By Ryan Stieg
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Hockey teams always want to start their season on the right skate, but for the St. Thomas men’s squad, it was more of a faceplant.
The Tommies fell behind Air Force 3-0 in the second period Friday night and were eventually handed a 5-1 defeat with the only UST goal being scored by Northern Michigan transfer Jakob Altrichter. UST beat the Falcons on the shot chart (44-28) and in the faceoff circle (43-29), but just not in the category that counts most, the scoreboard.
“I think the scoreboard was probably right,” Tommies head coach Rico Blasi said. “I thought they did a great job protecting the net front, and they didn’t give us any second opportunities. They were taking away shot lanes, and we weren’t. We weren’t sharp and a lot of it had to do with what they were doing, so I give them credit. But we weren’t finding lanes to get to the net, and when we did, they did a great job net front, and they capitalized on their chances, and we didn’t.
“The one thing I didn’t like is our veterans played like it was their first game, and that needs to be corrected, and then the young guys will come. This is our first real game under our belt where we’ve played a lineup, so we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
When asked if the fact that it was the first game played a role in the loss, Tommies co-captain Chase Cheslock didn’t make excuses.
“If you are a person that likes to give out a lot of grace, you could definitely go with that narrative, but at the end of the day, it comes down to us wanting it more,” he said. “They got into a lot of lanes, and we struggled to get pucks to the net. We’ve got to do a better job of getting to the grimy areas whether that be in a corner, or in the blue paint, and protecting the blue line better. We’ll come back tomorrow and come back harder. I don’t think it being opening night is an excuse for us.”
The Falcons struck first on a goal by forward Nick Sajevic at the 13:18 mark of the first period and later at 17:36, they added another one. This goal came just six seconds into an AF power play and on a blast from the point from defenseman Ren Morque. The Falcons took that 2-0 lead into the second period.
UST did a better job defensively in the second as it held the Falcons to only five shots, but AF scored on one of those five. At the 2:46 mark, the Tommies turned the puck over in their own zone and Falcons forward Christian Kim beat UST goalie Carsen Musser five-hole to pad their lead to 3-0.
The Tommies struggled to generate any quality scoring chances in the period and through most of the third period until finally breaking through at the 3:33 mark. While trying to kill off a penalty, UST got the puck into the Falcons zone where Altrichter skated to the high slot and beat AF goalie Dominik Wasik glove-side to cut the Tommies’ deficit to 3-1.
Altrichter’s goal seemed to give the Tommies a boost as Lucas Van Vliet, Nathan Pilling, and Kevin Anderson all had good chances to cut into AF’s lead, but couldn’t cash in. Newcomer David Rozsival had the best scoring opportunity at 7:53 as he was taken down and crashed into the Falcons net. The puck did cross the goal line, but the net was already off its posts before that happened.
With 3:13 remaining, the Tommies pulled Musser for the extra attacker, but the Falcons got empty net goals from Sam Stitz and Sajevic to cap off the victory.
“We’ve got to have better detail in our game (tomorrow), and we’ve got to be a little more determined in winning some battles, and we’ve got to get behind their D and get to their net, which will be a tough task,” Blasi said.