By Ryan Stieg
The two St. Thomas hockey teams have both completed the first two weeks of their respective regular seasons and they’ll both be in different sports this weekend.
First off, the UST women’s squad remains undefeated at 4-0 after coming off a home and home series sweep of WCHA rival Minnesota State last week. The Tommies blew out Post in a home sweep during the opening weekend and then gutted out two wins over the Mavericks to open up the conference season.
When asked about the Mankato series during Tuesday’s press conference, UST head coach Joel Johnson said that it was a successful weekend overall.
“Two very different games,” he said. “Both ended up with wins. I thought we really played well Friday. Saturday, I’m not so sure. I think we were lucky to escape with all the points. That’s the first time I think we’ve gotten all six points in a WCHA weekend. So, I thought it was awesome.”
Things won’t get any easier for the Tommies this week as they head north to take on No. 5 Minnesota Duluth. The Bulldogs opened up their season with three straight wins, including a road sweep of defending national champion Ohio State. However, UMD has now dropped three straight and were just swept by No. 1 Wisconsin in Madison, so maybe the Tommies are catching the Bulldogs at the best time.
Johnson knows that sweeping the Bulldogs on the road will be difficult and said UMD brings a lot to the table.
“Preparing to play Duluth, all they’ve done is have maybe the best start in college hockey,” he said. “Beating everybody that maybe they weren’t supposed to beat. So, it’s going to be a tough challenge. They’ve got great goaltending. They’ve got a new coach, but it’s not really a new coach. It’s just an extension of the former coach. So, I think it’s going to be a tall task. I don’t know what they’re going to be ranked by the time we play them, but it’s going to be a tough bill up there. The good news is we’re traveling up and it’s a beautiful time of year to travel to Duluth and look at the leaves and we’re going to enjoy the weekend.”
Then there’s the Tommies men’s squad, which is coming off a win and tie against Hockey East foe Vermont. UST had to rally twice from two-goal deficits Friday to force a 5-5 tie before rebounding Saturday to notch a 3-1 victory, its first of the season.
“I thought it was a good weekend,” Tommies head coach Rico Blasi said Tuesday. “Kind of two different games for us. Friday was a little bit of a slow start. I credit them for coming after us right away. A real big, heavy, good skating team that plays very similar to how we play. So, we had to come back in that game a couple of times. I’m glad we did. Obviously, we don’t want to put ourselves in that spot. Saturday night, I thought we played more to our standard and more to our identity and limited their chances.”
One of the players that stepped up for the Tommies over the weekend was defenseman Mason Poolman. The sophomore scored two goals Friday and then added another one Saturday on his way to earning CCHA Defenseman of the Week.
“Mason’s game was really in a good place last year,” Blasi said. “Unfortunately, he got hurt a couple of times and that set him back a little bit. He transitioned from forward to D a few years ago in juniors and I just think he’s really starting to feel good about where he’s at and how to play the game from a defenseman’s standpoint at this level.
“If you came to practice every day, you would know Mason Poolman’s an ultra-competitor and he’s going to play hard every shift. When you do that and you’re on your toes, and if you play to your standard, sometimes the puck kind of follows you around and you have some puck luck. Even though some of his shots this weekend looked like snipers, but he is a good example of what we’re trying to get to every day and what I’m saying about getting to your standard.”
While the women are in action this week, the men are on a bye as they rest up for their big series against No. 6 Minnesota. Blasi said that the bye is a good thing and that it’ll get the Tommies a chance to focus on themselves rather than on their upcoming opponent.
“We’ve got a lot of things that we need to work on,” he said. “We’re going to focus on our team this week and then we’ll watch the Gophers and get ready for them next week. Obviously, we want to make it a rivalry, but to make it a rivalry, you’ve got to start to take steps toward beating them. Right now, we’re just going to focus on us and see what happens.”
The UST women play at 3 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday in Duluth before returning home next week for a home and home against No. 10/11 St. Cloud State. The Tommies men will take on the Golden Gophers at 3MAM at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 25 and then at 8 p.m. on Oct. 26 at the Xcel Energy Center.