What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

St. Thomas 2024-2025

S

Steamboat

Active member
St. Thomas starts their season with a home stand. Sunday, Sept. 29 is an exhibition game with the University of Manitoba. The next weekend, Oct. 4 and 5 sees Post playing in Mendota Heights. The WCHA season starts with a home and home series with Mankato. Friday, Oct. 11 at home, and then to Mankato for the Saturday game. Bigger expectations for this team. We will see.
After the summer lull it is exciting to get live hockey back into the mix.
 
Timothy A said:
St. Cloud jumping them is a bad look.
Click to expand...
It is the fourth D-I season for St. Thomas. Mark Johnson wasn't hanging banners in his first three seasons, and he was that program's third head coaching regime (or 4th if you count "acting" HCs). Just because you are currently on one of your manic swings, don't go bullying new programs. St. Cloud being ahead of St. Thomas is more about what the Huskies have done right of late.
 
ARM said:
It is the fourth D-I season for St. Thomas. Mark Johnson wasn't hanging banners in his first three seasons, and he was that program's third head coaching regime (or 4th if you count "acting" HCs). Just because you are currently on one of your manic swings, don't go bullying new programs. St. Cloud being ahead of St. Thomas is more about what the Huskies have done right of late.
Click to expand...

Going to have to agree with ARM here. I'm as much of a JJ skeptic as anyone after how badly I feel he mismanaged the 2022 Olympic team, but you can't judge a program until its had enough years to be a program. He has a huge recruiting class (eight players if my spreadsheet is right) with some definite talent coming in next year. If we're three years from now and St. Thomas hasn't cracked the top five, there might be questions.
 
BadgerPete said:
Going to have to agree with ARM here. I'm as much of a JJ skeptic as anyone after how badly I feel he mismanaged the 2022 Olympic team, but you can't judge a program until its had enough years to be a program. He has a huge recruiting class (eight players if my spreadsheet is right) with some definite talent coming in next year. If we're three years from now and St. Thomas hasn't cracked the top five, there might be questions.
Click to expand...

I can buy this, but on the other hand, he is going into year 4, so he's got all his own recruits now, and with the portal he should be knocking on the 5 hole with his coaching background. We shall see.
 
ARM said:
It is the fourth D-I season for St. Thomas. Mark Johnson wasn't hanging banners in his first three seasons, and he was that program's third head coaching regime (or 4th if you count "acting" HCs). Just because you are currently on one of your manic swings, don't go bullying new programs. St. Cloud being ahead of St. Thomas is more about what the Huskies have done right of late.
Click to expand...

Manic swings.....You hit the nail on the head HAHA. It not my intent to bully any program, I'm just trying to have a conversation and I think I have raised a valid, non-manic question. I'm not saying hang banners, but duke it out for the 5 hole. One would think he and Idalski are in the same plain as far as coaching abilities go, what say you?
 
Timothy A said:
One would think he and Idalski are in the same plain as far as coaching abilities go, what say you?
Click to expand...
I take it that's a typo and you mean plane or level. Idalski had prior head-coaching experience of trying to turn a D-I program around. Johnson didn't have previous experience of trying to launch a D-I program, and I think the transition from D-III to D-I complicates matters. Thus, I think Idalski had a better idea of what he wanted to do from the start, while Johnson likely had theories and concepts, or more like "a concept of a plan." :)

When Johnson rejoined the Minnesota staff, a future All-American's impression was that he talked to them like they were five years old. I think Idalki's style is much more to do what it takes to win now, while Johnson is more patient in trying to build for the long haul. There were times when I thought that JJ was as responsible as Frost for UM reaching the title game in five straight seasons. In hindsight, I didn't give Muzz the credit she deserved for going beyond being a mentor and emotional leader. Based on his work at Minnesota and U-18s, I thought JJ had excellent potential as a D-I head coach. But until he demonstrates that he can coach a WCHA team to .500 and above, it is hard to give him credit for what Idalski has already achieved multiple times.
 
St. Thomas will never compete for a WCHA title and will be lucky to ever be in the top 4. Bottom 4 is their destiny as a program. JJ is just an average coach, but STU isn't going to draw the best players that want to play in the best D1 college hockey conference. The top players are always going to want to play at Wisco, the U, tOSU, and probably Duluth, and then maybe SCSU.
 
shelfit said:
St. Thomas will never compete for a WCHA title and will be lucky to ever be in the top 4. Bottom 4 is their destiny as a program. JJ is just an average coach, but STU isn't going to draw the best players that want to play in the best D1 college hockey conference. The top players are always going to want to play at Wisco, the U, tOSU, and probably Duluth, and then maybe SCSU.
Click to expand...

When a new arena gets built on campus, with an administration willing to support their team, there could be many ways to persuade up and coming players to commit to a St. Paul location. St. Thomas is still the new kid on the block. Too early for this kind of blanket putdown.
 
Steamboat said:
When a new arena gets built on campus, with an administration willing to support their team, there could be many ways to persuade up and coming players to commit to a St. Paul location. St. Thomas is still the new kid on the block. Too early for this kind of blanket putdown.
Click to expand...

The men's team has 29 wins and the women's team 23 since making the leap to Division one. It takes time to get the rosters to reflect the caliber of play. It seems like there is plenty of money to build the program. Given the location once the new arena gets built they should be able to draw better players and be more competitive.
 
Timothy A said:
I am indeed. They are still his players though.
Click to expand...

"All his players" is a little deceptive for the first couple of years with commitments occurring as early as they do. His first two seasons he would have had to flip commits or make do with a combination of previously uncommitted players and transfers.

It is telling that last season the top three point scoring forwards were all freshmen (Boerger, Bartz, and Brown, a law firm you can trust).
 
BadgerPete said:
"All his players" is a little deceptive for the first couple of years with commitments occurring as early as they do. His first two seasons he would have had to flip commits or make do with a combination of previously uncommitted players and transfers.

It is telling that last season the top three point scoring forwards were all freshmen (Boerger, Bartz, and Brown, a law firm you can trust).
Click to expand...

Logical points. JJ gets 2 more years of chugging along at his own pace.
 
Steamboat said:
When a new arena gets built on campus, with an administration willing to support their team, there could be many ways to persuade up and coming players to commit to a St. Paul location. St. Thomas is still the new kid on the block. Too early for this kind of blanket putdown.
Click to expand...

Not a putdown. A statement or prediction based on observational experience. Would I love to be proven wrong in this case? Yes! Only time will tell.
 
A sweep of Mankato. Right, big deal, it is Mankato. An entertaining series between two teams in the bottom half of the WCHA. After looking like they might have an actual edge over Mankato, the Tommies gave up last minute goals in the first two periods of game 2 to create a tense 3rd period. Mankato made a game of it, pressurizing Calla Frank and working the puck for a winning goal. A late penalty stopped their momentum and a last minute rush by Boerger, quiet most of this series, but with the assist, got St. Thomas the go ahead goal. Mankato pulled their goalie and kept the action in the St. Thomas end, but lost 3 - 2.
Joel will need to remind his players that a period is 20 minutes long, not 18 or 19. The power play is still a weakness, although other teams can say that also. The next 3 weeks will see them face UMD, St. Cloud, and Ohio State, before a non conference series with Lindenwood, and the Bemidji Beavers. No predictions from me about those games. I will see what the holiday break record looks like to judge the progress of this team. Big expectations for a team that was D3 just a short while back.
As an aside, who is betting that St. Thomas will get a new arena before the Ohio State women?
 
Steamboat said:
A sweep of Mankato. Right, big deal, it is Mankato. An entertaining series between two teams in the bottom half of the WCHA. After looking like they might have an actual edge over Mankato, the Tommies gave up last minute goals in the first two periods of game 2 to create a tense 3rd period. Mankato made a game of it, pressurizing Calla Frank and working the puck for a winning goal. A late penalty stopped their momentum and a last minute rush by Boerger, quiet most of this series, but with the assist, got St. Thomas the go ahead goal. Mankato pulled their goalie and kept the action in the St. Thomas end, but lost 3 - 2.
Joel will need to remind his players that a period is 20 minutes long, not 18 or 19. The power play is still a weakness, although other teams can say that also. The next 3 weeks will see them face UMD, St. Cloud, and Ohio State, before a non conference series with Lindenwood, and the Bemidji Beavers. No predictions from me about those games. I will see what the holiday break record looks like to judge the progress of this team. Big expectations for a team that was D3 just a short while back.
As an aside, who is betting that St. Thomas will get a new arena before the Ohio State women?
Click to expand...

I mean, the St. Thomas arena is physically under construction, so those odds aren't even on the table in Vegas: https://news.stthomas.edu/publicati...etics-first-look-at-lee-penny-anderson-arena/

They definitely looked both good and shaky at times this weekend, but sweeps of Mankato are important markers for a team that wants to claim that Best Outside of The Big Four label in the short term.
 
Watched the end of the tommy bahamas vs yuckeyes game today. Should have been a checking from behind on #7 for slOwSU with about 30 seconds left. Wasn't called and of course, slOwSU heads down the ice and a penalty gets called on the tommy bahamas. So slOwSU was able to carry over that penalty in OT and of course, #7 scores for slOwSU. Shouldn't have even been on the ice for that goal. And if the correct call gets made in the first place, the tommy bahamas would have had the 4-3 OT power play. slOwsu might still have won in OT but it would have been interesting to see it play out with the correct call.
 
Last edited:
Tommies finish 7 - 2 over Lindenwood. All St. Thomas goals scored by different players. Boerger with 5 shots and 3 assists, still looking for the scoring magic of last season.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top