Like all defending national champions, St. Norbert is looking to repeat. It’s easier said than done, unless you’re Middlebury, of course. Besides the Panthers’ incredible runs of three and five national titles, you have to go back to UW-Stevens Point in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s to find a team able to successfully defend its title.<\/p>\n
For Tim Coghlin’s squad, the reality is life without Kyle Jones. The goalie who backstopped the Green Knights to a 27-1-4 record and a national last season set Division III career records for shutouts in a season (10), and career shutouts (25). Jones posted back-to-back blankings in the national semifinals and finals last season in Lake Placid.<\/p>\n
But after four years and 107 games, there\u2019s going to be someone new between the pipes at St. Norbert.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe move on,\u201d said Coghlin, whose team is off to a 3-0 start. \u201cWhat we need to impress on the guys is how different it\u2019s going to be. Not just because of Kyle. Last year everything went our way. The one-goal games, the overtime games.\u201d<\/p>\n
Filling the big shoes (skates?) of Jones will be a pair of sophomores, Blake Bashor and BJ O\u2019Brien.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe rested Kyle more last season than we did the year before, and Blake played seven games for us,\u201d said Coghlin. \u201cWe know he can step in. Plus we have BJ O\u2019Brien. We wanted him when he was an incoming freshman, but he decided to walk on at St. Clould. He was a backup there, so he decided to transfer. \u201c<\/p>\n
Coghlin says his team has what it takes to repeat, but knows that like last year, you have to get some bounces, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot of guys back,\u201d he said. \u201cWe moved quickly through conditioning and everybody\u2019s in excellent shape. We have a lot of leadership. I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll be panicked at all, but I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll be cocky, either.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Like all defending national champions, St. Norbert is looking to repeat. It’s easier said than done, unless you’re Middlebury, of course. Besides the Panthers’ incredible runs of three and five national titles, you have to go back to UW-Stevens Point in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s to find a team able to successfully defend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1425],"tags":[1469,1470],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n