Forward Alex Altenbernd led the St. Thomas men’s hockey team with 3 points as the Tommies exploded for an 8-0 win over Hamline University Friday night at St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights.
After being shutout last weekend against Wisconsin-Eau Claire, the St. Thomas offense came alive for 5 goals all in the second period before adding 3 more in the third. Eight goals is a season high for the Tommies (11-3-2 overall, 5-0-2 MIAC).
“We’ve struggled to score the last couple weekends and might have been gripping the sticks a little too tight,” Altenbernd said. “It’s all about confidence. It’s just a mental game, and a night like tonight really helps out.”
After an aggressive shift from the Pipers (2-13-1 overall, 1-6 MIAC) to start the game, it was all Tommies for the remainder of the first period. Hamline managed only 4 shots on net in the first period, only one of which seriously tested St. Thomas goaltender Drew Fielding.
The Tommies responded with their own offensive push minutes later. At the 5:50 mark of the first period, a St. Thomas shot from the slot snuck through Hamline goaltender Nick Heimer’s pads and slowly slid toward the open net; however a Hamline defender cleared the puck on the goal line, and the teams skated to a scoreless first period.
“We missed a lot of chances in the first period by just missing the net. If you hit the net, there’s rebounds, and good things can happen,” coach Jeff Boeser said.
Hamline came out firing again to start the second period and outshot St. Thomas 7-1 in the first 5:00 of the frame. Hamline’s efforts yielded two prime scoring chances, however Fielding was equal to the task on both occasions and kept the Pipers off the board.
“We had a little bit of a flurry there where our goaltender saved us. It easily could have been two or three to nothing,” Boeser said.
Fielding’s saves in the second period became the turning point in the game after the Tommies opened the scoring just minutes later.
“A timely save here and there can make the difference and can shift the momentum in the game, so I take pride in being able to come up big when our team needs it,” Fielding said. “Obviously we responded well to that, so I knew as long as I held our team in there until we got the first one that we were going to start going from there.”
Nearly 8:00 into the period, Altenbernd grabbed a loose puck in the corner and fed it to forward Michael Dockry, who pulled the puck to his backhand and slid it between Heimer’s legs for the first goal of the game.
Just minutes later, forwards Nick Nielsen and Tyler Gubb added a pair of goals less than 1:00 apart, and from there, the rout was on. Forward Chris Cass scored on a rebound less than 2:00 later, and defender Jeremy Hepler followed with a goal less than 3:00 after that to round out the second period scoring.
“When we got that first goal, our team just seemed to not grip the sticks as tight, and then they went to work,” Boeser said.
The Tommies continued the scoring in the third when forward Chris Benson netted his first goal of the season, followed by defender Michael Pieper burying his first goal as a Tommie. Altenbernd finally added the eighth and final goal with less than 6:00 remaining.
“We wanted to send a message. We had a tough game last weekend where we didn’t score any, so obviously it was good to get back in the scoring column,” Fielding said. “It was nice to see a lot of guys contribute and see guys snap out of slumps— guys who we’ll need in big games.”
The win keeps St. Thomas unbeaten in MIAC play as the team prepares for a rematch against Hamline Saturday night at Oscar Johnson Arena in St. Paul.
Jacob Sevening can be reached at seve8586@stthomas.edu.