St. Lawrence U.

[apple2k]

I know that SLU fans (except for me!) have deserted this forum, but I just can't help myself. I have to get this off my chest. What could possibly be so important, you ask?
Actually, I know you don't ask, but here goes, anyway; it's the 100th season of SLU hockey, and we're the second-last ranked team in all of Division 1.
In our centennial season! A season of celebration!
Actually, come to think of it, there is one good thing about our appalling team: it makes gimmes out of 2 games a week in the ECAC Pick 'Em contest.
Speaking of games, later today SLU plays the US Hockey NTDP team, and we will lose--but it won't count! Woohoo!
Sorry for this rant. I'll try to keep quiet from now on, and slink back under the rock that SLU hockey should be hiding under.

 

[cinnamoroll]

I know that SLU fans (except for me!) have deserted this forum, but I just can't help myself. I have to get this off my chest. What could possibly be so important, you ask?
Actually, I know you don't ask, but here goes, anyway; it's the 100th season of SLU hockey, and we're the second-last ranked team in all of Division 1.
In our centennial season! A season of celebration!
Actually, come to think of it, there is one good thing about our appalling team: it makes gimmes out of 2 games a week in the ECAC Pick 'Em contest.
Speaking of games, later today SLU plays the US Hockey NTDP team, and we will lose--but it won't count! Woohoo!
Sorry for this rant. I'll try to keep quiet from now on, and slink back under the rock that SLU hockey should be hiding under.

No need to apologize! What else is a forum for if not rants like these? Happy centennial season, even if the team isn't feeling especially celebratory...

I don't have many SLU connections besides this: I roped Dan Rusanowsky into a conversation about the state of college hockey before the hockey season at a meet the team event for Sharks STH, he's always a pleasure to talk to. I was telling him about the insane 5OT marathon overtime game freshman Andrew Brown was in during the playoffs- that one is a bonkers story if you haven't heard it yet. (Speaking of- shoutout to Brown for logging big minutes as a freshman and having an overall positive impact. Points haven't come yet but he's second on the team in shots, leads the team in TOI per GP.)

And I have another bit of good news: 05 F Luke Posthumus just announced his commitment. Formerly a Northeastern commit, played USHL one season, BCHL the next, and this year he found his way onto an OHL roster with the storied Oshawa Generals, the rare 20 year old rookie. Has 23 points in 29 games, good for second on the team. Oshawa is feeling the effects of back to back finals appearances, so he's had good opportunity to establish himself despite never playing in the OHL before this year.

There are two previously committed players in the OHL as well, both NHL drafted prospects- 06 G Trenten Bennett with the Owen Sound Attack, who is 6'8!!!!!, and 07 F Jordan Charron with the Soo Greyhounds, who is roughly point per game. Both drafted in 2025, Bennett went to the Devils in the 4th round and Charron to the Penguins in the 5th round.

Basically, there are some bright spots in the future. I know it might not seem like much now, but I always found it fun to engage with prospects when my main team was terrible (basically the last 3 seasons).

 

[apple2k]

Thanks for the kind words. I will say that Andrew Brown has been a real positive in a crappy season and would like to know more about that overtime game.

 

[apple2k]

Oh, and PS--I watched last night's game with my other team--the Leafs--and I gotta say that they're heading in their usual direction--nowhere--but the Sharks have a bright future! Of course, a former Leaf, Klingberg, scored against them--of course he did.

 

[Engineers]

I know that SLU fans (except for me!) have deserted this forum, but I just can't help myself. I have to get this off my chest. What could possibly be so important, you ask?
Actually, I know you don't ask, but here goes, anyway; it's the 100th season of SLU hockey, and we're the second-last ranked team in all of Division 1.
In our centennial season! A season of celebration!
Actually, come to think of it, there is one good thing about our appalling team: it makes gimmes out of 2 games a week in the ECAC Pick 'Em contest.
Speaking of games, later today SLU plays the US Hockey NTDP team, and we will lose--but it won't count! Woohoo!
Sorry for this rant. I'll try to keep quiet from now on, and slink back under the rock that SLU hockey should be hiding under.

My daughter is a sophomore at SLU. I love the school but the hockey program needs a complete overhaul. Starts at the top so let’s see what happens after the season. The saints have too much history to be this bad. Also I’m not entirely sure what the funding/support the team is getting from the university. I’ve heard a few things about this but not sure. If indeed the team is getting funded/supported correctly then Brekke needs to be fired. If they can get it right with the women’s program not sure what the hell is going on with men’s team? Go saints!

 

[apple2k]

Now in his seventh season, Coach Brekke has had zero winning seasons. His best year was 22-23 at 17-19.

 

[cinnamoroll]

Thanks for the kind words. I will say that Andrew Brown has been a real positive in a crappy season and would like to know more about that overtime game.

Get ready for way too much info about this game, which lives in my head rent free.

In the wake of the CHL rule change, multiple USHL and BCHL players with commitments made the jump to whichever team had their rights or a spot to offer. Andrew Brown made the jump to Cape Breton Eagles of the QMJHL in mid-december from Nanaimo. He had 14 points in 33 games, was a consistent player for them. The Eagles finished 5th in the East and thus had to play the 4th seed in the East, the Baie Comeau Drakkar, who are in Quebec. The travel between Atlantic teams and Quebec teams can get pretty gnarly and usually involves ferry rides, so they do the 2-3-2 series and allow plane rides for cross-province matchups. BaC won both games 1 and 2 at home. Game 3 was in Sydney and saw the Eagles win 5-1, only to be shutout the next day. Game 5 was in their barn and was do or die, a loss ended their season.

Game 5 was a marathon quintuple-overtime game that saw 3 potential game-winning goals overturned- for BaC in 2OT for goaltender interference, for Cape Breton in 3OT for goaltender interference, for BaC in 4OT for missed stoppage. Eventually 1:42 into 5OT, hometown kid Angelo Fullerton somehow had the energy for what was actually a beautiful goal. Cape Breton survives the 2nd longest playoff game in QMJHL history and their goaltender gets the 2nd most saves in QMJHL playoff history at 84. When the game ended, it was nearly 1:30 am. Some of the WHL games had already finished before the game went into 4OT. Remember that this game started 7pm Atlantic Time, so they were 4 hours ahead of the west coast. Plenty of people were tuning in, including crews of the teams that had been eliminated hours earlier- the play by play guy had to rope some into doing intermission interviews with him since he was running out of things to talk about. There was one Eagle who got a game misconduct in the 1st and by the end of the game he was sitting in the press box with the announcers. The arena DJ had to break out the retro playlist because they ran out of songs to play.

The gamecenter for the game is also hilarious. The website is not dealing with the 5 extra periods of stats very well.

32 Thoughts reported the top TOI from that game:
BaC D Anthony Lavoie 78:07, BaC D Evan Bellamy 69:20, Cap D Tomas Lavoie 69:07, Cap D Andrew Brown 65:15. In contrast, playing 22 minutes of a college hockey game must seem like a piece of cake. He also had 3 shots on goal, and while I don't have blocked shot numbers, he was definitely putting in the work there too

The Eagles made a 20 minute documentary on the game with interviews from the announcers, arena staff, fans, coaches, and the GWG scorer. It's well made and fairly short. The most interesting part to do with Brown is at around 13 minutes when they discuss the 3rd goal that was overturned on a missed stoppage. The team was all dejected over it going in and thought there was no way it would be called off, but Brown was immediately pointing to the netting after it went in. The coaches were pretty confident in the puck having hit the netting but the review took a while since they had to look further back. It always stood out to me that Brown had to have played nearly 60 minutes by that point (halfway through 4OT) and still had the wherewithal to recognize that ruling the moment it went in.

Both teams had to get on their planes immediately after to fly back to Baie Comeau in order to have some practice time before game 6, which went down 3 (but really 2) days later. Cape Breton lost that game and were eliminated.

Some of the other players involved in the game who are now in NCAA: Cape Breton captain Jacob Newcombe at UNH, Eagle who got tossed in the 1st Joey Henneberry at Merrimack, Eagles backup goalie Alexis Cournoyer is Cornell's starter, BaC's best forward who was out injured Justin Poirier at Maine leads all freshmen in goals.

I began paying attention to this game around the 2nd OT, because I love the chaos of playoff overtime no matter what, and it just got more and more bonkers. I was so happy the Eagles won just for the sake of not having a season end on such a heart breaker. Insane game. If any of you guys know someone who can get interviews with the players. please tell them they should ask Brown about this game- I'm sure he has a story of his own experiences.

 

[apple2k]

Fun, indeed. SLU's OT game against BU in 2000 only went 4 OT's, and I thought THAT was bonkers.
I certainly had no idea about the ferry rides--in winter!
Thanks again for a great read, and I'm off to watch that doc.

 

[TheGreenCoat]

I'm on a "foreign" thread here as a hard core Colgate hockey fan...I know many SLU people, several good friends, and an aware of quite a bit of what has transpired at your school since Joe Marsh retired...SLU fans and the school in general deserve a lot better...the descent started at the top, at the very top, sucked in the former AD and victimized a good guy (Colgate '81)...the hockey community is a close knit group and Morris' departure (Mark never had a losing season, either at Clarkson or in the AHL) created very negative vibes around your program...and just look at the SLU alums in the broad-based hockey world...having dinner soon with an "all-in" alum from SLU soon to get the sad update, but, again, SLU people are some of the best around and perhaps another "come to Jesus Moment" (like in the early 80s) is necessary...good luck

 

[apple2k]

Watched the documentary. The bonkers aspect is definitely the 3 disallowed goals. I can expect callbacks every so often, but 3 game-winning goals? It was fun to see the staff and fan reaction, but I really wonder what the refs were thinking afterwards.

 

[Saints#1]

I know that SLU fans (except for me!) have deserted this forum, but I just can't help myself. I have to get this off my chest. What could possibly be so important, you ask?
Actually, I know you don't ask, but here goes, anyway; it's the 100th season of SLU hockey, and we're the second-last ranked team in all of Division 1.
In our centennial season! A season of celebration!
Actually, come to think of it, there is one good thing about our appalling team: it makes gimmes out of 2 games a week in the ECAC Pick 'Em contest.
Speaking of games, later today SLU plays the US Hockey NTDP team, and we will lose--but it won't count! Woohoo!
Sorry for this rant. I'll try to keep quiet from now on, and slink back under the rock that SLU hockey should be hiding under.

I still lurk around on here from time to time. You're not alone.

You're especially not alone in your frustrations with the hockey program in its current state. Things are rough currently, but there are signs of some optimism as the team is extremely young with lots of talent in the freshmen and sophomore class that will only continue to develop. Next years recruiting class is looking solid as well. 2 NHL draft picks, including a goalie who is a enormous and very talented, along with a couple other OHL forwards who look quite promising as well. The flailing results aren't matching with the uptick in recruiting, which is odd, but very much welcomed.

Unless a massive improvement happens in the second half, I expect Brekke's job may be toast. Time will tell.

 

[Engineers]

I still lurk around on here from time to time. You're not alone.

You're especially not alone in your frustrations with the hockey program in its current state. Things are rough currently, but there are signs of some optimism as the team is extremely young with lots of talent in the freshmen and sophomore class that will only continue to develop. Next years recruiting class is looking solid as well. 2 NHL draft picks, including a goalie who is a enormous and very talented, along with a couple other OHL forwards who look quite promising as well. The flailing results aren't matching with the uptick in recruiting, which is odd, but very much welcomed.

Unless a massive improvement happens in the second half, I expect Brekke's job may be toast. Time will tell.

If brekke is fired which he should be then a lot of the freshman and sophomore class will be poached. Good chance next years class will be picked apart as well including the two NHL picks. Looking at a rebuild very similar to RPI. They need to get this next hire right.

 

[GoldenBear]

Self-inflicted wounds, following self-inflicted wounds by the Administration, have doomed this program (and even more sadly, these wounds might be intentional). For a school like SLU to be successful in major Division I hockey, its administration needs to get every last detail right. For the past 10 years, however, the Administration has consistently gotten every last detail wrong. The disastrous handling of Carvel, which led to his departure, and the completely unfathomable hiring of Morris created a death spiral for the program that may not be correctable without a serious overhaul of the program by the administration and board of trustees. The same stupid thinking that almost killed the program in the 70's is cycled back into the mindset of University leadership as of late. And just like the 70's, the program has bottomed out and is headed in a direction that would be crushing to the alumni, fans, and community. However, it seems the administration would be content to sit in an empty Appleton, watching SLU play Canton Tech, Potsdam State, and Plattsburgh.

 

[apple2k]

Funny, isn't it, that with all the hoopla over re-doing Appleton, and creating the "Legends," that we're mired in the bottom of every ranking? I don't think it's the players: I have just taken a look at the playing careers of our current roster before they came to SLU, and I have to ask another question: how is it possible that we can be so bad? These are good guys! To me, it's clear that the coaching staff have let these guys down. I don't think that Gardner or the Flanagans are the problem--they're new to the staff. No, it's Brekke and Hill that have the most responsibility for this fiasco.
In the second half of this season, we get to play both games against the Knights (who have beaten NoDak, Michigan Tech, and thrashed the USMNDT 8-2). Ask me if I'm looking forward to any victories versus the opponent that matters most.