By Ryan Stieg
MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. — Heading into Friday night’s game against Ferris State, the St. Thomas men’s hockey team hadn’t played at home since late November, but it didn’t take long for the Tommies to get comfortable.
The Tommies scored a school Division I record nine goals, six of them coming in the first period, on their way to a 9-6 win over Ferris State. Liam Malmquist led the UST offensive attack as he scored his first collegiate hat trick and is now tied for seventh nationally with 26 points. Malmquist is the second Tommie to score a hat trick in the DI era after Mack Byers did so last year, also against the Bulldogs.
“I think we were opportunistic in the first period,” Tommies head coach Rico Blasi said. “We had some nice plays. The power play was clicking. We had a good start to the game obviously. But I give them credit. They kept coming back and making a game of it. Obviously, we’re going to have to be a lot better tomorrow night.”
Malmquist felt that the game was sort of a mess overall, but that the Tommies showed up offensively when they needed it.
“You see nine goals, but we’ve also got to clean up a little on defense,” he said. “It was kind of a chaotic game throughout the whole thing, but it was really good to see the offense get going.”
The first period might arguably be the most effective the Tommies have played offensively this season as they took advantage of the Bulldogs’ terrible penalty kill to net three power play goals. UST’s first power play tally came from Ryan O’Neill who scored down low by right post to make it 1-0 at the 1:47 mark. Less than two minutes later, Tommies captain Lucas Wahlin scored on a penalty shot to make it 2-0.
Ferris answered back on a goal by Kaleb Ergang at the 6:27 mark, but Malmquist put the Tommies back up by two when he beat Bulldogs goalie Noah West from the high slot at 8:56. Just 31 seconds later, Ferris cut its deficit back down to one when Tyler Scheppe rang a shot off the pipe and into the back of the net. UST starting goalie Aaron Trotter was then pulled for Jake Sibell.
The Tommies went back up by two goals at 9:58 when Cooper Gay got a pass from Caige Sterzer and scored down low to make it 4-2. At 11:29, Malmquist netted his second goal of the night with a one-timer off a pass from Chase Foley and it was 5-2 UST.
The Bulldogs got trimmed the Tommies’ advantage down to two goals on a goal by Travis Shoudy at 18:36, but 35 seconds later, Sterzer scored on a rebound to put UST up 6-3 heading into the second period.
Compared to the wild opening period, the second period was fairly quiet. Ferris tried to change its fortunes at the start of the period by replacing West with backup goalie Martin Lundberg and it appeared to work as he shut down the Tommies. The Bulldogs did get their deficit down to two again on Shoudy’s second goal of the night at 6:23, but that’s all it could manage. However, the Bulldogs did catch a break with just a few seconds left in the period as UST’s Tobias Abrahamsson was handed a major spearing penalty and they took advantage of that big opportunity in the third.
Ferris got a big goal from Ergang on that major power play to get the score down to 6-5 at 1:56, but then blew their opportunity when Sterzer blocked a shot, skated down the far boards and fed a streaking Luc Laylin, who beat Lundberg at 3:43. UST forward Jake Braccini then made it 8-5 at 5:46 when he went coast to coast and scored unassisted from the high slot.
Despite the three-goal deficit, the Bulldogs wouldn’t give up as Gavin Best got it down to two at 13:44, but they couldn’t cut it any further as Malmquist scored an empty netter with less than a minute remaining to complete his hat trick.
“It’s always good to get a hat trick,” Malmquist said. “I haven’t gotten one in a while, so it’s always appreciated and you’re just grateful you have good linemates getting you the puck and it’s always good to see the puck go into the net.”
Tomorrow night, the Tommies have a chance to pick up back-to-back sweeps, but it probably won’t be as easy to score on the Bulldogs as Friday.
“I think we’re going to have to play a full 60-minute game and get pucks in deep,” Gay said. “I don’t think tomorrow is going to be as high scoring as tonight was. We have to be fine as a unit winning 1-0 or 2-0. You’ve just got to play defensively, lock in and just be responsible in our D zone.”