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2022–23 St. Thomas Tommies men's ice hockey season

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2022–23 St. Thomas Tommies
men's ice hockey season
Conference7th CCHA
Home iceSt. Thomas Ice Arena
Rankings
USCHONR
USA TodayNR
Record
Overall11–23–2
Conference10–14–2
Home7–9–1
Road4–14–1
Coaches and captains
Head coachEnrico Blasi
Assistant coachesLeon Hayward
Cory Laylin
St. Thomas (Minnesota) Tommies men's ice hockey seasons
« 2021–22 2023–24 »

The 2022–23 St. Thomas Tommies men's ice hockey season was the 99th season of play for the program, the 2nd in Division I and the 2nd in the CCHA conference. The Tommies represented the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) and were coached by Enrico Blasi, in his second season.

Season

[edit]

After a predictably terrible season, the first for the program at the Division I level, coach Blasi continued his task of turning the Tommies into a competitive team. With more than half of the team being new, there were sure to be changes but the roster turnover meant that getting the team to gel together would take time. The offense, which had been one of the worst in the nation in 2022, didn't see much improvement early in the season. In the first 14 games, the Tommies scored more than two goals in just four matches. Averaging just over two goals per game, the team got off to an ugly start (2–12). While their record was awful, the team did show improvement on the defensive end. St. Thomas was allowing far fewer shots and goals against and half of their losses were by only one goal.

Just after Thanksgiving, the Tommies posted their first weekend sweep at the D-I level. Using the milestone as a benchmark, St. Thomas saw a vast improvement to their performance over the remainder of the season. A modest increase in both offensive production and defensive efficiency enabled the team to post a .500 record over their final 18 games. While the Tommies couldn't string together anything resembling a winning streak, they also never lost more than two in a row during that stretch. St. Thomas was also able to post its first two wins over ranked teams, defeating both Michigan Tech and Minnesota State on the road. Though they couldn't improve on their conference position much due to the team's poor start, the wins piled up to the point where the Tommies had a respectable total by the end of the year.

St. Thomas finished the season as the 7th seed in the CCHA tournament and, though they weren't predicted to win, they still outperformed expectations. The Tommies pushed Tech to the limit in both games, ultimately falling short by a single goal in both.

While the team did finish the season 12 games under .500, the program had come a long way over the course of the season. Not only did they nearly quadruple the win total from 2022, but they increased their goal production by 27 while cutting down on the goals allowed by 51. Even with a losing record, the program could still chalk this season up as a success.[1]

Departures

[edit]
Player Position Nationality Cause
Jacob Berger Goaltender  United States Graduation (retired)
Michael Ferrandino Defenseman  United States Transferred to Augsburg
Kyler Grundy Forward  United States Transferred to UW-Eau Claire
Kimball Johnson Defenseman  United States Transferred to Utica
Justin Kelley Forward  United States Transferred to Bethel
Grant Loven Forward  United States Graduate transfer to Canisius
Lucas McGregor Forward  United States Left program (retired)
Shayne Monahan Defenseman  United States Graduation (retired)
Logan Ommen Forward  United States Left program (retired)
Sam Renlund Forward  United States Left program (retired)
Paul Schmid Forward  Austria Transferred to Norwich
John Schuldt Defenseman  United States Graduation (retired)
Joe Sofo Forward  United States Graduation (signed with Pensacola Ice Flyers)
Aaron Swanson Forward  United States Transferred to UW-Eau Claire
Peter Thome Goaltender  United States Graduation (signed with Idaho Steelheads)
Christiano Versich Forward  United States Graduation (signed with Jokers de Cergy-Pontoise)
Vincent Weis Defenseman  United States Transferred to Augsburg

Recruiting

[edit]
Player Position Nationality Age Notes
Jake Braccini Forward  United States 21 Hanover, MN
Mack Byers Forward  United States 23 Long Lake, MN; transfer from Northern Michigan
Garrett Daly Forward  United States 23 Lakeville, MN; transfer from Bowling Green
Grant Docter Defenseman  United States 21 Golden Valley, MN; transfer from Michigan Tech
Joshua Eernisse Forward  United States 20 Apple Valley, MN
Cooper Gay Forward  United States 20 Edina, MN
Luke Kron Forward  United States 20 Andover, MN
Luc Laylin Forward  United States 20 St. Michael, MN
Jarrett Lee Forward  United States 23 Hibbing, MN; graduate transfer from Minnesota Duluth
Ryan O'Neill Forward  United States 21 Roseville, MN
Quinton Pepper Forward  Canada 20 London, ON
Carson Peters Defenseman  United States 19 Minneapolis, MN
Ethan Roberts Goaltender  United States 20 Cary, NC
Braidan Simmons-Fischer Defenseman  United States 20 Detroit, MI
Aaron Trotter Goaltender  Canada 21 Victoria, BC
Lucas Wahlin Forward  United States 21 Woodbury, MN

Roster

[edit]

As of July 21, 2022.[2]

No. S/P/C Player Class Pos Height Weight DoB Hometown Previous team NHL rights
2 Minnesota Trevor Zins Senior D 6' 1" (1.85 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1998-07-23 St. Michael, Minnesota St. Cloud State (NCHC)
3 Minnesota Lucas Wahlin Freshman F 5' 11" (1.8 m) 160 lb (73 kg) 2001-05-03 Woodbury, Minnesota Lincoln (USHL)
4 Minnesota Nolan Sawchuk Graduate D 5' 11" (1.8 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1997-09-25 Burnsville, Minnesota UMass Lowell (HEA)
5 Minnesota Garrett Daly Graduate D 6' 0" (1.83 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1999-08-11 Lakeville, Minnesota Bowling Green (CCHA)
6 Minnesota Josh Eernisse Freshman F 6' 2" (1.88 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 2001-12-31 Apple Valley, Minnesota Tri-City (USHL)
7 Minnesota Luke Kron Freshman F 6' 0" (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 2002-05-24 Andover, Minnesota Sioux Falls (USHL)
8 Pennsylvania Cameron Recchi Sophomore F 5' 10" (1.78 m) 165 lb (75 kg) 2001-05-24 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Salmon Arm (BCHL)
9 Georgia (U.S. state) Matthew Jennings Graduate F 5' 8" (1.73 m) 173 lb (78 kg) 1997-06-07 Buford, Georgia Ohio State (Big Ten)
10 Minnesota Andrew Kangas Senior F 5' 9" (1.75 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1998-01-28 Mahtomedi, Minnesota Minot (NAHL)
11 Minnesota Ryan O'Neill Freshman F 5' 10" (1.78 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 2001-02-25 Roseville, Minnesota St. Cloud (NAHL)
12 Minnesota Tim Piechowski Sophomore F 6' 2" (1.88 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 2000-12-08 Eden Prairie, Minnesota Bismarck (NAHL)
15 Ontario Quinton Pepper Freshman F 6' 3" (1.91 m) 187 lb (85 kg) 2002-01-31 London, Ontario Steinbach (MJHL)
16 Minnesota Luke Manning Senior F 5' 10" (1.78 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1999-04-13 Stillwater, Minnesota Air Force (AHA)
17 Minnesota Jake Braccini Freshman F 5' 11" (1.8 m) 192 lb (87 kg) 2001-07-02 Hanover, Minnesota Muskegon (USHL)
18 Minnesota Ethan Gauer Junior D 6' 0" (1.83 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1999-12-23 Farmington, Minnesota Bemidji State (WCHA)
19 Minnesota Luc Laylin Freshman F 5' 8" (1.73 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 2001-12-30 St. Michael, Minnesota Prince George (BCHL)
20 Minnesota Cooper Gay Freshman F 6' 4" (1.93 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 2002-03-15 Edina, Minnesota Fargo (USHL)
21 Minnesota Carson Peters Freshman D 6' 3" (1.91 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 2002-10-28 Medina, Minnesota Cedar Rapids (USHL)
22 Minnesota Mack Byers Junior F 6' 1" (1.85 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1999-02-08 Long Lake, Minnesota Northern Michigan (CCHA)
24 Minnesota Grant Docter Sophomore D 5' 10" (1.78 m) 174 lb (79 kg) 2000-12-06 Golden Valley, Minnesota Michigan Tech (CCHA)
25 Ontario Trevor LeDonne Sophomore D 6' 1" (1.85 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 2000-02-27 Stoney Creek, Ontario Nanaimo (BCHL)
26 Minnesota Blaine Warnert Sophomore F 6' 5" (1.96 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 2000-07-17 Chaska, Minnesota Minot (NAHL)
27 Minnesota Luke Perunovich Graduate D 6' 1" (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1997-05-12 Edina, Minnesota Providence (HEA)
28 Michigan Braidan Simmons-Fischer Freshman D 6' 7" (2.01 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 2002-01-26 Detroit, Michigan Austin (NAHL)
29 Minnesota Jarrett Lee Graduate F 5' 10" (1.78 m) 154 lb (70 kg) 1999-06-04 Hibbing, Minnesota Minnesota Duluth (NCHC)
31 British Columbia Aaron Trotter Freshman G 6' 2" (1.88 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 2001-04-07 Victoria, British Columbia Prince George (BCHL)
35 Wisconsin Henry Baribeau Senior G 6' 3" (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1998-10-15 Hudson, Wisconsin New Ulm (NA3HL)
42 North Carolina Ethan Roberts Freshman G 6' 1" (1.85 m) 172 lb (78 kg) 2002-09-24 Cary, North Carolina Springfield (NAHL)

Standings

[edit]
Conference record Overall record
GP W L T OTW OTL SW PTS GF GA GP W L T GF GA
#12 Minnesota State †* 26 16 9 1 2 4 1 52 83 56 39 25 13 1 126 81
#13 Michigan Tech 26 15 7 4 0 1 0 50 68 54 39 24 11 4 103 88
Bowling Green 26 12 12 2 0 2 1 41 89 76 36 15 19 2 114 114
Northern Michigan 26 14 12 0 3 0 0 39 82 77 38 21 17 0 123 103
Bemidji State 26 12 11 3 3 1 2 39 73 63 36 14 17 5 94 97
Ferris State 26 9 14 3 1 2 3 34 62 91 37 14 19 4 92 131
St. Thomas 26 10 14 2 1 1 0 32 69 81 36 11 23 2 86 117
Lake Superior State 26 8 17 1 2 1 1 25 52 80 36 9 25 2 71 118
Championship: March 18, 2023
† indicates conference regular season champion (MacNaughton Cup)
* indicates conference tournament champion (Mason Cup)
Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll

Schedule and results

[edit]
Date Time Opponent# Rank# Site TV Decision Result Attendance Record
Regular Season
October 1 6:00 PM #13 St. Cloud State* St. Thomas Ice ArenaMendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey Trotter L 1–3  975 0–1–0
October 2 4:00 PM at #13 St. Cloud State* Herb Brooks National Hockey CenterSt. Cloud, Minnesota FOX 9+ Roberts L 0–4  3,284 0–2–0
October 7 7:07 PM Alaska* St. Thomas Ice ArenaMendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey Trotter L 2–4  821 0–3–0
October 8 6:07 PM Alaska* St. Thomas Ice ArenaMendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey Trotter W 3–2 OT 738 1–3–0
October 14 7:07 PM USNTDP* St. Thomas Ice ArenaMendota Heights, Minnesota (Exhibition) FloHockey Trotter L 2–5   
October 21 6:00 PM at #18 Penn State* Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania   Trotter L 2–6  6,034 1–4–0
October 22 6:00 PM at #18 Penn State* Pegula Ice ArenaUniversity Park, Pennsylvania   Trotter L 2–3 OT 6,243 1–5–0
October 28 6:07 PM at Ferris State Ewigleben ArenaBig Rapids, Michigan FloHockey Trotter L 2–3 OT 1,847 1–6–0 (0–1–0)
October 29 5:07 PM at Ferris State Ewigleben ArenaBig Rapids, Michigan FloHockey Trotter W 5–2  1,823 2–6–0 (1–1–0)
November 4 7:07 PM #6 Minnesota State St. Thomas Ice ArenaMendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey Trotter L 2–10  961 2–7–0 (1–2–0)
November 5 6:07 PM at #6 Minnesota State Mayo Clinic Health System Event CenterMankato, Minnesota KEYC Roberts L 3–4  5,094 2–8–0 (1–3–0)
November 11 6:07 PM at Bowling Green Slater Family Ice ArenaBowling Green, Ohio FloHockey Trotter L 2–3  2,204 2–9–0 (1–4–0)
November 12 6:07 PM at Bowling Green Slater Family Ice ArenaBowling Green, Ohio FloHockey Trotter L 2–3  2,467 2–10–0 (1–5–0)
November 18 7:07 PM Michigan Tech St. Thomas Ice ArenaMendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey Trotter L 2–6  816 2–11–0 (1–6–0)
November 19 6:07 PM Michigan Tech St. Thomas Ice ArenaMendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey Trotter L 3–4  815 2–12–0 (1–7–0)
November 25 7:07 PM Lake Superior State St. Thomas Ice ArenaMendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey Trotter W 4–0  646 3–12–0 (2–7–0)
November 26 6:07 PM Lake Superior State St. Thomas Ice ArenaMendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey Trotter W 2–1  568 4–12–0 (3–7–0)
December 2 7:07 PM at Bemidji State Sanford CenterBemidji, Minnesota FloHockey Trotter L 4–6  2,064 4–13–0 (3–8–0)
December 3 6:07 PM at Bemidji State Sanford CenterBemidji, Minnesota FloHockey Trotter T 2–2 SOL 1,617 4–13–1 (3–8–1)
December 16 7:07 PM Ferris State St. Thomas Ice ArenaMendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey Trotter W 7–4  615 5–13–1 (4–8–1)
December 17 6:07 PM Ferris State St. Thomas Ice ArenaMendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey Trotter L 2–4  645 5–14–1 (4–9–1)
December 31 2:00 PM at Minnesota Duluth* AMSOIL ArenaDuluth, Minnesota (Exhibition) MY9 Trotter L 1–2  5,746
January 13 6:07 PM at #13 Michigan Tech MacInnes Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan FloHockey Trotter L 0–2  2,873 5–15–1 (4–10–1)
January 14 5:07 PM at #13 Michigan Tech MacInnes Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan FloHockey Trotter W 3–2  3,324 6–15–1 (5–10–1)
January 19 7:07 PM Bowling Green St. Thomas Ice ArenaMendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey Trotter W 4–2  490 7–15–1 (6–10–1)
January 20 7:07 PM Bowling Green St. Thomas Ice ArenaMendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey Trotter T 3–3 SOL 739 7–15–2 (6–10–2)
January 27 8:00 PM at Arizona State* Mullett ArenaTempe, Arizona   Trotter L 0–4  4,336 7–16–2
January 28 8:00 PM at Arizona State* Mullett ArenaTempe, Arizona   Trotter L 3–4 OT 4,464 7–17–2
February 3 7:07 PM at #13 Minnesota State Mayo Clinic Health System Event CenterMankato, Minnesota KEYC Trotter W 3–2 OT 4,814 8–17–2 (7–10–2)
February 4 6:07 PM #13 Minnesota State St. Thomas Ice ArenaMendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey Trotter L 2–5  1,080 8–18–2 (7–11–2)
February 10 7:07 PM Northern Michigan St. Thomas Ice ArenaMendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey Trotter L 0–3  898 8–19–2 (7–12–2)
February 11 6:07 PM Northern Michigan St. Thomas Ice ArenaMendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey Trotter W 4–2  870 9–19–2 (8–12–2)
February 17 6:07 PM at Lake Superior State Taffy Abel ArenaSault Ste. Marie, Michigan FloHockey Trotter L 1–2  1,150 9–20–2 (8–13–2)
February 18 5:07 PM at Lake Superior State Taffy Abel ArenaSault Ste. Marie, Michigan FloHockey Trotter W 2–1  1,763 10–20–2 (9–13–2)
February 24 7:07 PM at Bemidji State St. Thomas Ice ArenaMendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey Trotter W 3–1  775 11–20–2 (10–13–2)
February 25 6:07 PM at Bemidji State St. Thomas Ice ArenaMendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey Trotter L 2–7  924 11–21–2 (10–14–2)
CCHA Tournament
March 3 6:07 PM at #11 Michigan Tech* MacInnes Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan (Quarterfinal Game 1) FloHockey Trotter L 0–1  2,338 11–22–2
March 4 5:07 PM at #11 Michigan Tech* MacInnes Student Ice ArenaHoughton, Michigan (Quarterfinal Game 2) FloHockey Trotter L 4–5  2,587 11–23–2
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from USCHO.com Poll. All times are in Central Time.
Source:[3]

Scoring statistics

[edit]
Name Position Games Goals Assists Points PIM
Mack Byers LW 36 18 8 26 6
Josh Eernisse F 36 14 7 21 54
Luc Laylin F 36 10 11 21 29
Lucas Wahlin F 26 6 15 21 20
Ryan O'Neill F 36 3 17 20 8
Jake Braccini RW 32 6 11 17 9
Luke Manning C 35 8 5 13 10
Cameron Recchi C/LW 35 2 10 12 25
Jarrett Lee F 34 1 10 11 18
Trevor Zins D 34 1 7 8 10
Cooper Gay RW 30 4 3 7 13
Tim Piechowski RW 30 3 3 6 12
Ethan Gauer D 35 3 3 6 8
Grant Docter D 25 1 4 5 26
Carson Peters D 36 1 4 5 18
Trevor LeDonne D 21 0 5 5 10
Matthew Jennings C 26 2 2 4 8
Quinton Pepper RW 34 0 4 4 6
Nolan Sawchuk D 28 1 2 3 6
Andrew Kangas F 11 1 1 2 6
Aaron Trotter G 34 0 2 2 4
Garrett Daly D 26 0 2 2 37
Braidan Simmons-Fischer D 19 1 0 1 28
Ethan Roberts G 5 0 1 1 0
Luke Perunovich D 14 0 1 1 15
Henry Baribeau G 1 0 0 0 0
Blaine Warnert F 1 0 0 0 0
Luke Kron C 2 0 0 0 8
Bench - - - - - 2
Total 86 137 223 379

[4]

Goaltending statistics

[edit]
Name Games Minutes Wins Losses Ties Goals Against Saves Shut Outs SV % GAA
Henry Baribeau 1 2:03 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.000 0.00
Aaron Trotter 34 1988:07 11 21 2 99 943 1 .905 2.99
Ethan Roberts 7 172:10 0 2 0 13 86 0 .869 4.53
Empty Net - 21:48 - - - 5 - - - -
Total 36 2162:20 11 23 2 117 1030 1 .902 3.22

Rankings

[edit]
Poll Week
Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 (Final)
USCHO.com NR - NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR - NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR - NR
USA Today NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR

Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 1, 13, or 26.[5]

Players drafted into the NHL

[edit]
Round Pick Player NHL team
5 154 Chase Cheslock New Jersey Devils

† incoming freshman [6]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "St. Thomas Men's Hockey Team History". USCHO.com. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  2. ^ "2022–23 Men's Ice Hockey Roster". The University of St. Thomas. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
  3. ^ "2022-23 Men's Hockey Schedule". St. Thomas Tommies. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  4. ^ "Univ. of St. Thomas 2022-2023 Skater Stats". Elite Prospects. Retrieved March 7, 2022.
  5. ^ "USCHO Division I Men's Poll". USCHO.com. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  6. ^ "NCAA player rankings, selections in 2023 NHL Draft". USCHO.com. Retrieved July 9, 2022.