MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. – Forward Michael Dockry’s power-play goal in the first period proved to be all the St. Thomas men’s hockey team needed to defeat No. 3-ranked Wisconsin-River Falls 3-0 Friday at the St. Thomas Ice Arena and end the Falcons’ school-record 13-game winning streak.
Forward Jordan Lovick and defenseman Michael Krieg assisted on Dockry’s game-winning goal that opened the scoring for the Tommies (6-3-3 overall, 3-1-2 MIAC). St. Thomas improved to 30-2-1 over the last three seasons when it scores first, making Dockry’s third tally of the season especially significant.
“(Krieg) was going wide, so I just went to the net with my stick down, and luckily it hit something and went off my shin pad and just hopped in,” Dockry said. “(Coach Jeff Boeser) has been getting us to go to the gritty areas more and get chances from in there, and I think we’ve kind of started to do that more.”
St. Thomas added to its lead just over 30 seconds after Dockry’s goal. Defenseman Jeremy Hepler’s shot from the blue line found the back of the net at 10:03 of the first period. Defenseman Johnny Roisum and forward Tyler Richter picked up the assists.
Goaltender Drew Fielding provided solid play in net for the Tommies, stopping all 18 shots he faced for the 16th shutout in his St. Thomas career.
“One of our goals each game is to try and hold our opponents to seven shots or less each period, and we did that two out of the three periods tonight,” Fielding said. “We had guys getting back and playing defense and getting into lanes to make my job a lot easier.”
Boeser said he was impressed by the Tommies’ work ethic, ability to win individual battles and limit the Falcons’ quality scoring chances.
“We didn’t talk about River Falls. We just want to dictate our play and stick to our system, and we did that,” Boeser said. “I didn’t see many second chances tonight. I can remember maybe three or four from the dots and the top of the circles.”
For extra insurance, the Tommies added a goal in the second period. Forward Bobby Murphy received a pass from Krieg on an odd-man rush and wristed a shot past Falcon goaltender Tanner Milliron’s glove. Lovick was credited with the secondary assist on the goal. After missing the past six weeks recovering from a knee injury, Krieg said it felt good to get back on the ice and contribute to a win.
“It felt great to get out there,” Krieg said. “It’s tough watching your team play when you’re out with an injury and not be out there battling with them.”
The teams combined for 11 penalties in Friday’s game, but only the Tommies managed to pot a power-play goal. River Falls entered Friday’s matchup with the second-best power-play efficiency in Division-III at just under 40 percent, but St. Thomas managed to kill off all six man-advantages for the Falcons.
St. Thomas will hit the ice again Saturday when it hosts Marian University (Wisconsin).
Tom Pitzen can be reached at pitz2014@stthomas.edu.