If they go 3-12 in that run I'll be very impressed. But, recent distractions aside (from which I hope all involved recover successfully), this is presumably the kind of opportunity that drew some of the top girls in MN to the program. Hopefully they, and their new head coach, can get positives out of it. To me, if they win a couple and are competitive in many of the games, that'd be something to build on.
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St. Thomas 2024-2025
- Thread starter Steamboat
- Start date
If they go 3-12 in that run I'll be very impressed. But, recent distractions aside (from which I hope all involved recover successfully), this is presumably the kind of opportunity that drew some of the top girls in MN to the program. Hopefully they, and their new head coach, can get positives out of it. To me, if they win a couple and are competitive in many of the games, that'd be something to build on.
Timothy A
Let's go RED!
I was being generous/kind. They could circle wagons and win 3 or get the wagons strung out and win 0.
I agree with this outlook. Let's focus on the once again head coach of St. Thomas, Bethany Brausen. The Joel Johnson situation is under investigation. There will not be a Crimson-type coverup. In due time we will find out what happened and what the consequences will be. Until then let's lay off the speculations and hysterics.
Let's play hockey.
ManBehindTheCurtain
Great and powerful wizard
Sorry Steamboat, but no.
This really isn't the time for a let's avert our eyes from the unpleasantness and pretend it doesn't exist hoping against hope that it will just go away.
I think this situation is a very serious moment and deserves to be pulled right up front and scrutinized right now.
What happened and how and why?
I'll add to this by saying we didn't like it when our female assistant coaches would occasionally come into our locker-room after the post game talk had already ended either because once that talk is over it's our time as players to process the outcome of the game and just be together to support each other especially after a tough loss, so on the rare occasion that our female coaches came into our locker-room it just felt awkward and uncomfortable because at that time some of us would be in the shower and they were all former players so they knew that because they knew the post game timeline of things. After they would leave we would wonder why they felt they needed to come into our locker-room at that point in time and we never really knew how to handle it because it didn't happen too often so whenever it did happen we were all caught off guard and that's why it felt awkward and uncomfortable. They didn't really and don't really belong in our locker-room at that time, so it honestly doesn't matter if the coaches are male or female, they just don't belong in the locker-room at any time after the post game talk.
people can multi task. There are hockey and non hockey angles to discuss.
I’m almost at a loss for words on the non hockey angle. Thinking about this story makes me angry. I loved my college experience. Adored my coaches and always felt safe. But I could not care less about my kids playing college sports, in part because of stuff like this which is all too common.
Edit: the media doesn’t really seem interested, for better or worse. I agree the moment should be reported on.
Last edited:
Timothy A
Let's go RED!
This is fantastic insight. As a person who never played any sports at at level I had never deeply considered (or understood) the compartmentalization timeline post game. I had a hard time with the concept of "how can you go clubbing Saturday night via posting on Instagram when you just pooped the bed against your biggest rival earlier in the day?" I'm sure it lingers for some more than others, but when I draw a parallel to my life, I get it completely. When I leave work after a dud of a day, when I get in the car, it's over and behind me (unless I break out in a sweat at 3am with work thoughts running through me mind that wake me up). I've done the best I could, and I have faith that through effort, smarts and circumstances, tomorrow it will all come together the next day.
So if a coach comes into the lockerroom after the end of the game talk, they must have something REALLY on their minds and they felt like the message did not get through via reading the room as you are giving the talk. I know I've had instances where I've been royally po'ed about something, express myself, then I bubble/stew for hours over it. Once I settle down, typically the next day, I can re-visit it in a calm manner with the parties involved. Sounds like a fail in this regard for JJ.
Dit Clapper
New member
I may come off like a jerk here, but here it goes...
1. For those talking about an "investigation", there isn't one. Move along. The situation is dead and over for St. Thomas. The only thing they are investigating is how to cover the school from any possible legal action at this point.
2. The media isn't covering this because, as much as those of us who love women's hockey understand how awful this is/was, no one was physically injured and it doesn't involve a major program. In other words, there's nothing salacious there for them to gain clicks on their respective websites.
3. Here's the big one. Joel screwed up. Big time. But the "truth" of what led to last Friday's incident will never officially come out due to HIPPA. This has been an ongoing problem for Joel for years. USA Hockey was aware and St. Thomas was more than aware. If all of you that love the women's game want answers, start demanding them from the institutions that allow these things to happen and knowingly put our girls and women in danger. Give Dr. Esten's office a call, don't just complain about it on a message board.
1. For those talking about an "investigation", there isn't one. Move along. The situation is dead and over for St. Thomas. The only thing they are investigating is how to cover the school from any possible legal action at this point.
2. The media isn't covering this because, as much as those of us who love women's hockey understand how awful this is/was, no one was physically injured and it doesn't involve a major program. In other words, there's nothing salacious there for them to gain clicks on their respective websites.
3. Here's the big one. Joel screwed up. Big time. But the "truth" of what led to last Friday's incident will never officially come out due to HIPPA. This has been an ongoing problem for Joel for years. USA Hockey was aware and St. Thomas was more than aware. If all of you that love the women's game want answers, start demanding them from the institutions that allow these things to happen and knowingly put our girls and women in danger. Give Dr. Esten's office a call, don't just complain about it on a message board.
ArthriticHasBeen
New member
Had to make an account to comment on this thread because as a former player I feel very validated hearing that a coach was called out on abusive behavior. Joel is a good man at heart and I truly, truly believe that having played for him, but I have to say it feels good to know the behavior I was exposed to years (and years) ago as a player (by JJ and others) is not appropriate and that some people do actually care about student athlete well-being. Joel has his demons (which may never come to light) and they catch him sometimes (which does not excuse his behavior even a little bit). I recognized this playing for him and was often gaslit with “he’s such a good Christian guy” when I expressed my concerns about how we were treated at times. You can be a good human who loves God with good intentions and still treat people very badly sometimes. It made me start to believe that this kind of behavior was normal for a coach (and years later it still affects me because it has made me hesitant to stand up for myself in the workplace due to my warped perception of what standard I should hold my leaders to). I still get anxious and develop a pit in my stomach thinking about the way I was treated as a student athlete that innocently just wanted to be the best I could be; I still found myself frequently being isolated and reamed as though I was making mistakes on purpose. That feeling was hauntingly soul-crushing as a young girl that loved hockey more than anything in the world.
Sometimes it feels like fans just like to use women’s college hockey as a way to make themselves feel bigger by putting down young athletes that are working tirelessly and are already under the microscope at all times- no athlete steps on the ice trying to sabotage their team or coach by performing badly in a sport they deeply care about. Women’s college athletes aren’t getting rich playing their sport; they are doing it because they love the game. There are few worse feelings than letting your team/coach down.
These forums can be so cruel and I have intentionally never read them before, but after coming to the forum to read about the situation at UST I felt that I needed to say thank you to those that see this behavior from a coach as problematic. Hockey is one of the best parts of life and is for people with hard heads, thick skin, and high pain tolerance BUT it really is just a game at the end of the day and it’s not worth losing your humanity/decency over. College athletes are younger and more vulnerable emotionally than people realize (working constantly to impress coaching staff, earn ice time, fit in socially, live on their own for the first time, choose a career, and succeed elsewhere while balancing school is a serious task).
For the purpose of highlighting that JJ’s behavior is not a “one off” in college hockey, I feel that I should say this as well- Frost is not as explosive and emotionally charged as Johnson but I believe his emotional/mental manipulation is even more damaging as a player/individual. He gets away with it because players have no power or ability to stand up for themselves, especially to a coach that is now a Minnesota staple. He is untouchable and knows it. He is successful at Minnesota because he has the “golden team”. Hard to have a bad team when you have a pick of top players, a beautiful rink, great funding, and an amazing fan base. With certainty I can say he could not have this success at another program that did not hand him incredible players on a silver platter year after year. He has also mismanaged some great athletes with a lot of potential and ruined their careers due to his inability to recognize not everyone responds to the same coaching style the same. Throwing players under the bus in front of the rest of the team may motivate some to dig down and play better, but for others it ruins their confidence and ability to trust themselves on the ice. He tends to ruin certain players by beating them down so hard they start overthinking things and can’t play loose or have flow. JJ actually has a much better “hockey mind” and Frost owes his successful career to JJ who for a long time stayed humbly in the shadows pulling all the strings and actually conducting the orchestra while Frost smiled in front of the audience. This was the consensus opinion for most players under him that I knew years ago.
Other insight for those of you that love the game but haven’t been in the locker room and like to speculate before I log off and likely never check this forum again-
Idalski is a good man that gives a shit. His players would take a bullet for him. He seems to recognize that hockey isn’t life and sees his players as humans.
Muz is emotionally labile at times (read: most the time) and can be cruel but has every right to be proud of what she has done at Ohio State.
Mark Johnson is a businessman who is good at the business of hockey. He has a great hockey mind and is almost universally respected for that.
Stauber is an all-around awful coach and arrogant human. Not only is his technical style out of date but he struggles to connect with players in a human way. He is also so heavily immersed in goalie land that he struggles with leading forwards.
Brausen is about the best quality human in all of college hockey. She is after my time but I know her as a person well. She has what it takes to lead and get players to buy in. She needs a lot of support now in the position she has found herself in with JJ resigning from his role since she doesn’t have the talent other programs do but she deserves respect and patience from this forum as she navigates the rest of this year. The girls at UST deserve a better experience than what they have been given so far and Brausen has the character and talent to turn their experience as student athletes around.
Lastly- please don’t speculate on who I am. You don’t know me, won’t guess correctly, and it’s not relevant who I am because I could be any of the number of athletes that have experienced mental abuse at the hand’s of an NCAA women’s college hockey coach over the last few decades. I’m sure it’s also not isolated to just our sport. I wanted to provide this info in the hopes that it will encourage those who recognize there is a problem with the way we treat our athletes to keep the conversation going to protect future young women.
Sometimes it feels like fans just like to use women’s college hockey as a way to make themselves feel bigger by putting down young athletes that are working tirelessly and are already under the microscope at all times- no athlete steps on the ice trying to sabotage their team or coach by performing badly in a sport they deeply care about. Women’s college athletes aren’t getting rich playing their sport; they are doing it because they love the game. There are few worse feelings than letting your team/coach down.
These forums can be so cruel and I have intentionally never read them before, but after coming to the forum to read about the situation at UST I felt that I needed to say thank you to those that see this behavior from a coach as problematic. Hockey is one of the best parts of life and is for people with hard heads, thick skin, and high pain tolerance BUT it really is just a game at the end of the day and it’s not worth losing your humanity/decency over. College athletes are younger and more vulnerable emotionally than people realize (working constantly to impress coaching staff, earn ice time, fit in socially, live on their own for the first time, choose a career, and succeed elsewhere while balancing school is a serious task).
For the purpose of highlighting that JJ’s behavior is not a “one off” in college hockey, I feel that I should say this as well- Frost is not as explosive and emotionally charged as Johnson but I believe his emotional/mental manipulation is even more damaging as a player/individual. He gets away with it because players have no power or ability to stand up for themselves, especially to a coach that is now a Minnesota staple. He is untouchable and knows it. He is successful at Minnesota because he has the “golden team”. Hard to have a bad team when you have a pick of top players, a beautiful rink, great funding, and an amazing fan base. With certainty I can say he could not have this success at another program that did not hand him incredible players on a silver platter year after year. He has also mismanaged some great athletes with a lot of potential and ruined their careers due to his inability to recognize not everyone responds to the same coaching style the same. Throwing players under the bus in front of the rest of the team may motivate some to dig down and play better, but for others it ruins their confidence and ability to trust themselves on the ice. He tends to ruin certain players by beating them down so hard they start overthinking things and can’t play loose or have flow. JJ actually has a much better “hockey mind” and Frost owes his successful career to JJ who for a long time stayed humbly in the shadows pulling all the strings and actually conducting the orchestra while Frost smiled in front of the audience. This was the consensus opinion for most players under him that I knew years ago.
Other insight for those of you that love the game but haven’t been in the locker room and like to speculate before I log off and likely never check this forum again-
Idalski is a good man that gives a shit. His players would take a bullet for him. He seems to recognize that hockey isn’t life and sees his players as humans.
Muz is emotionally labile at times (read: most the time) and can be cruel but has every right to be proud of what she has done at Ohio State.
Mark Johnson is a businessman who is good at the business of hockey. He has a great hockey mind and is almost universally respected for that.
Stauber is an all-around awful coach and arrogant human. Not only is his technical style out of date but he struggles to connect with players in a human way. He is also so heavily immersed in goalie land that he struggles with leading forwards.
Brausen is about the best quality human in all of college hockey. She is after my time but I know her as a person well. She has what it takes to lead and get players to buy in. She needs a lot of support now in the position she has found herself in with JJ resigning from his role since she doesn’t have the talent other programs do but she deserves respect and patience from this forum as she navigates the rest of this year. The girls at UST deserve a better experience than what they have been given so far and Brausen has the character and talent to turn their experience as student athletes around.
Lastly- please don’t speculate on who I am. You don’t know me, won’t guess correctly, and it’s not relevant who I am because I could be any of the number of athletes that have experienced mental abuse at the hand’s of an NCAA women’s college hockey coach over the last few decades. I’m sure it’s also not isolated to just our sport. I wanted to provide this info in the hopes that it will encourage those who recognize there is a problem with the way we treat our athletes to keep the conversation going to protect future young women.
FiveHoleFrenzy
Well-known member
Thems the rules... Although in your case you could have made a better choice.
I mean, you added to the cruel with many of your comments so you seem to fit right in.
There's just.....too much to unpack in this post...First, stop making excuses for college athletes and all they go through once they get to campus. If playing a Division 1 sport were easy, everyone could do it. What's happening is that sports are now being put into the category of "let's make it easier so everyone can feel good and can do it", and "Oh, it makes you uncomfortable so let's change it so that you're ok". Sports are all about being in uncomfortable positions and having the adversity to get through the challenge. It's why companies want to hire college athletes, and it's part of the benefit of being a college athlete to learn these priceless skills.
You came on here to talk about JJ and that's what this forum is about - expressing opinions, providing insight, etc. Instead, you went on to discuss other coaches in the league and what "other people" think of their style. Totally unnecessary and not at all relevant to this particular post. You also talked about how certain coaches couldn't connect with players and/or mismanaged players because they have a different style. Guess what? Everyone has a choice. Athletes can chose the type of coach they want to play for. Is the coach a yeller and it doesn't jive with you? Probably not the right fit. I know players that can't play for coaches that are pushovers who NEVER yell. I also know players that cannot stand being yelled at. Do not put this on just the coaches, the athletes have a choice in who they play for - as we've all seen with the ever revolving door of the transfer portal. If Coach Johnson didn't fit your style, maybe you should have thought about that before you went there or you should have left. And don't play the "I fell in love with the school so I was locked in". Again, everyone has a choice. If you choose to stay because you love the school, but hate the hockey, that is your decision.
Lastly, I will say that people should stop talking about Johnson's "demons" or "things that may never come to light". Either spit out his "issues" or shut up. When you put things like that out there, it leads people to speculate down all kinds of rabbit holes in any which direction which is unnecessary. From what it sounds like, he lost it after the loss, walked in on the girls while they were changing, and paid the ultimate price for it which sucks for him, the players, and for Brausen who has to pick up the pieces. I wish this team and program well, but the road just go extremely longer towards any kind of success and that in itself is not good for women's hockey, especially in Minnesota.
ManBehindTheCurtain
Great and powerful wizard
Well, list me as disappointed. I don't think she deserves the scornful response that her post is receiving.
She strikes me as very credible. The details she provides identifies her to me as very clearly a former player, at that, a former Gopher. It is certainly the prerogative of any other contributor to this forum to disagree with her opinion about her experience.
But, and a big but, it is her experience, she has been there. I and most of the rest of us, have not.
Let a thousand flowers bloom, let all opinions be heard. We will all be enriched and the bad opinions will not flourish.
There are some bad seeds in this mixture but I find it hard to believe that ArthriticHasBeen is somehow the worst of the lot.
She strikes me as very credible. The details she provides identifies her to me as very clearly a former player, at that, a former Gopher. It is certainly the prerogative of any other contributor to this forum to disagree with her opinion about her experience.
But, and a big but, it is her experience, she has been there. I and most of the rest of us, have not.
Let a thousand flowers bloom, let all opinions be heard. We will all be enriched and the bad opinions will not flourish.
There are some bad seeds in this mixture but I find it hard to believe that ArthriticHasBeen is somehow the worst of the lot.
Timothy A
Let's go RED!
"I recognized this playing for him and was often gaslit with “he’s such a good Christian guy” when I expressed my concerns about how we were treated at times. You can be a good human who loves God with good intentions and still treat people very badly sometimes."
-------------------------------------------------------
Yes this is true. You have to recognize this and repent and try your level best to turn from this. Whether or not he his trying is not for us to judge, it's between him and God. You should point out a person's wrongs to them in private face to face in a nice manner with a loving motivation meant to help them recognize the flaw and hope the repentance is spawned from the conversation.
Overall I appreciate Arthritic's viewpoint from a player's perspective.
It's interesting she gives JJ and credit for MN's success and we have been aiming that as Muzzy. Seems as though having JJ and Muzzy on the staff was pretty incredible. The results were driving UW fan's to madness.
-------------------------------------------------------
Yes this is true. You have to recognize this and repent and try your level best to turn from this. Whether or not he his trying is not for us to judge, it's between him and God. You should point out a person's wrongs to them in private face to face in a nice manner with a loving motivation meant to help them recognize the flaw and hope the repentance is spawned from the conversation.
Overall I appreciate Arthritic's viewpoint from a player's perspective.
It's interesting she gives JJ and credit for MN's success and we have been aiming that as Muzzy. Seems as though having JJ and Muzzy on the staff was pretty incredible. The results were driving UW fan's to madness.
After being out of town for 10 days, I had to mainline some hockey games on Sunday on the B1G+ network. Watching St. Thomas play the Gophers, I was struck by the spirit on the bench, and the fact that they continued to put out effort even when it was clear that they were overmatched. They seem to be able to score the occasional goal, but the power play has yet to find the right combinations to become a weapon.
They will meet the Gophers again the second weekend in January, after playing St. Cloud. Good luck to Bethany and the team, as they work their way into the new year.
They will meet the Gophers again the second weekend in January, after playing St. Cloud. Good luck to Bethany and the team, as they work their way into the new year.
Photos and Video: Lee & Penny Anderson Arena Construction Hits Milestone - Newsroom | University of St. Thomas
The article mentions this as a 5000 capacity arena, with a 2nd arena in the works.
Timothy A
Let's go RED!
Is this one for the men and women?
The 2nd arena is listed as a practice facility. It appears that both the men and the women will skate in the big arena. Look out for some competition for the NCAA Frozen Four championships.
Minnesota Duluth is in action now at the Tommies Mendota Heights building. Two years ago, when St. Thomas had an ex-Bulldog on the team, that player was continuously beaten up. I said at the time that these two teams had the makings of a good rivalry. Bethany Brausen was acting coach then. This will be an interesting game from the short history between them.