The St. Thomas men’s hockey team is preparing to host No. 7 Lake Superior State in the Lee and Penny Anderson Arena this weekend in the Mason Cup quarterfinals after a tightly contested conference season.
St. Thomas finished No. 2 in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association with an overall record of 18-11-5. The Tommies won eight of those games at home.
“You work all year to have an opportunity to play at home,” coach Rico Blasi said. “So it’s always nice to sleep in your own bed and have our crowd behind us on Friday and Saturday.”
The Tommies closed the regular season with an up-and-down stretch, including an overtime win (3-2) and a loss (3-1) against Bowling Green in early February. St. Thomas also faced Augustana twice in February, losing the first game in a shootout (3-3) and losing the second game (4-0).
St. Thomas concluded their season with two games against Bemidji State, losing the first (3-1) and winning the second (2-2) in a shootout.
“So that kind of sums up the last couple of months, some good, some bad, some ugly, but at the same time, the regular season’s over,” Blasi said. “Now this is a new season, and everybody’s starting at zero, and you got to play well to advance.”
Several Tommies logged postseason minutes last year, and Blasi said he believes that familiarity matters.
“It’s huge,” Blasi said. “You don’t go through those experiences without gaining some confidence.”
Blasi still cautioned that past results mean nothing. Two seasons ago, Lake Superior State upset St. Thomas in a three-game series in the CCHA quarterfinals.
“Everybody’s starting at the same point, you’ve got to be ready to play,” Blasi said.
Blasi described the Lakers as an “offensive-minded team,” noting that roughly half of their goals come off the rush. They also boast a potent power play, four defensemen who log heavy minutes and one of the top goaltenders in the country in sophomore Rorke Applebee, who had a season-high 44 saves against St. Thomas on Dec. 5.
With five different teams fighting for the No. 1 seed, the CCHA’s final rankings came down to the last few conference games. St. Thomas’ shootout win over Bemidji State on Feb. 28 cemented their place at No. 2.
“Everybody has good hockey players. Everybody has good goaltending. Everybody’s pretty good on the special teams. You’ve got to make your breaks, you’ve got to work for your bounces. And it’s exciting,” Blasi said.
Blasi and the Tommies hope for a strong fan turnout at home this weekend in their new arena’s atmosphere.
“This is playoff time,” Blasi said.
The winner of the best-of-three series between St. Thomas and Lake Superior State will advance to play the winner of No. 3 Augustana vs. No. 6 Bemidji State on Saturday, March 14.
Owen Bell can be reached at bell9606@stthomas.edu.
