BLAINE, Minn. – Backstopped by All-American goaltender Drew Fielding, the No. 5-ranked St. Thomas men’s hockey team skated to a 0-0 tie with St. John’s Friday in its first game of the MIAC Showcase at the Schwan Super Rink.

After recording seven shutouts last year, Fielding turned away all 26 shots he faced in regulation and overtime to earn his first shutout of the 2014-15 season. Fielding said the whole team took pride in the fact that it shut out an opponent, especially given that it was against rival St. John’s.

“We can take a lot of stock as a team in playing good team defense. That’s one of the things we preach for St. Thomas hockey,” Fielding said. “Any game against the Johnnies, we put a lot of emphasis on.”

Coach Jeff Boeser agreed that the Tommies played a good game but said he noticed plenty of things the team needs to work on before the start of MIAC play.

“The showcase tournament is to get ourselves ready … We haven’t had a game before this, and we’ve practiced for 10 days,” Boeser said. “I’m a perfectionist, so we have a long way to go.”

Despite outshooting the Johnnies 32-26, Boeser said St. John’s was the better team for a portion of the game.

“I think that St. John’s kind of carried the play the first 30-35 minutes, and then we changed something in our system and seemed to have a little more success,” Boeser said.

Forward Connor McBride said the Tommies’ lack of offensive output is concerning but stressed that the season has just begun.

“It’s the first game so it’s hard to say much about it, but as the game went on, we got more scoring chances,” McBride said. “If we can just carry that over, the goals will come.”

After the scoreless regulation and a 5-minute overtime period, the teams competed in a shootout. Last season, the MIAC became the first NCAA Division-III conference to adopt the shootout. Games in the MIAC Showcase are not counted as conference games, so the shootout determined a ceremonial winner between the Tommies and the Johnnies.

Fielding remained unblemished on the scoresheet in the shootout, stopping both shots he faced. McBride and defenseman Michael Krieg notched shootout goals for the Tommies.

After St. John’s goaltender Saxton Soley stopped forward Nick Nielsen on the Tommies’ first attempt, Fielding made a glove save on Johnnie forward Kevin Becker’s attempt. McBride was next to shoot for the Tommies, and he capitalized.

“I just went down on the right side, faked the shot and got the goalie to bite,” McBride said. “I kind of waited him out and just carried it around him and had pretty much an open net.”

McBride’s shootout goal proved to be all the Tommies needed for the win after Fielding made a sprawling kick-save on forward John Haeg.

Fielding added that the Tommies will need to use the first game of the MIAC Showcase as a starting place if it hopes to achieve its goals this season.

“We just want to treat it as a stepping stone for getting where we want to be with our year-end goals,” Fielding said. “Obviously getting off to a win is important, just for confidence.”

St. Thomas will play its second and final game of the MIAC Showcase against Hamline Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Schwan Super Rink.

Tom Pitzen can be reached at pitz2014@stthomas.edu.