By Ryan Stieg
ST. PAUL, Minn. — It’s Year 5 of “the process” for the St. Thomas men’s hockey team and three games into the season, it’s had mixed results.
After opening the season with a road win over St. Cloud State last week, the No. 19-ranked Tommies stumbled at No. 10 North Dakota Friday, and in the series finale Sunday, they fell again to the Fighting Hawks 5-2, this time at Grand Casino Arena.
Even though the Tommies were swept by UND, UST head coach Rico Blasi found some positives in the loss.
“We talk a lot about process, I thought our process for the most part was pretty good,” he said. “We’ve got to clean up some things and get better in some details, but overall, I thought our process was pretty good. And if we can build from that, we’re going to be a pretty good team down the stretch.”
In stark contrast to Friday night’s contest, the game was evenly played with both teams having good scoring opportunities. UND got on the scoreboard first on a goal by Cole Reschny at the 6:49 mark of the first period. Reschny got a feed from Jake Livanavage by the right faceoff circle and one-timed the puck past Tommies goalie Carsen Musser to make it 1-0. UST had two power plays in the period to tie things up, but it couldn’t capitalize and it was 1-0 Hawks heading into the second period.
The second period went a little better for the Tommies as they appeared to score on the power play thanks to a rebound goal from Caige Sterzer. However, after a review, the goal was waved off due to offsides. The power play resumed and a short time after that, Tommies captain Lucas Wahlin officially tied the game at the 4:30 mark. Wahlin collected a loose puck in the low slot and tapped the puck into a wide-open net for his third goal of the year.
However, the tie didn’t last long as the Fighting Hawks grabbed the lead again less than three minutes later. UND’s Abram Wiebe sent a weak shot at net from the blue line that found its way past Musser to put the Hawks up 2-1 heading into the third. UST led 20-15 in shots after two periods.
“I thought our forecheck was starting to come toward the end of the first period and we started to create some turnovers,” Blasi said. “I felt like the bench was really starting to come alive a little bit and it just carried over into the second period. I thought we did a really nice job in our game plan and our process in the second and third period of putting a lot of pressure on them.
“At the end of the day, we didn’t win and you’ve got to give North Dakota credit. They’re a good hockey team. That’s a top 10 team, maybe top 5 team in the country for a reason. They don’t need much to bury their chances, but for me, at this stage right now, we’re still getting better, and I know we have a long way to go. I’m excited about the locker room that we have and the players that we have. I love this team. Every day they battle and when you have a team like that, good things are gonna happen.”
UND’s padded its advantage to two goals while on the power play at the 4:12 mark. After Musser denied a shot from Will Zellers, Ellis Rickwood scored on a rebound to make it 3-1 Hawks. The goal was upheld after a brief review.
The Tommies got one goal back when Ryan O’Neill tapped a rebound past Hawks goalie Gibson Homer at 6:29, but UND answered just 21 seconds later when Zellers got a cross-ice pass from Rickwood and wristed a shot past Musser to make it 4-2.
The Hawks struck again at 12:56 on a nice power play goal by Livanavage, who wristed a shot from the point past Musser to finish off the scoring. Musser finished with 18 saves.
After rotating goalies all last season, Blasi has started Musser, a Colorado College transfer and Utah Mammoth draft pick, all three games this year. When asked what he’s seen from Musser so far, Blasi praised the new netminder.
“I think Carsen’s been solid for the most part,” he said. “If you asked him, he’d probably want a couple back tonight. It’s a tough game to play. Tonight was tough. The second period, we were down in their end quite a bit, so it takes a little bit of getting used to if you’re a goalie at the other end. They’re very good at burying their chances. They don’t need too many chances to make the most of it. I think overall, he’s been solid. He’d probably want a couple back tonight.”
UST travels to Air Force this weekend. Puck drop is set for 8:05 p.m. Central Friday at 9:05 p.m. Saturday.