We had a great weekend at Saint Mary’s, coming away with the series sweep. The boys won Friday night, 7-0, and on Saturday afternoon, 4-1. It was an interesting weekend in that it is never an easy thing to get the guys re-focused after a win like we had on Friday night. The great thing about hockey and the MIAC is that any team can win on any night. If you get a hot goalie or a team decides to work much harder than the night before, you can get beat any night. We managed to get the guys focused on one game at a time, but still went into the third period Saturday afternoon with only a one-goal lead. It was a much more stressful game, but fortunately, we got a couple early goals in the third period that gave us a much more comfortable three-goal lead.
Some interesting stats from the weekend:
1. We dominated the special teams battle. Saint Mary’s went 0-for-14 on their power play and we scored a shorthanded goal to make us +1 on the weekend while shorthanded. On the other side, we went 4-for-7 on our power play, making SJU a +5 on the weekend for special teams. We now have the top power play in the MIAC, the top penalty kill in the MIAC and the top combined special teams in the MIAC at a +7. We have the top combined special teams in the country at 62%.
2. We had eight different players score on the weekend. I have always said that our strength is our depth and this season is living up to that. We currently have 14 players that have at least 0.5 point per game. The entire team is chipping in and that is what is winning us games.
Looking forward to this week, we have a game on Thursday night at 7P.M. again non-conference opponent St. Scholastica. This is a game that we have every year and it is always a close game. Last year we ended up winning up at Scholastica in overtime with a goal from Brady Heppner. This year, I expect the same tight, hard-fought game.
On Friday night we play down in Blaine against Bethel. This is a regular-season, MIAC game that was rescheduled from early January. This is a huge game in that every win that you can get in the MIAC is important and comes with three points. We need to have our best game to get that win. It is never easy to win on the road in the MIAC and this game will be no different.
I hope to see you all in the rink sometime soon at a SJU Hockey game. This Thursday night we will be unveiling our 1960’s throwback jerseys in the Columbia blue. Check out the attached photo for an early look at the jerseys. Again, I hope you are able to come out this Thursday night to see them in person.
Thanks for your continued support!
