University of St. Thomas Athletics
Sunday, March 10
Mendota Heights, Minn.
6:07 p.m. Central
15-20-2
2
vs
3
Lake Superior State
17-19-1
1
2
3
F
Lake Superior St.
0
1
2
3
St. Thomas (MN)
1
1
0
2
Team Stats
LSS
UST
Shots
31
30
PPG
0
2
SHG
1
0
Penalties
6
3
Penalty Mins
23
6
Faceoffs Won
33
31
Game Leaders
Skaters
+/-
-1
Goals
1
Sh
5
A
0
+/-
-2
Goals
1
Sh
3
A
0
+/-
0
Goals
0
Sh
2
A
1
+/-
-1
Goals
0
Sh
2
A
1
Players Mentioned
D
/ Men's HockeyD
/ Men's Hockey
D
/ Men's HockeyF
/ Men's HockeyF
/ Men's Hockey
F
/ Men's Hockey
D
/ Men's Hockey
G
/ Men's Hockey
Photo by: Kylie Macziewski
Men’s Hockey’s season comes to a close
3/10/2024 11:03:00 PM | Men's Hockey
The Tommies fought until the very last moments but a Lake State goal with 6.6 remaining sealed their fate.
MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn.. – The University of St. Thomas Men's Hockey 2023-2024 season came to an end on Sunday night, as the Tommies lost game three to the Lake Superior State Lakers. Lake State scored two goals in the final 10 minutes, including the game-winning goal with 6.6 seconds left on the clock. They took down the Purple 3-2.
Freshman Chase Cheslock scored his first career goal to give the Toms a 2-1 lead in the second. Luc Laylin's ninth goal of the season got the scoring started in the first period. The Lakers outshot the Tommies 31-30. St. Thomas was 2-5 on the power play and 3-3 on the penalty kill but gave up a shorthanded goal in the second period.
With the loss, the Tommies finished the season 15-20-2 and 12-11-1 in conference play for second place in the regular season, up from seventh place last season. The 2023-2024 season was a high-water mark for the program in year three of its Division I saga.
GAME RECAP
The Tommies were the first to strike for the second consecutive game just 10 seconds into their first power play opportunity at 13:34 of the first period. St. Thomas executed perfectly with the man-advantage as Ethan Gauer fed a blue-line pass to Ryan O'Neill on the left point. O'Neill recognized a cutting Luc Laylin and feathered a shot-pass off the sophomore's stick and past Lake State goaltender Ethan Langenegger. St. Thomas was 13-1-2 when scoring first coming into play game three.
At 4:18 of the second period, the CCHA's leading scorer, Jared Wescott was called for a major boarding penalty after he sent J.D. Metz to the locker room. After review, Westcott was handed a game misconduct and ejected from the contest. The Tommies, already down two skaters from the typically allotted 19, were without another forward. The Lakers were to play without their best scorer for the remainder of the game.
Disaster struck for the Tommies as less than a minute into their five-minute power play the Lakers capitalized on an odd man rush to score shorthanded and tie the game at one. With 2:22 seconds remaining on the major power play, the Lakers sent another player to the box, but the Tommies could not score during a full two minutes of the 5-on-3 advantage.
With momentum seemingly shifted back to the men from Sault Ste Marie, Chase Cheslock scored for the first time in his young career at 16:16. Once again the Tommies sent one home on the power play on a rip from the freshman defensemen. Liam Malmquist and Mason Poolman each tallied the assists.
Lake State would not go away and scored the equalizing goal at 10:23 of the third. Then with overtime on the mind of most in attendance they pounced on a rebounded Tommie shot on the blue line to start another odd man rush. Aaron Trotter made the first save but the puck ricocheted high into the air and off the stomach of Dawson Tritt. After bouncing from Tritt's midsection to the ice, he slapped it through with 6.6 seconds remaining.
TOP TOMMIES
- Liam Malmquist's assist on Cheslock's goal was his 27th point of the season, one of six Tommies with 20+ points
- Ryan O'Neill's helper was his 19th of the year, a new program record
- Chase Cheslock was the 19th different Tommie to score a goal this season
- Tobias Abrahamsson played all 37 games on the blue line and did not commit a single penalty
- Aaron Trotter stopped 28 pucks on 31 shots faced, he finished his season with a 3.01 goals against average and .902 save percentage
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
