay 6th with .77 points per game
  • Gay leads with 53 shots, Wahlin 2nd (51), Malmquist 3rd (48)
  • Wahlin 7th with .541 FO%
  • Gleason 8th with .535 FO%
  • Malmquist leads with 2 shorthanded goals
  • Gay 2nd with 4 power play goals 

NCAA RANKINGS
  • Liam Malmquist T-47th with .69 assists per game 
  • Lucas Wahlin T-12th with 151 faceoff wins 
  • Matthew Gleason T-38th with 115 faceoff wins
  • Cooper Gay T-33rd with .54 goals per game
  • Malmquist T-40th with 1.08 points per game
  • Gay T-6th with 4 power play goals 
  • Malmquist T-2nd with 2 shorthanded goals
  • Matthew Gleason T-9th with 1 shorthanded goal 
  • St. Thomas – 22nd with .836 penalty kill
  • St. Thomas – T-24th with .209 power play
  • St. Thomas – 8th with 12.54 penalty minutes per game
  • St. Thomas – T-4th with 3 shorthanded goals
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Lakers have won seven of the 13 games between the two programs over the last three seasons, including a two-one first round playoff series win last season at Saint Thomas Ice Arena. The Tommies have a 5-4 record on home ice against the Lakers and a -7 overall goal differentia. Lake State has won three of the last four games between the two. 
 
The Tommies have gone 26.4% (14-53) on the power play against the Lakers with three power play goals in the last two games. They have held the Lakers to 15.8% on the power play and 0-13 over last season's five games. 
 
CURRENT TOMMIES AGAINST LAKE SUPERIOR STATE  
MALMQUIST'S TORRENT START 
Liam Malmquist is currently the CCHA's leader with 14 points and nine assists. He is the only player in the conference with at least a point per game of production. He scored a career-high 27 points in 36 games last season (0.75 points per game). 
 
It took him just eight games to surpass the 10-point mark when he scored his 10th and 11th against Minnesota State on 11/8/24. He is the fastest Tommie to 10 points in program history. 
 
2021-22: Christiano Versich – 17 games
2022-23: Lucas Wahlin – 15 games
2023-24: Lucas Wahlin – 10 games
2024:25: Liam Malmquist – 8 games
 
GOING STREAKING
Liam Malmquist's second three-game point streak of the season ended last Saturday. 
 
2024-25 CCHA PLAYERS OF THE WEEK  
2024-25 CCHA PLAYERS OF THE MONTH  
OCTOBER RECAP
  • 1-3-1 record, -9 goal differential 
  • Lost a 1-0 game to open the season against nationally ranked St. Cloud State 
  • Tied with Vermont 5-5 in game one at home and then took the season series with a 3-1 win over the Catamounts
  • Mason Poolman's three goals in the series set a new high-water mark for his career and earned him his first CCHA Defenseman of the Week honor
  • Lost both games to a tremendously talented Minnesota Golden Gophers squad, 7-1 and 6-2
  • Poolman was named CCHA Defenseman of the Month, the first in program history 
  • Cooper Gay and Mason Poolman led the way with three goals in October, Poolman and Liam Malmquist each led the way with five points over the five games. Casy Laylin played all five games and finished the month with a team-best +3 rating 
  • The Tommies were 0-17 on the power play and 17-21 (.810) on the penalty kill
 
NOVEMBER RECAP
  • 2-3-3 record, +3 goal differential 
  • Split series with Augustana, won game one 4-0 and lost game two 3-2
  • Took one of the six possible points from Minnesota State with a 5-3 home loss and 1-1 tie (SOL) on the road
  • Tied Bowling Green in game one, lost in the shootout, defeated the Falcons 6-3 in game two, their second largest margin of victory this season.
  • Tied Bemidji State in game one 2-2, lost in the shootout, fell to the Beavers in regulation, 2-1 in game two.   
  • Cooper Gay was named CCHA Forward of the Week for the first time in his career after his three-goal weekend against the Falcons.  
  • Cooper Gay and Matthew Gleason each pace the Tommies with four goals in November, Liam Malmquist's nine points this month lead the team. 
  • Aaron Trotter has made five starts in goal with a .904 SV% and 2.39 GAA this month.
  • Jake Sibell has seen action in three games with a .942 SV% and 1.59 GAA during November. 
  • The Toms are 9-26 on the power play (34.6%) and 31-35 on the penalty kill (88.6%).
 
COACH BLASI
  • Entering fourth season for St. Thomas
  • During his 20-year tenure at Miami (Ohio) Blasi was the head coach of 10 NCAA Tournament teams, one national runner-up and one other Frozen Four team
  • National Coach of the Year in 2005-06
  • Coached one Hobey Baker Award winner (Andy Miele) and 10 Hobey Baker finalists, 10 All-America players, and 25 who went on to play in the NHL, including Stanley Cup Champions Alec Martinez, Jeff Zatkoff, Blake Coleman, and Riley Smith. 
  • 430 career wins (23rd all-time / seventh among active head coaches)
 
NON-CONFERENCE
  • St. Thomas plays eight non-conference games this season. They opened with the #16 ranked St. Cloud State Huskies for their first ranked-on-ranked matchup in program history. Vermont made their first journey to Mendota Heights before the Toms headed across the river for a game on the road against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Game two of the cross-town series returned to Xcel Energy Center on Saturday October 26, presented by Wings Credit Union. The Toms' final non-conference games will be the second half of the home-and-home with St. Cloud on Sunday, December 29 and two games at Lindenwood in early January. 
  • The Toms are 1-3-1 outside of the CCHA this season. They fell to the #16 St. Cloud State Huskies, 1-0, to open the season. St. Thomas tied Vermont 5-5 and beat them 3-1 to take the series. Most recently, they fell in two games to #5 Minnesota, 7-1 and 6-2. 
  • St. Thomas has a -9 goal differential in five non-con games.
  • The Tommies have played three games against ranked non-conference opponents and they are 0-3-0. 
  • 1-1-1 home record, 0-1-0 away record, 0-1-0 neutral site record
 
MASON POOLMAN – CCHA DEFENSMAN OF THE MONTH
Mason Poolman was named CCHA Defenseman of the Month, the first Tommie to receive the honor in program history. 
 
Poolman, a native of East Grand Forks, Minn.. scored two goals and added an assist in game one against the Vermont Catamounts and tallied the game-winning goal in game two against the nonconference foe. His second goal on Friday tied the game at five and pushed the affair to overtime. 
 
He matched the Tommies' single-season program record for goals by a defenseman in just one weekend. The sophomore is now tied with Ethan Gauer (2022-23) and Trevor Zins (2021-22). He also surpassed his freshman season goal total of two. 
 
After a week off for the Toms' early season bye, Poolman added an assist in St. Thomas' game-two loss against #5 Minnesota at the Xcel Energy Center. 
 
He is currently tied for the team-lead with five points and sits in the top 10 in the CCHA in points, goals, points per game, and goals per game. He also paced all conference defenseman in goals and points during October. 
 
The award is Poolman's second CCHA honor of any sort in his 33-game collegiate career. He is the first Tommie in program history to be named Defenseman of the Month and the first defenseman to receive more than one in-season CCHA honor in program history. 
 
AARON TROTTER – OFFENSE EXTRAORDINAIRE 
Junior goaltender, Aaron Trotter added his fifth career point with an assist on Cooper Gay's empty-net goal at the end of the Toms' 3-1 win over Vermont. Trotter is still lacking that first career goalie goal as all five of his points have come from assists. He recorded two his freshman year, two his sophomore year, and one this year. 
 
The goaltender is tied for 31st all-time in scoring for the Tommies in their short 3+ year Division I history. Externally, Trotter is far-and-away the best offensive goalie in the country. His five career points are most among active NCAA Division I Men's Hockey. 
 
As of the Saturday in which Trotter added his fifth point, there were just seven active goaltenders with two points and 25 goalies with at least one point. One of those 25 other goalies is Jake Sibell with one career point scored last season for St. Thomas. The Tommies are one of three programs in the country with two goaltenders who have recorded at least one point, Holy Cross and Penn State are the other two. 
 
PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR – LUCAS WAHLIN 
Junior, Lucas Wahlin was the first Tommie to score 30 points in a season, the first Tommie to be named to an All-CCHA team, and now the first Tommie in Division I program history to be named CCHA Preseason Player of the Year. 
 
He was one of three named by conference head coaches along with Isaac Gordon of Michigan Tech and Connor Milburn of Lake Superior State. Wahlin was the only Preseason Player of the Year selected by the media. He was also named to both Preseason All-CCHA Teams. 
 
The junior captain set career marks in goals (12), assists (18), and points (30) while playing in all 37 games last season. He ranked t-11th in goals, t-7th in assists, t-7th in points, and 3rd in shots in the conference. 
 
Wahlin, a native of Woodbury, Minn., is the program's leader in points (51) and is the only Tommie above the 50-point milestone during the DI era. He was also the program's first sophomore captain. 
 
He earned Second-Team All-CCHA, CCHA All-Academic, and CCHA Scholar Athlete honors last season and was named conference player of the week on November 6 for his four points in a weekend series sweep of Northern Michigan.
 
DI SCORING RECORD HOLDERS
  • Mack Byers (2022-24; 31), Luke Manning (2021-24; 23), Cooper Gay (23) round out the top three in DI goals scored 
    • Gay scored three goals against Bowling Green, all on the power play. He leads the Tommies and the CCHA with seven goals this season, he is second in the conference with four power play goals. 
  • Lucas Wahlin (60), Ryan O'Neill (52), and Mack Byers (2022-24; 47), make up the top three in DI points 
    • O'Neill added an assist on Liam Malmquist's power play goal to push their first game against Bemidji State to overtime.  
 
NHL DEVELOPMENT CAMPS  
NHL DRAFT PICKS
  • Ryder Donovan was selected as the 110th overall pick in the fourth round of the 2019 NHL Draft by the Vegas Golden Knights. 
    • Donovan played three games last season for the Purple but made an instant impact with the overtime game-winner against ranked St. Cloud State to open the season. 
  • Chase Cheslock was selected as the 154th overall pick in the fifth round of the 2023 NHL Draft by the New Jersey Devils and is the Tommies first "homegrown" draft pick. 
    • Cheslock joined the Tommies mid-season and played 19 games with one goal and two assists. His first career goal came in the Toms' game-two playoff win over Lake Superior State. 
 
CAPTAINS
  • Junior, Lucas Wahlin, wears the "C" on his chest for coach Rico Blasi's squad for the second consecutive season. Wahlin, a Woodbury, Minn. native, finished with 30 points in 37 games last season. He became the first Tommie in program history to surpass the 50-point career milestone on March 9thagainst Lake Superior State. He played for three teams over three seasons in both the NAHL and USHL before finding a home on the corner of Cretin and Summit. 
  • Seniors Ethan Gauer and Matthew Gleason along with junior Cooper Gay don the "A" this season. 
  • Both Gauer and Gleason are one-time transfers, but Gauer has played in each season of the Tommies' four at the DI level. He has 25 career points and leads the program with 124 blocked shots in 103 career games in purple. 
  • Matthew Gleason transferred in from Colorado College last season and had a career year. He scored five goals and added 18 assists for 23 points. Gleason is originally from St. Paul and played high school hockey for Cretin Derham Hall. 
  • Cooper Gay was on track for a tremendous season before going down with an injury in the second half of the season. The Hanover, Minn. native scored 12 goals and added 10 assists for a total of 22 points in 29 games as a sophomore. Gay has scored the fifth most goals in program history (16) and is sixth in points (29). 
 
TRANSFERS
  • Graduate student, Chase Foley, a Mendota Heights, Minn. native and Colorado College transfer, played 104 games for the Tigers and scored three goals with 28 assists over his four-year career as a defenseman. He is coming off a career season with two goals and 14 assists. 
  • Graduate student, Ray Christy, a St. Paul, Minn. native and Colorado College transfer, played 105 games for the Tigers and scored five goals with nine assists over his four-year career as a defenseman. He is coming off a career season with two goals and five assists while wearing the "A". 
  • Junior, Caige Sterzer, a Kimberley, B.C., Canada native and Lindenwood transfer, played 54 games for the Lions and scored 14 goals with 19 assists over his two-year NCAA career as a forward. He is coming off a career season with eight goals and 14 assists, he was the Lions leading point scorer. 
  • Both Chase Foley and Ray Christy played their Minnesota High School hockey at Saint Thomas Ice Arena for the Saint Thomas Academy Cadets. Neither Christy nor Foley has played in Mendota Heights since 2017-18. Foley was the captain of that 2017-18 Cadets team. 
 
FRESHMEN
  • First-year, Casy Laylin, native of St. Michael, Minn. most recently played for the Salmon Arm Silverbacks of the BCHL for a season and a half. The forward skated in 69 games and added 15 goals and 29 assists for Salmon Arm. 
  • First-year forward, Nick Mikan, an Edina, Minn. native, most recently played for the Vernon Vipers of the BCHL where he skated in 35 games with eight goals and five assists. 
  • First-year defenseman, Ethan Elias, a native of Maple Grove, Minn., most recently played for the Madison Capitols for two seasons where he skated in 105 games with 10 goals and 22 assists. He was the captain of the 2023-24 Capitols team. 
  • First-year forward, Alexander Tell, from Linkoping, Sweden, skated in 49 games for Linkoping HC 120 and added 11 goals and 14 assists while wearing an "A".
 
SIBELL NAMED ONE OF NATION'S TOP TENDERS
Jake Sibell was named to the semi-finalist list for the Mike Richter Award last season. Sibell was the first in program history and only last season from the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. 
 
The Hockey Commissioners Association (HCA) announced the semifinalists for this year's Mike Richter Award, given annually to the top goalie in men's NCAA Division I hockey since 2014. Ten goaltenders from a "Watch List" of 30 were singled out by a panel of voters across the hockey community. 
 
Sibell was one of two goalies on the list from Minnesota (Ryan Bischel of Notre Dame from Medina, Minn.). He was also one of two from a team within the Land of 10,000 Lakes (Justen Close from the University of Minnesota). 
 
Kyle McClellan of Wisconsin won the award for the 2023-24 season.  
 
PRESEASON CCHA COACHES POLL
St. Thomas was picked to finish first in the Preseason CCHA Coaches Poll on September 12th. The former high-water mark in the preseason poll was a fifth-place finish last season. The Toms earned 73 votes in total and tied with Bemidji State in first place votes (3). The Beavers earned 69 votes, four behind St. Thomas. Michigan Tech (2) and Minnesota State (1) finished third and fourth respectively and each earned at least one first place vote. Bowling Green (50), Lake Superior State (46), Augustana (46), Ferris State (28), and Northern Michigan (26) rounded out the poll. 
 
PRESEASON CCHA MEDIA POLL
St. Thomas was picked to finish second in the Preseason CCHA Media Poll on September 12th. This is the highest the Tommies have ever finished in the preseason media poll. Bemidji State came out on top with 107 total votes and five first place votes. The Tommies came up with the same amout of total votes (107) but earned one less first place vote. Minnesota State (2) and Michigan Tech (1) finished third and fourth respectively and each earned at least one first place vote. Bowling Green (63), Lake Superior State (60), Augustana (52), Northern Michigan (40), and Ferris State (33) rounded out the poll.
 
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