By Ryan Stieg
MENDOTA HEIGHTS – Last year when the St. Thomas men’s hockey team faced off against St. Cloud State in its home opener, the Huskies prevailed 1-0 in a hard-fought affair.
Well, the same thing happened again Sunday night as the No. 16 Huskies scored early and withstood a big push in the third period to defeat the No. 20 Tommies 1-0. UST goalie Jake Sibell finished with 27 saves.
“I thought we got better as the game went along for sure,” Tommies head coach Rico Blasi said. “We had to push down one. I thought it was a good hockey game. I thought we got better tonight. Obviously, their goaltender (Isak Posch) played well. There’s some things that we need to improve on and that’s what we’ll continue to do. We’ve got to stay focused on our process. You’re going to have to navigate through things just like any other year. But I thought our guys got better as the game went along.”
Just like the exhibition game against Manitoba Saturday, the Tommies started slow. SCSU did a good job of keeping them off their game as the Huskies clogged lanes and forced turnovers.
At the 5:38 mark, the Huskies got on the scoreboard thanks to a deflection. SCSU’s Colin Ralph fired a shot from the point during a 4 on 4 that went off teammate Ryan Rosborough’s stick and past Sibell to make it 1-0. The Tommies also struggled in the faceoff circle during the period, getting outdueled 19-7.
Things got a little better for the Tommies in the second as they got some good offensive rushes and outshot the Huskies 14-5, but couldn’t generate any quality scoring chances. At the other end of the ice, Sibell stayed solid in net to keep the deficit at one goal.
“I’m starting the year in a game zone,” Sibell said. “We’ve been practicing for this weekend, so everybody’s been in that mindset since Day 1 of training camp. I think we’re all getting used to game speed again, but overall, I think it’s just a testament to our practices and being dialed in from Weekend 1. We’ve played two pretty good teams and obviously, it didn’t go our way this game, but I feel pretty good out there.”
In the third period, the Tommies started to get those quality scoring opportunities. Posch just got a piece of Jake Braccini’s shot with 17:49 left and with 13:32 left, Braccini fed Casy Laylin by the left post, but Laylin couldn’t tuck it into the net. With under six minutes remaining, UST’s Ryder Donovan sent a pass to Matthew Gleason, but he was also denied by Posch.
The Tommies continued to put pressure on the SCSU defense as the period went on and got two good chances down low with two minutes left, but couldn’t find the equalizer.
“I think our third period was the best today for sure,” Sibell said. “They were dumping the puck in a lot and trying to manage the game, but we were able to get back to pucks and break out fast. So, it made my job a lot easier in the third. I’d say that we definitely played our best in the third today.”
UST hosts Vermont next weekend. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday in Mendota Heights.