This week I will be giving a brief update on this past weekend’s games, a quick preview of the weekend coming up and finally talk about one of my favorite things about Saint John’s University.
This past weekend we had two non-conference games against #3 UW-Stevens Point and UW-Stout. Both games were played at the Municipal Athletic Complex because we couldn’t get ice in our home rink for the games. In my opinion we played a better team game on Friday night against Steven’s Point, but unfortunately came away with a 6-4 loss. Other than a three-minute stretch in this game, where Steven’s Point scored three goals, I thought we were the better team. We learned a lot from the video of this game and used what we learned to get the 5-0 win the following night against UW-Stout. I don’t think we were great in this game, in part due to the build up and physical style of game we played the night before. With that said, we got a great performance in net by junior goalie Mac Berglove and earned the win. We also had 10 of our 12 forwards record a point in the two games and 5 of our 7defensemen record a point. I have to also mention that sophomore forward Russell Harren scored his first career goal in the Stout game, which really brought the house down.
With those two games in the books, we started looking forward to this weekend’s series against Concordia-Moorhead. This is a huge MIAC series and we are ready for the challenge. Concordia had a lot of good returning players this year, led by senior Aaron Herdt and junior Tyler Bossert. Those two players combined for a total of 57 points and 28 goals last season. Both players were All-MIAC and received national awards as well. We will need to keep those two guys in check in the games this weekend to be successful.
As I mentioned in the intro of this blog, I wanted to mention one of my favorite traditions here at SJU. This past Wednesday night we had our annual Thanksgiving meal on the SJU campus. This is an event for all CSB/SJU students and it is one of many things that I feel makes these two universities so unique. The community atmosphere on these two campuses is unmatched. Events like these are what bring these universities together and make the alumni community so strong. I attended a large state university (Bowling Green) and due to my experiences at such a large commuter type university, I appreciate events like this even more. The men and women are lucky to attend a university like this, and in a lot of ways I am lucky to be able to experience some of these things through my players.
Finally, one last reminder of the SJU Hockey Alumni game this Saturday, November 23rd at 3:30pm at the Municipal Athletic Complex, followed by a social at Cowboy Jacks in downtown St. Cloud and the SJU vs. Concordia game that night at 7pm.
Thanks for following Johnnie Hockey and I hope to see you in the rink this weekend.
