2022–23 St. Thomas (Minnesota) Tommies men's ice hockey season explained

The 2022–23 St. Thomas (Minnesota) 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

Jacob Berger	Goaltender		Graduation (retired)
Michael Ferrandino	Defenseman		Transferred to Augsburg
Kyler Grundy	Forward		Transferred to UW-Eau Claire
Kimball Johnson	Defenseman		Transferred to Utica
Justin Kelley	Forward		Transferred to Bethel
Grant Loven	Forward		Graduate transfer to Canisius
Lucas McGregor	Forward		Left program (retired)
Shayne Monahan	Defenseman		Graduation (retired)
Logan Ommen	Forward		Left program (retired)
Sam Renlund	Forward		Left program (retired)
Paul Schmid	Forward		Transferred to Norwich
John Schuldt	Defenseman		Graduation (retired)
Joe Sofo	Forward		Graduation (signed with Pensacola Ice Flyers)
Aaron Swanson	Forward		Transferred to UW-Eau Claire
Peter Thome	Goaltender		Graduation (signed with Idaho Steelheads)
Christiano Versich	Forward		Graduation (signed with Jokers de Cergy-Pontoise)
Vincent Weis	Defenseman		Transferred to Augsburg

Recruiting

Jake Braccini	Forward		21	Hanover, MN
Mack Byers	Forward		23	Long Lake, MN transfer from Northern Michigan
Garrett Daly	Forward		23	Lakeville, MN transfer from Bowling Green
Grant Docter	Defenseman		21	Golden Valley, MN transfer from Michigan Tech
Joshua Eernisse	Forward		20	Apple Valley, MN
Cooper Gay	Forward		20	Edina, MN
Luke Kron	Forward		20	Andover, MN
Luc Laylin	Forward		20	St. Michael, MN
Jarrett Lee	Forward		23	Hibbing, MN graduate transfer from Minnesota Duluth
Ryan O'Neill	Forward		21	Roseville, MN
Quinton Pepper	Forward		20	London, ON
Carson Peters	Defenseman		19	Minneapolis, MN
Ethan Roberts	Goaltender		20	Cary, NC
Braidan Simmons-Fischer	Defenseman		20	Detroit, MI
Aaron Trotter	Goaltender		21	Victoria, BC
Lucas Wahlin	Forward		21	Woodbury, MN

Roster

As of July 21, 2022.^[2]

Schedule and results

|-!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season|-!colspan=12 style=";" |

Scoring statistics

		36	18	8	26	6
		36	14	7	21	54
		36	10	11	21	29
		26	6	15	21	20
		36	3	17	20	8
		32	6	11	17	9
		35	8	5	13	10
		35	2	10	12	25
		34	1	10	11	18
		34	1	7	8	10
		30	4	3	7	13
		30	3	3	6	12
		35	3	3	6	8
		25	1	4	5	26
		36	1	4	5	18
		21	0	5	5	10
		26	2	2	4	8
		34	0	4	4	6
		28	1	2	3	6
		11	1	1	2	6
		34	0	2	2	4
		26	0	2	2	37
		19	1	0	1	28
		5	0	1	1	0
		14	0	1	1	15
		1	0	0	0	0
		1	0	0	0	0
		2	0	0	0	8
Bench	-	-	-	-	-	2
Total			86	137	223	379

^[3]

Goaltending statistics

	1	2:03	0	0	0	0	1	0	1.000	0.00
	34	1988:07	11	21	2	99	943	1	.905	2.99
	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

See main article: 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey 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	bgcolor=FFFFFF	-	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	bgcolor=FFFFFF	-	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	bgcolor=FFFFFF	-	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.^[4]

Players drafted into the NHL

2023 NHL Entry Draft

5

154

Chase Cheslock ^†

New Jersey Devils

† incoming freshman^[5]

Notes and References

1. Web site: St. Thomas Men's Hockey Team History . USCHO.com . July 29, 2020.
2. Web site: The University of St. Thomas. 2022–23 Men's Ice Hockey Roster. July 27, 2017.
3. News: Univ. of St. Thomas 2022-2023 Skater Stats . Elite Prospects . March 7, 2022.
4. Web site: USCHO Division I Men's Poll . USCHO.com . November 26, 2019.
5. News: NCAA player rankings, selections in 2023 NHL Draft . USCHO.com . July 9, 2022.