Graduate student goaltender Peter Thome saved 34 of 36 shots from No. 15 Michigan Tech, but the St. Thomas men’s hockey team was unable to put points on the board and lost 2-0 Saturday night at St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights.
After the Tommies (2-25, 2-19 CCHA) 4-3 overtime loss to the Huskies (16-8-1, 12-5) in Friday’s faceoff, which was officially ruled a tie, both teams came out hungry to win but St. Thomas couldn’t get one past Michigan Tech goaltender Blake Pietila, extending the Huskies 6-game win streak to seven.
“We didn’t execute tonight,” coach Rico Blasi said. “The puck was bobbled—we hit a crossbar. Their goaltender made a couple of big saves, especially on the power play… It was one of those nights where we needed to execute early, and we certainly didn’t do that.”
Although they were outshot in every period, St. Thomas’ put in work on the defensive end and blocked 24 total shots with sophomore defenseman Kimball Johnson accounting for seven.
Starting strong, the Tommies skated with the Huskies but had trouble getting pucks to the net, ending the game with just 13 shots on goal compared to Michigan Tech’s 36.
“It’s not like we weren’t trying to get pucks to them. We did,” Blasi said. “It’s a learning process. When you play a team like (Michigan) Tech that … has a lot on the line, they’re going to come out. They were mad. We knew they were going to be mad, and it was a good hockey game, I thought.”
The Tommies fell behind minutes into the first period as Thome faced a quick handoff that sailed in from Huskies senior forward Brian Halonen behind the goal line to senior forward Tommy Parrottino up top, where Parrottino banged one in 4:06 minutes into the game.
Neither team managed to maintain control for long in the first, and both sides were forced to use their legs as they followed the puck from one end to the other.
Three-of-11 total penalties came early on; five others happened in the final 2.5 seconds of the game. Senior forward Trenton Bliss and senior defenseman Colin Swoyer of the Huskies were the first to head to the box, but were soon followed by the Tommie sophomore defenseman Vincent Weis, who took a hooking call at the end of the first period.
The Tommie penalties continued in the second and third periods, giving the Huskies the power play advantage four times. While all three Michigan Tech goals came from that advantage last game, the Tommies penalty kill shut them down in tonight’s match.
“We all played in five on five last night and struggled on the penalty kill, but that was definitely something we emphasized going in tonight,” junior forward Andrew Kangas said.
After a scoreless second period, the Huskies led by one going into the third where they managed another quick goal just 2:15 into play with a two on one crash from sophomore defender Brett Thome and junior forward Tristian Ashbrook, with Thome getting the goal.
Though the Tommies threw seven more shots at Pietila, the Huskies defense played strong and shut down their attempts to come back.
“I mean, credit to them. They did a great job of locking down their D zone,” Kangas said. “They stepped up.”
Coming off a tight game with the highly ranked team, it was an emotional one for the Tommies; with just two seconds left in the third, three St. Thomas players started a scuffle with the Huskies and the game ended with a total of five players in the box from each team.
“Yeah, maybe a little frustration,” Kangas said. “Held scoreless throughout the night, that kind of boiled over so maybe try and stay a little more disciplined.”
Ultimately, Blasi was happy with the effort and said they still have things to learn as a program.
“I know it doesn’t show in wins and losses, but we are getting better,” Blasi said. “The No. 15 team in the country showed up and they were hungry.”
Blasi’s team will be hungry for a win as it flies to Fairbanks, Alaska Friday, Feb. 11 to take on Alaska Fairbanks at 10:07 p.m.
“We get in at one o’clock in the morning,” Blasi said. “We’ll have to take Thursday and kind of get acclimated a little bit to the time zone and get ready to play against a good Alaska team.”
Lauren Price can be reached at lauren.price@stthomas.edu.