Despite outshooting its opponent 29-27, the St. Thomas men’s hockey team suffered a 3-0 shutout loss to Northern Michigan Friday at St. Thomas Ice Arena.
The Tommies (8-19-2, 7-12-2 CCHA) were unable to capitalize on five power plays against the Wildcats (14-15-0, 10-11-0) in their first home shutout loss of the season.
“When you have that many power plays you got to score a goal,” coach Rico Blasi said. “You can’t forget about the details of the game because, at the end of the night, they add up to good or bad.”
Northern Michigan played the Tommies hard, putting eight shots in front of first-year goaltender Aaron Trotter before scoring its first goal on a breakaway about nine minutes into the first period.
Despite the Tommies picking up their play in the second period, a late short-handed goal by NMU stopped any momentum. A third goal about a minute later put the Wildcats up 3-0 with about four minutes left to play in the second.
“If you want to be in this position where you’re playing meaningful games, you have to be ready to go,” Blasi said. “You got to be responsible for your actions.”
First-year goaltender Ethan Roberts took over for Trotter to start the third period, saving all of the ten shots he faced. The Tommie offense remained ineffective, failing to get on the board before the final whistle.
St. Thomas’ next game is Feb. 11 at St. Thomas Ice Arena at 6 p.m. against Northern Michigan for the second game of the weekend series.
“We’ve been talking a lot about taking the next step in our program,” Blasi said, “Taking the next step is playing in these meaningful games, and learning how to play these games and how hard you have to play and how detailed you have to be.”
Annabelle Wiskus can be reached at wisk9881@stthomas.edu.