UST Men's Hockey Notes/March 13

March 13, 2008

St. Thomas Men's Hockey 28-Game Notes/March 13

--NEXT UP: The No. 6-ranked Tommies (20-6-2 overall) face No. 1-ranked St. Norbert College (24-1-4) in Saturday's 7 p.m. NCAA quarterfinal playoff game in Ashwaubenon, Wis... The winner advances to play in the Division III Final Four March 21-22 in Lake Placid, N.Y... The Tommies have won three postseason games in a 13-day stretch by a combined 15-3 margin. But they'll face the ultimate test against No. 1-ranked St. Norbert, which is 22-0-4 since an early-season loss to Gustavus. UST lost at St. Norbert 4-3 in overtime eight weeks ago but beat the Green Knights 3-2 in the 2005 NCAA quarterfinals at the Cornerstone facility... The game features Division III's Nos. 1-2 ranked teams in killing off power plays -- St. Norbert (90%) and UST (89%)... The Tommies are 10-2-1 on home ice and 10-4-1 on the road this season.

--FIRST-ROUND RECAP: Sophomore Tyler Chestnut stopped 27 of 28 shots and the host Tommies scored two goals in a 10-second span of the third period en route to a 4-1 victory over Wisconsin-Stout in Wednesday night's NCAA men's hockey playoff game in Mendota Heights.  A sellout crowd of 1,000 was on hand as the Tommies played their first home NCAA playoff game in eight seasons... UST got nine points from nine different players and ended a five-game winless streak vs. Stout (0-4-1) dating back to 2004... St. Thomas has outscored three postseason foes 15-3 and killed off 17 of 18 power plays in that run. UST's four-game win streak is the fourth longest in Division III... Stout (18-9-3), playing its first NCAA playoff game in school history, took a 1-0 lead 7:08 into the game on Derek Hanson's goal. The Tommies tied the game on freshman Rob Johnson's goal at 16:14 of the first period. The Blue Devils outshot UST 14-7 in the second period but the game was still deadlocked 1-1 after 40 minutes... St. Thomas outshot the Devils 18-5 in the decisive third period. Nate Ryan's power-play goal with 10:00 remaining put the Toms ahead to stay. Ten seconds later, Sean Bryant converted on a breakaway chance to push the lead to 3-1. Nick Nelson added a short-handed, empty-net goal with 59 seconds left to lock down the victory... Nick Pernula, Adam Davis, Ryan Hoehn, Alex Arnason and Tim Kleiman had assists for the Tommies.

--TICKETS: Tickets will go on sale Thursday and continue Friday. An allotment of 250 tickets has been set aside for St. Thomas, and fans can call St. Norbert's ticket office from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Thursday and Friday -- 920-403-3950. Credit cards will be accepted and the tickets will be placed in will-call for game-day pickup. Purchasers should indicate they are Tommie fans... The Cornerstone Community Center has a seating capacity of approximately 1,900 but the Green Knights' national success often produces sellouts for postseason games. Last Saturday's conference playoff finals vs. UW-Stout was a sellout with 2,010 in attendance.

--WEBCAST: St. Norbert will have radio and an audio webcast. Clik here to listen: http://www.snc.edu/athletics/hockey/webcast.htm

--POSTSEASON TALK: The Tommies' NCAA and conference post-season, all in the last 25 seasons, is 47-33-7. That includes a 10-14-2 mark in NCAA play and a 37-19-4 record in conference playoffs. Since 2000, the NCAA record is 7-4 including three one-goal defeats, including NCAA runner-up finishes in 2000 and 2005... UST went 2-0 in the conference playoffs to claim an automtic berth into the 10-team NCAA field. UST won at home 7-1 over Bethel on March 1, then won 4-1 at top-seed Hamline on March 5 to win the program's eighth MIAC playoff title. It's the third time in five years UST won in the conference finals as the No. 2 seed on the road... The Toms reached the NCAA playoffs for the 13th time overall and sixth time in 10 seasons. 

--DID YOU KNOW?: Ten different Toms have combined to score UST's 22 goals in their four-game winning streak... The Toms are 30-7-2 since mid-January 2007... St. Thomas has built a tradition of excellence in ice hockey since the program began intercollegiate play in 1920. The Toms were national runners-up in 1999-2000 and 2004-05... St. Thomas is the Division III national leader in all-time victories and one of two institutions to surpass 900 wins. The Tommies are now 991-573-64 in the 85-year history of their program. The next most men's hockey wins among the 68 other Division III hockey programs is 970 by Middlebury (81 seasons)... St. Thomas (2000, 2005) is the lone MIAC program to reach the NCAA Division III championship game -- the 2000 Tommies lost 2-1 to Norwich in the finals, while the 2005 Toms lost 5-0 to Middlebury... St. Thomas is making its 13th NCAA playoff appearance, including six in the last 10 seasons. The Tommies have received 31 All-American honors since 1970... The Tommies played their 1,500th men's hockey game in December 2003... They won the conference seven years in a row from 1989-95... Terry Skrypek was named National Coach of the Year in 2004-05. Skrypek, who surpassed 300 career victories in January 2003, joined a select group to win 300 games as both a coach in high school and college... Since the format began in 1983, the Tommies have been swept just four times in a regular-season conference weekend series, covering 200 weekends. They have advanced to the MIAC postseason playoffs in all 23 years the format has been in existence, and reached the finals 21 times. They recently have won conference playoff titles in 2004,  2005 and 2008 -- all on the road in the finals as the No. 2 seed... St. Thomas is the lone Division III school this winter to record 20-win seasons in men's and women's hockey and men's and women's basketball.  

--SNC WATCH: Click here for a thorough breakdown on St. Norbert hockey:

http://www.snc.edu/athletics/teamfiles/hockey/2007-08/hockey08-18.pdf

--MIAC PLAYOFFS THUS FAR: The Tommies blitzed Bethel, 7-1, at home March 1 as Andrew Panchenko had three goals and Tom Knutson had two goals and two assists, and beat Hamline 4-1 on March 5 with goals from four different players... Panchenko was named MIAC Player of the Week on March 3, and Ryan Hoehn won the same honor on March 11...  It was the fourth year in a row UST and Bethel met in the MIAC playoffs -- UST won overtime games over the Royals at home in the semifinals in both 2005 and 2006, but Bethel won 5-3 at home in the finals last year.

--SO CLOSE: The Tommies missed a chance to win the conference title Feb. 23-24 as they split two games with St. Olaf, while Hamline swept St. John's. UST salvaged the No. 2 seed for the conference playoffs. The Toms swept Bethel last November -- 4-1 in Blaine and 6-5 in overtime here. On its home ice last March, Bethel edged St. Thomas in last year's MIAC playoff finals, 6-5... The Toms have finished first or second in MIAC hockey 24 of the last 26 seasons.They have advanced to the MIAC playoffs in all 23 years since the format was created, and reached the finals 21 times with eight conference playoff championships.

--MILESTONE: In 70 career games Tommie senior Nick Pernula has 40 goals and 60 assists for 100 points. He's the 42nd UST men's hockey player to hit 100 points... He finished 2006-07 on fire. The All-American had a streak of six consecutive multi-goal games end with a season-ending 5-3 loss to Bethel in the conference playoff finals. Pernula finished last season with 25 goals and 22 assists for 47 points in 27 games... In national stats last season, he ranked second in power plays goals (16) and third in goals (25).  

--SENIORS: Feb. 23 marked the final home regular-season games for six Tommie seniors -- Pernula, Garrett Gruenke, Hoehn, Nate Ryan, Nick Nelson and Andrew Panchenko.

--NO. 600: On Feb. 9 -- when Fox Sports North celebrated Hockey Day in Minnesota -- St. Thomas coach Terry Skrypek worked his 600th college game (all at St. Thomas) when the Toms played at Hamline. Skrypek has never had a losing season in 46 years of hockey as a player at Cretin High and St. Mary's University; 13 years at Hill-Murray (325-42-2, 1983 state champs); and 21 years at St. Thomas (394-174-39, .681 win%, two NCAA runner-up finishes). Skrypek has one at least one postseason game in 20 of his 21 seasons at St. Thomas.

--MORE MILESTONES: UST clinched its 26th consecutive winning season last month.

--WHO'S HOT: St. Thomas goalie Tyler Chestnut (SO-Faribault/Shattuck-St. Mary's) was named MIAC Player of the Week on Feb. 18. Chestnut stopped 39 of 40 shots to help the Tommies to a key sweep of St. Mary's that kept alive their MIAC championship hopes. Chestnut and his teammates killed off all 13 Cardinal power plays. Chestnut has had four shutouts on the season incuding Gustavus, UW-River Falls and UW-Superior. A former Shattuck-St. Mary's teammate of NHL star Sydney Crosby, Chestnut played Junior hockey after high school and played last season at Division I Holy Cross... Adam Davis' 10 power-play goals rank among the conference leaders, and the Toms are 12-1-1 this season when he's scored a point

--JANUARY: UST went 3-3 in the month of January including a 1-3 road record. On Jan. 12-13, the Toms scored a 5-1 win at Lake Forest and lost 4-3 in overtime at No. 1-ranked St. Norbert. In the Norbert's loss, the Toms rallied from deficits of 2-0 and 3-2. Nate Ryan's second goal of the third period, with 1:00 remaining, forced OT. UST had a nine-game unbeaten streak halted. Earlier the season, they beat then No. 1-ranked UW-River Falls 5-0... On Jan. 18-19, they split with St. John's with a 5-2 home win and a 4-3 road loss. Fourteen of the last 19 Tommie-Johnnie hockey games have been decided by one goal including five overtime games... On Jan, 25-26, UST topped Gustavus 3-0 at home but lost 3-0 in St. Peter for a series split... Senior Nate Ryan had a nine-game consecutive points streak halted Jan. 26 in the shutout loss at Gustavus.

--POLL TALK: St. Thomas is ranked No. 6 in the Division III national poll by U.S. College Hockey Online... Their No. 4 ranking earlier this season matched the Tommies' highest regular-season ranking in men's hockey in eight years since the 1999-2000 Toms climbed to second in the poll. UST was ranked third in the 2006-07 preseason poll after taking second in the nation the previous season.

--HOT STREAK: The Toms are 30-7-2 since mid-January 2007. The 2006-07 Toms won 10 in a row late in the season and finished 17-10, with the program's 25th consecutive winning season and 11th top-two MIAC finish in a row. All-American defenseman Ryan Van Bockel and All-MIAC forwards Nick Harris and Kevin Rollwagen graduated, but leading the returners are All-American forward Nick Pernula, defenseman Garret Gruenke and forward Nate Ryan.