2022–23 St. Thomas Tommies men's ice hockey season
College ice hockey team season
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
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
Recruiting
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
As of July 21, 2022.[ 2]
No. S/P/C
Player
Class
Pos
Height
Weight
DoB
Hometown
Previous team
NHL rights
2
Trevor Zins Senior
D 6' 1" (1.85 m)
195 lb (88 kg)
1998-07-23
St. Michael, Minnesota St. Cloud State (NCHC —
3
Lucas Wahlin Freshman
F 5' 11" (1.8 m)
160 lb (73 kg)
2001-05-03
Woodbury, Minnesota Lincoln (USHL —
4
Nolan Sawchuk Graduate
D 5' 11" (1.8 m)
185 lb (84 kg)
1997-09-25
Burnsville, Minnesota UMass Lowell (HEA —
5
Garrett Daly Graduate
D 6' 0" (1.83 m)
195 lb (88 kg)
1999-08-11
Lakeville, Minnesota Bowling Green (CCHA —
6
Josh Eernisse Freshman
F 6' 2" (1.88 m)
205 lb (93 kg)
2001-12-31
Apple Valley, Minnesota Tri-City (USHL —
7
Luke Kron Freshman
F 6' 0" (1.83 m)
175 lb (79 kg)
2002-05-24
Andover, Minnesota Sioux Falls (USHL —
8
Cameron Recchi Sophomore
F 5' 10" (1.78 m)
165 lb (75 kg)
2001-05-24
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Salmon Arm (BCHL —
9
Matthew Jennings Graduate
F 5' 8" (1.73 m)
173 lb (78 kg)
1997-06-07
Buford, Georgia Ohio State (Big Ten —
10
Andrew Kangas Senior
F 5' 9" (1.75 m)
185 lb (84 kg)
1998-01-28
Mahtomedi, Minnesota Minot (NAHL —
11
Ryan O'Neill Freshman
F 5' 10" (1.78 m)
175 lb (79 kg)
2001-02-25
Roseville, Minnesota St. Cloud (NAHL —
12
Tim Piechowski Sophomore
F 6' 2" (1.88 m)
210 lb (95 kg)
2000-12-08
Eden Prairie, Minnesota Bismarck (NAHL —
15
Quinton Pepper Freshman
F 6' 3" (1.91 m)
187 lb (85 kg)
2002-01-31
London, Ontario Steinbach (MJHL —
16
Luke Manning Senior
F 5' 10" (1.78 m)
190 lb (86 kg)
1999-04-13
Stillwater, Minnesota Air Force (AHA —
17
Jake Braccini Freshman
F 5' 11" (1.8 m)
192 lb (87 kg)
2001-07-02
Hanover, Minnesota Muskegon (USHL —
18
Ethan Gauer Junior
D 6' 0" (1.83 m)
185 lb (84 kg)
1999-12-23
Farmington, Minnesota Bemidji State (WCHA —
19
Luc Laylin Freshman
F 5' 8" (1.73 m)
170 lb (77 kg)
2001-12-30
St. Michael, Minnesota Prince George (BCHL —
20
Cooper Gay Freshman
F 6' 4" (1.93 m)
210 lb (95 kg)
2002-03-15
Edina, Minnesota Fargo (USHL —
21
Carson Peters Freshman
D 6' 3" (1.91 m)
200 lb (91 kg)
2002-10-28
Medina, Minnesota Cedar Rapids (USHL —
22
Mack Byers Junior
F 6' 1" (1.85 m)
190 lb (86 kg)
1999-02-08
Long Lake, Minnesota Northern Michigan (CCHA —
24
Grant Docter Sophomore
D 5' 10" (1.78 m)
174 lb (79 kg)
2000-12-06
Golden Valley, Minnesota Michigan Tech (CCHA —
25
Trevor LeDonne Sophomore
D 6' 1" (1.85 m)
195 lb (88 kg)
2000-02-27
Stoney Creek, Ontario Nanaimo (BCHL —
26
Blaine Warnert Sophomore
F 6' 5" (1.96 m)
190 lb (86 kg)
2000-07-17
Chaska, Minnesota Minot (NAHL —
27
Luke Perunovich Graduate
D 6' 1" (1.85 m)
185 lb (84 kg)
1997-05-12
Edina, Minnesota Providence (HEA —
28
Braidan Simmons-Fischer Freshman
D 6' 7" (2.01 m)
220 lb (100 kg)
2002-01-26
Detroit, Michigan Austin (NAHL —
29
Jarrett Lee Graduate
F 5' 10" (1.78 m)
154 lb (70 kg)
1999-06-04
Hibbing, Minnesota Minnesota Duluth (NCHC —
31
Aaron Trotter Freshman
G 6' 2" (1.88 m)
170 lb (77 kg)
2001-04-07
Victoria, British Columbia Prince George (BCHL —
35
Henry Baribeau Senior
G 6' 3" (1.91 m)
190 lb (86 kg)
1998-10-15
Hudson, Wisconsin New Ulm (NA3HL —
42
Ethan Roberts Freshman
G 6' 1" (1.85 m)
172 lb (78 kg)
2002-09-24
Cary, North Carolina Springfield (NAHL —
Standings
Schedule and results
Date
Time
Opponent#
Rank#
Site
TV
Decision
Result
Attendance
Record
Regular Season
October 1
6:00 PM
#13 St. Cloud State *
St. Thomas Ice Arena • Mendota 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 Center • St. Cloud, Minnesota FOX 9+
Roberts
L 0–4 3,284
0–2–0
October 7
7:07 PM
Alaska *
St. Thomas Ice Arena • Mendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey
Trotter
L 2–4 821
0–3–0
October 8
6:07 PM
Alaska *
St. Thomas Ice Arena • Mendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey
Trotter
W 3–2 OT
738
1–3–0
October 14
7:07 PM
USNTDP *
St. Thomas Ice Arena • Mendota Heights, Minnesota (Exhibition)FloHockey
Trotter
L 2–5
October 21
6:00 PM
at #18 Penn State *
Pegula Ice Arena • University Park, Pennsylvania
Trotter
L 2–6 6,034
1–4–0
October 22
6:00 PM
at #18 Penn State *
Pegula Ice Arena • University Park, Pennsylvania
Trotter
L 2–3 OT
6,243
1–5–0
October 28
6:07 PM
at Ferris State
Ewigleben Arena • Big 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 Arena • Big 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 Arena • Mendota 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 Center • Mankato, 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 Arena • Bowling 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 Arena • Bowling 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 Arena • Mendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey
Trotter
L 2–6 816
2–11–0 (1–6–0)
November 19
6:07 PM
Michigan Tech
St. Thomas Ice Arena • Mendota 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 Arena • Mendota 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 Arena • Mendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey
Trotter
W 2–1 568
4–12–0 (3–7–0)
December 2
7:07 PM
at Bemidji State
Sanford Center • Bemidji, Minnesota FloHockey
Trotter
L 4–6 2,064
4–13–0 (3–8–0)
December 3
6:07 PM
at Bemidji State
Sanford Center • Bemidji, 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 Arena • Mendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey
Trotter
W 7–4 615
5–13–1 (4–8–1)
December 17
6:07 PM
Ferris State
St. Thomas Ice Arena • Mendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey
Trotter
L 2–4 645
5–14–1 (4–9–1)
December 31
2:00 PM
at Minnesota Duluth *
AMSOIL Arena • Duluth, Minnesota (Exhibition)MY9
Trotter
L 1–2 5,746
January 13
6:07 PM
at #13 Michigan Tech
MacInnes Student Ice Arena • Houghton, 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 Arena • Houghton, Michigan FloHockey
Trotter
W 3–2 3,324
6–15–1 (5–10–1)
January 19
7:07 PM
Bowling Green
St. Thomas Ice Arena • Mendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey
Trotter
W 4–2 490
7–15–1 (6–10–1)
January 20
7:07 PM
Bowling Green
St. Thomas Ice Arena • Mendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey
Trotter
T 3–3 SOL
739
7–15–2 (6–10–2)
January 27
8:00 PM
at Arizona State *
Mullett Arena • Tempe, Arizona
Trotter
L 0–4 4,336
7–16–2
January 28
8:00 PM
at Arizona State *
Mullett Arena • Tempe, 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 Center • Mankato, 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 Arena • Mendota 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 Arena • Mendota Heights, Minnesota FloHockey
Trotter
L 0–3 898
8–19–2 (7–12–2)
February 11
6:07 PM
Northern Michigan
St. Thomas Ice Arena • Mendota 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 Arena • Sault 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 Arena • Sault 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 Arena • Mendota 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 Arena • Mendota 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 Arena • Houghton, 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 Arena • Houghton, 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 . [ 3]
Scoring statistics
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
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
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
† incoming freshman
[ 6]
References
Playing venues Head Coaches Seasons Conference affiliations Frozen Four appearances NCAA Tournament appearances Conference Tournament titles
MIAC : 19861988 1992 1994 1999 2002 2004 2005 2008 2010 2014 2020
