After four close games with nationally-ranked St. Cloud State and Minnesota to open their first two weeks of the season, St. Thomas hosted Lindenwood for a series this past weekend.
But just because the Lions don’t have the same kind of star power or high-end skill as the Huskies or Gophers have didn’t mean a thing.
“Playing a team like Lindenwood, that’s in your face all night long, is certainly good preparation for what we might see down the road,” Tommies coach Rico Blasi said of the Lions, who he compared to some of his team’s CCHA opponents, including Bemidji State, who the Tommies play this weekend. “I think we feel like we’ve gotten some good contrast from the six games we’ve played, [and] we’ve been able to address a few issues in practice.”
The Tommies enter their first CCHA series with a 2-3-1 overall record. All six games have been close–even the 3-0 road loss to Minnesota, which was actually competitive despite the final scoreline.
Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that a team many think will finish in the top half of the CCHA played well in their first six nonconference tests. Blasi said his team’s success so far goes beyond the final scorelines, noting that he thought they played better structurally in their 1-0 loss to St. Cloud State then did in their 5-4 overtime win in the season opener the day before. He also thought his team played better in the 3-0 loss to Minnesota then the 6-5 overtime loss.
Then this past weekend, Tommies outshot the Lions 63-25 in the series opener Friday night but couldn’t hold on to a third-period lead; the teams eventually skated to a 4-4 tie. St. Thomas did manage to hold on and win Saturday’s game 3-1.
“We’re always looking for consistency, but you have to evaluate each game for what it’s worth and ask, ‘Where are our chances coming from? ‘ We are getting chances,” Blasi said. “If you look at the shot total and scoring totals, they’re pretty even in all those [first four games]. In the Lindenwood games, we outchanced them pretty good, and that’s what I want to see. I want to see the process being played out the way we want to see.”
A main driver of St. Thomas’ chance creation so far has been junior Liam Malmquist. The Wisconsin transfer leads the team with seven points, including six assists. He had seven points in all of last season while skating for the Badgers.
“If you go back to Liam’s high school career, he’s always been that type of player who needs to be in situations where he can be himself,” Blasi said of Malmquist’s resurgence in purple. “Coach [Leon] Hayward, coach [Cory] Laylin and I have been very calculated on the recruiting process because we don’t want to just recruit a bunch of players, we want to recruit players that fit a certain role. Liam certainly fits that role. So far he’s been great. We just have to let him play and do his thing.”
Another key transfer so far has been goaltender Jake Sibell. The Minnesota native spent the last two seasons at Niagara, where he played in 14 games in two seasons before returning to his home state this season to play for the Tommies. So far, he has played in two games–the 3-0 loss to Minnesota and last weekend’s win over Lindenwood. Blasi said he sees Lidell as a solid goaltender who will compete with Aaron Trotter, who was outstanding as a freshman last season.
“It’s extremely important to have guys that can play and a team that feels comfortable playing in front of both of them,” Blasi said. “It’s a long season, and things can happen.Some of the best teams I’ve ever been a part of have had a two-headed monster, and right now we’re starting to see that a little bit. You can see that in practice, it’s competitive between all three of them. Max Prazma isn’t that far off either.
“We feel good about all our positions and the competition that we have.”
The Tommies take their first real road trip of the season this weekend when they head to Bemidji. St. Thomas went 1-2-1 against the Beavers last season
“I think it’s important for our guys to be together, with no distractions or anything. It’s not that far away to Bemidji, but it comes at a good time for us,” Blasi said. “We’ve been going pretty hard for the past two months, so getting away from campus and the regular routine is a good thing. I think our guys are excited to get going. We know we have our hands full with Bemidji.
“Let’s go out and play and see what happens.”
