University of St. Thomas Athletics
Friday, October 30
Oxford, Ohio
6:00 p.m. CT
at
Miami
10/29/2026 2:00:00 PM | Men's Hockey
The Tommies head to Oxford, Ohio, to break the seal on conference play
ST. PAUL, Minn. – For the first time in program history, St. Thomas men's hockey (1-3-0) will play NCHC hockey this weekend. The Tommies visit the red-hot Miami RedHawks (5-1-0) on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 30-31, at Goggin Ice Center in Oxford, Ohio.
Game one is Friday at 6 p.m. CT, and game two is Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT. Both games can be streamed on NCHC.tv, and Tony Pasquesi has the radio call both nights on ESPN 1500.
St. Thomas has outshot its opponent in each of its first four games but has won just one. Last weekend, the Tommies ran into a hot goalie in Minnesota State's net, who made the most saves in a single game by any goaltender in the country this season (51). The Mavericks then shut out the Purple in game two, the first time St. Thomas had been blanked since February. Lucas Van Vliet scored the Tommies' only goal of the weekend, his team-leading second of the year. Chase Cheslock and David Rozsival each assisted on it and share the team lead with three points apiece. Will Ingemann made his first start of the season in game two, stopping 23 of 24 shots in the 2-0 loss.
Miami has the nation's second-longest winning streak and third-longest unbeaten streak, both at five games (5-0-0). The RedHawks received the second-most votes in the USCHO.com poll among teams outside the top 20. They are led by third-year head coach Anthony Noreen. Senior forward Matteo Giampa paces the team with eight points, and sophomore first-round draft pick Ilia Morozov leads with five goals, three of them on the power play. Matteo Drobac has started five times and is 4-1-0 with a 1.40 GAA and .932 SV%. His lone loss came with no run support in a 3-0 shutout against Northern Michigan in the season opener.
St. Thomas head coach Rico Blasi spent 20 seasons behind the Miami bench, leading the RedHawks to a national championship game, two Frozen Fours and 10 NCAA tournaments. He also captained Miami as a player. This weekend is Blasi's first time head coaching against his former team.
WALL INGEMANN
Sophomore goaltender Will Ingemann made his season debut last Saturday, stopping 23 of 24 shots in the Tommies' 2-0 loss to Minnesota State. The Plymouth, Minn., native also made his collegiate debut against the Mavericks last season, stopping 19 of 21 shots in a game-one loss. He then stopped 27 of 30 the next night to earn his first career win on the road in Mankato.
Ingemann has lowered his career GAA to 2.56 and raised his SV% to .900 in seven games played after first strong outing against Minnesota State.
FACE-OFF FACTORY
The Tommies are winning faceoffs at a 59.3% clip, their best mark ever through the first four games of a season. Nathan Pilling leads the team with 50 wins and is on pace to set the single-season program record. Jakub Altrichter is also off to a hot start, winning 48 draws at a 69.6% rate. He ranked sixth among freshmen nationally with 280 faceoff wins in 2024-25 at Northern Michigan.
SHOTS
The Tommies put 52 shots on net in their 3-1 loss to Minnesota State on Oct. 23. Since 2021-22, NCHC teams that have topped 50 shots in a game are 14-6-3. St. Thomas' 52 shots are tied for the third-most in a loss in NCHC history. North Dakota holds the record with 65 shots in a 3-2 loss to Minnesota Duluth in 2021-22.
IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME
The Tommies are averaging 40.5 shots per game through their first four games. Although it is early, that pace would make them the third team in the past five seasons to finish at or above 35 shots per game in the NCHC. The first two, Denver in 2021-22 and Western Michigan in 2024-25, won the NCAA championship. The Pioneers were 4-0 through their first four games and scored more than five goals per game, while the Broncos were 3-1 and scored more than five per game.
468 FOR BLASI
With his 468th career win on Oct. 10 against Air Force, Blasi moved into a tie for 20th all-time with Joe Marsh. Blasi, who won his 450th game on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, against St. Cloud State, is in his 26th year as a head coach and ranks fourth among active head coaches. He is four wins shy of Don Vaughan (19th).
WHITE WALL
Freshman Ajay White is one of three goaltenders in the Tommies' room and earned his first career win in impressive fashion against Air Force on Oct. 10. He is the second goaltender in program history to win his debut start for the Purple. Carsen Musser was the first, last season.
ALT-READY FITTING IN
Junior center Jakub Altrichter made a statement in his first weekend as a Tommie. The former Northern Michigan Wildcat scored his first goal in purple, the team's first shorthanded goal since Bauer Berry's last February against Bemidji State. St. Thomas tied for the national lead with 11 shorthanded goals last season.
Altrichter followed that up on Saturday with the first +4 rating of his collegiate career in the 4-2 win, his 61st career game. He won 25 of 38 faceoffs (.658) and logged 20:45 of ice time, second among Tommie forwards behind only Van Vliet.
CO-CAPTAINS
St. Thomas is captained by a pair of four-year Tommie defensemen, Chase Cheslock and Cole Miller. This is the first time in the D-I era that Blasi has named co-captains. A third four-year defenseman, Mason Poolman, wears the "A."
ALL-TIME IN OCTOBER
The Tommies are 9-31-4 in October during the D-I era and have yet to post a winning month. The Purple have never won more than two games in the year's 10th month.
NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
The Tommies opened their 10-game non-conference slate on Oct. 9-10 against Air Force, splitting the home-opening series by dropping game one 5-1 and winning game two 4-2. St. Thomas is playing a 34-game schedule in 2026-27, plus one exhibition game for Hockey Day Minnesota on Jan. 30 in Brainerd.
The non-league schedule also includes CCHA rivals Minnesota State and Bemidji State, first-time opponent Alaska Anchorage and NCAA tournament team Providence. Air Force, Bemidji State and Alaska Anchorage are three of the Tommies' five opponents that did not receive a vote in the preseason USCHO poll.
The Tommies dropped both games of their Oct. 23-24 home-and-home with Minnesota State. The Mavericks won game one 3-1 at Anderson Arena and then shut out the Tommies 2-0 the following night in Mankato. After opening NCHC play this weekend at Miami, St. Thomas hosts the Seawolves on Nov. 6-7.
Thanksgiving week brings a home-and-home with Bemidji State, with games on Nov. 25 in Bemidji and Nov. 28 at Anderson Arena. The final non-conference series of the season is at Providence on Jan. 1-2, 2027, in Rhode Island.
MILESTONE WATCH
NHL DEVELOPMENT CAMPS
NHL DRAFT PICKS
PRESEASON PUB
The Tommies were picked to finish seventh in the NCHC Preseason Media Poll.
COACH BLASI
NICE TO MEET YA
St. Thomas returned just 11 players from its 2025-26 squad and welcomes 15 newcomers: nine freshmen and six transfers.
Freshmen
POINTS PARITY
The Tommies have had a different player lead the team in points in each of their first five seasons of D-I play.
D-I SCORING RECORD HOLDERS
Game one is Friday at 6 p.m. CT, and game two is Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT. Both games can be streamed on NCHC.tv, and Tony Pasquesi has the radio call both nights on ESPN 1500.
St. Thomas has outshot its opponent in each of its first four games but has won just one. Last weekend, the Tommies ran into a hot goalie in Minnesota State's net, who made the most saves in a single game by any goaltender in the country this season (51). The Mavericks then shut out the Purple in game two, the first time St. Thomas had been blanked since February. Lucas Van Vliet scored the Tommies' only goal of the weekend, his team-leading second of the year. Chase Cheslock and David Rozsival each assisted on it and share the team lead with three points apiece. Will Ingemann made his first start of the season in game two, stopping 23 of 24 shots in the 2-0 loss.
Miami has the nation's second-longest winning streak and third-longest unbeaten streak, both at five games (5-0-0). The RedHawks received the second-most votes in the USCHO.com poll among teams outside the top 20. They are led by third-year head coach Anthony Noreen. Senior forward Matteo Giampa paces the team with eight points, and sophomore first-round draft pick Ilia Morozov leads with five goals, three of them on the power play. Matteo Drobac has started five times and is 4-1-0 with a 1.40 GAA and .932 SV%. His lone loss came with no run support in a 3-0 shutout against Northern Michigan in the season opener.
St. Thomas head coach Rico Blasi spent 20 seasons behind the Miami bench, leading the RedHawks to a national championship game, two Frozen Fours and 10 NCAA tournaments. He also captained Miami as a player. This weekend is Blasi's first time head coaching against his former team.
WALL INGEMANN
Sophomore goaltender Will Ingemann made his season debut last Saturday, stopping 23 of 24 shots in the Tommies' 2-0 loss to Minnesota State. The Plymouth, Minn., native also made his collegiate debut against the Mavericks last season, stopping 19 of 21 shots in a game-one loss. He then stopped 27 of 30 the next night to earn his first career win on the road in Mankato.
Ingemann has lowered his career GAA to 2.56 and raised his SV% to .900 in seven games played after first strong outing against Minnesota State.
FACE-OFF FACTORY
The Tommies are winning faceoffs at a 59.3% clip, their best mark ever through the first four games of a season. Nathan Pilling leads the team with 50 wins and is on pace to set the single-season program record. Jakub Altrichter is also off to a hot start, winning 48 draws at a 69.6% rate. He ranked sixth among freshmen nationally with 280 faceoff wins in 2024-25 at Northern Michigan.
SHOTS
The Tommies put 52 shots on net in their 3-1 loss to Minnesota State on Oct. 23. Since 2021-22, NCHC teams that have topped 50 shots in a game are 14-6-3. St. Thomas' 52 shots are tied for the third-most in a loss in NCHC history. North Dakota holds the record with 65 shots in a 3-2 loss to Minnesota Duluth in 2021-22.
IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME
The Tommies are averaging 40.5 shots per game through their first four games. Although it is early, that pace would make them the third team in the past five seasons to finish at or above 35 shots per game in the NCHC. The first two, Denver in 2021-22 and Western Michigan in 2024-25, won the NCAA championship. The Pioneers were 4-0 through their first four games and scored more than five goals per game, while the Broncos were 3-1 and scored more than five per game.
468 FOR BLASI
With his 468th career win on Oct. 10 against Air Force, Blasi moved into a tie for 20th all-time with Joe Marsh. Blasi, who won his 450th game on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, against St. Cloud State, is in his 26th year as a head coach and ranks fourth among active head coaches. He is four wins shy of Don Vaughan (19th).
WHITE WALL
Freshman Ajay White is one of three goaltenders in the Tommies' room and earned his first career win in impressive fashion against Air Force on Oct. 10. He is the second goaltender in program history to win his debut start for the Purple. Carsen Musser was the first, last season.
ALT-READY FITTING IN
Junior center Jakub Altrichter made a statement in his first weekend as a Tommie. The former Northern Michigan Wildcat scored his first goal in purple, the team's first shorthanded goal since Bauer Berry's last February against Bemidji State. St. Thomas tied for the national lead with 11 shorthanded goals last season.
Altrichter followed that up on Saturday with the first +4 rating of his collegiate career in the 4-2 win, his 61st career game. He won 25 of 38 faceoffs (.658) and logged 20:45 of ice time, second among Tommie forwards behind only Van Vliet.
CO-CAPTAINS
St. Thomas is captained by a pair of four-year Tommie defensemen, Chase Cheslock and Cole Miller. This is the first time in the D-I era that Blasi has named co-captains. A third four-year defenseman, Mason Poolman, wears the "A."
- Chase Cheslock – Four goals, 40 assists and 44 points in 99 career games. He has captained two previous teams: Rogers High School for two years and the Omaha Lancers in 2023, before he joined the Tommies at the holiday break in 2024.
- Cole Miller – Two goals, 15 assists and 17 points in 110 career games. Miller also has two previous captaincies: the Ohio Blue Jackets 18U AAA team in 2020-21 and the Sioux Falls Stampede in 2022-23.
- Mason Poolman – Seven goals, 18 assists and 25 points in 108 career games.
ALL-TIME IN OCTOBER
The Tommies are 9-31-4 in October during the D-I era and have yet to post a winning month. The Purple have never won more than two games in the year's 10th month.
- 2021-22: 1-9-0
- 2022-23: 2-6-0
- 2023-24: 2-5-1
- 2024-25: 1-3-2
- 2025-26: 2-5-1
- 2026-27: 1-3-0
NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
The Tommies opened their 10-game non-conference slate on Oct. 9-10 against Air Force, splitting the home-opening series by dropping game one 5-1 and winning game two 4-2. St. Thomas is playing a 34-game schedule in 2026-27, plus one exhibition game for Hockey Day Minnesota on Jan. 30 in Brainerd.
The non-league schedule also includes CCHA rivals Minnesota State and Bemidji State, first-time opponent Alaska Anchorage and NCAA tournament team Providence. Air Force, Bemidji State and Alaska Anchorage are three of the Tommies' five opponents that did not receive a vote in the preseason USCHO poll.
The Tommies dropped both games of their Oct. 23-24 home-and-home with Minnesota State. The Mavericks won game one 3-1 at Anderson Arena and then shut out the Tommies 2-0 the following night in Mankato. After opening NCHC play this weekend at Miami, St. Thomas hosts the Seawolves on Nov. 6-7.
Thanksgiving week brings a home-and-home with Bemidji State, with games on Nov. 25 in Bemidji and Nov. 28 at Anderson Arena. The final non-conference series of the season is at Providence on Jan. 1-2, 2027, in Rhode Island.
MILESTONE WATCH
- Career points
- Chase Cheslock has 44 career points.
- Career assists
- Nick Williams has 24 career assists.
- Career games played
- Chase Cheslock has played in 99 career games.
- Nick Williams has played in 92 career games.
NHL DEVELOPMENT CAMPS
- Bauer Berry (Edmonton Oilers)
- Hawke Huff (Seattle Kraken)
- Justin Kipkie (Minnesota Wild)
- Carsen Musser (Utah Mammoth)
- Nathan Pilling (Vegas Golden Knights)
- David Rozsival (New Jersey Devils)
- Lucas Van Vliet (Vegas Golden Knights)
- Ajay White (Dallas Stars)
NHL DRAFT PICKS
- Bauer Berry was selected 218th overall (seventh round) in the 2024 NHL Draft by the Edmonton Oilers.
- Chase Cheslock was selected 154th overall in the 2023 NHL Draft by the New Jersey Devils and was the first drafted player to commit to the Tommies out of high school.
- Hawke Huff was selected 148th overall (fifth round) in the 2026 NHL Draft by the Seattle Kraken. He is the highest-drafted freshman in program history.
- Justin Kipkie was selected 141st overall (fifth round) in the 2025 NHL Draft by the Minnesota Wild.
- Carsen Musser was selected 166th overall in the 2023 NHL Draft by the Utah Mammoth.
- David Rozsival was selected 161st overall in the 2025 NHL Draft by the New Jersey Devils.
- Lucas Van Vliet was selected 197th overall in the 2024 NHL Draft by the Vegas Golden Knights.
PRESEASON PUB
The Tommies were picked to finish seventh in the NCHC Preseason Media Poll.
- Denver – 304 points (14 first-place votes)
- North Dakota – 302 points (12 first-place votes)
- Minnesota Duluth – 273 points (7 first-place votes)
- Western Michigan – 237 points
- Miami – 175 points
- Colorado College – 159 points
- St. Thomas – 121 points
- St. Cloud State – 102 points
- Arizona State – 73 points
- Omaha – 69 points
COACH BLASI
- Entering his sixth season at St. Thomas.
- During his 20-year tenure at Miami, Blasi led 10 NCAA tournament teams, including 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), 10 Hobey Baker finalists, 10 All-Americans and 25 players who went on to play in the NHL, including Stanley Cup champions Alex Martinez, Jeff Zatkoff, Blake Coleman and Reilly Smith.
- His 468-414-91 record ties him for 20th all-time and ranks fourth among active head coaches.
NICE TO MEET YA
St. Thomas returned just 11 players from its 2025-26 squad and welcomes 15 newcomers: nine freshmen and six transfers.
Freshmen
- Vincent Collard | 6-2 | Forward | Chicoutimi, Quebec | Blainville-Boisbriand (QMJHL)
- Aiden Grossklaus | 6-0 | Forward | Woodbury, Minn. | Wenatchee (WHL)
- Kaeden Hawkins | 6-0 | Forward | St. Louis, Mo. | London (OHL)
- Hawke Huff | 6-3 | Defenseman | Plymouth, Minn. | Cedar Rapids (USHL)
- Andrew O'Neill | 6-2 | Forward | Fargo, N.D. | Edmonton (WHL)
- Jackson Potulny | 6-3 | Forward | Maple Grove, Minn. | El Paso (NAHL)
- David Rozsival | 6-1 | Forward | Liberec, Czechia | Green Bay (USHL)
- Kade Stengrim | 6-4 | Forward | Brainerd, Minn. | Medicine Hat (WHL)
- Ajay White | 6-3 | Goaltender | Bryn Mawr, Pa. | Fargo (USHL)
- Jakub Altrichter | 5-11 | Forward | Prague, Czechia | Northern Michigan (CCHA)
- Kevin Anderson | 6-0 | Forward | Regina, Saskatchewan | Princeton (ECAC)
- Sam Groebner | 6-2 | Defenseman | Apple Valley, Minn. | Army (AHA)
- Justin Kipkie | 6-4 | Defenseman | Calgary, Alberta | Arizona State (NCAA)
- Quinn Rudrud | 6-3 | Forward | Farmington, Minn. | Augustana (CCHA)
- Winter Wallace | 6-4 | Forward | Boulder, Colo. | Cornell (ECAC)
POINTS PARITY
The Tommies have had a different player lead the team in points in each of their first five seasons of D-I play.
- Christiano Versich, 2021-22 (15 points)
- Mack Byers, 2022-23 (26 points)
- Lucas Wahlin, 2023-24 (30 points)
- Liam Malmquist, 2024-25 (45 points)
- Alex Gaffney, 2025-26 (40 points)
D-I SCORING RECORD HOLDERS
- Lucas Wahlin (56, 2022-26), Cooper Gay (35, 2022-25) and Jake Braccini (33, 2022-26) round out the top three in career D-I goals.
- Lucas Wahlin (131, 2022-26), Ryan O'Neill (94, 2022-26) and Liam Malmquist (72, 2023-25) make up the top three in career points.
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