This week on CCHA RinkRap, Rico Blasi’s Tommies reach a historic first in St.Paul; preparation and opportunity converge in Marquette; and Damon Whitten proves people wrong in the Soo.

The Tommies Historic Milestone

After nearly a month of ever-frustrating moral victories, the St. Thomas Tommies won a Division I hockey game Saturday night, beating Ferris State 5-2. This was the Tommies first Division I victory in 98 seasons of varsity hockey. Head coach Rico Blasi, who has been tasked with building a Div-I culture from a Div-III foundation, was matter of fact in the post-game.

“A nice way to get our first win; now we can move on and nobody has to talk about (being winless) any more. I’m excited about practice on Monday because now we can hammer home more of our message.”

Blasi’s message is an emphatic we over me, a philosophy that is applauded by his boss, STU’s dynamic director of athletics Phil Esten. 

“We’re excited for the future under Rico Blasi’s leadership,” said Esten to RinkRap. “Someday soon we will look back on these early milestones, like this first win, and appreciate that our coaches and players built it the right way.” 

Anyone seeking a blueprint on how to successfully build a Div-I program has to look no further than the Tommies next opponent—Arizona State. It took Greg Powers’ Sun Devils just four years of Division I hockey to reach the NCAA postseason.

“They have done an unbelievable job starting up their program,” said Blasi. “I have a lot of respect for Greg Powers. To be in the national tournament in [four] years tells you a little bit about their staff and the way they work.”

It is curious timing for Rico’s Tommies to be playing ASU immediately following their first victory. It is one thing to split a series with the CCHA cellar dwellers; it is quite another to travel and play a team that has already climbed the NCAA mountain, one with no intention of sliding back to base-camp. The on-ice education for Rico’s Tommies resumes in Tempe this weekend, a stiff test at that.

Seizing the Moment In Marquette

Although it is not his favorite topic, Bemidji coach Tom Serratore’s biggest task this season is filling the critical void in goal created by the departure of Zach Driscoll. His two primary candidates—sophomores Mike Carr and Gavin Enright—showed promise, but only one victory in the Beavers first five games. Then a series of unexpected events created an opportunity for the #3 goalie on the Beavers depth chart, NCAA newbie Mattias Sholl.   

If Sholl turns out to be the stopper Beaver hockey nation yearns for, the freshman’s college hockey debut at Northern Michigan is the stuff of legend. That all remains to be seen. But the facts from this weekend stand tall on their own. 

First and foremost, Sholl was not expected to travel to Marquette last weekend. An injury to Enright got him on the bus and into a uniform Friday night, supporting Bemidji starter Carr against the high-scoring Wildcats. Carr was blistered for four goals in 30 minutes, and with minimal preparation, Sholl found himself inserted into a CCHA goal-fest in which the two teams had already pounded in seven goals. 

The kid from Southern California calmly shut down the Northern Michigan house party, stopping all 14 shots he faced to allow his teammates to come back and snatch the victory 5-4.

“A gutty effort Friday night,” said Serratore to RinkRap. “He goes in cold and closed it out for us. He responded well to the situation. He was confident and comfortable.”

Sholl, naturally, was given the start the following night, and kicked out another 35 shots in a 4-3 victory, his second official win within 25 hours. To those who love a good hockey yarn, a star was born. Not so to coach Serratore, now in his 21st season as Bemidji head coach.

“I’ve been around a long time, it’s too early, I don’t want to get into all that,” said Serratore when asked if he might have discovered the replacement for All-Conference Driscoll. Well, surely the two virtual wins must make Sholl the front-runner in the three-Beaver race for the starting job Friday against Bowling Green.

“Too premature,” said Serratore. He acknowledged that Sholl was a “good kid,” with a “good work ethic, but all our goalies have a good work ethic.”

CCHA fans have seen the first chapter of what could be a feel-good fairy tale, supported by Sholl’s gaudy statistics—a .942 save percentage—in a very limited sample. His percentage in the USHL last year was a pedestrian .888.

So perhaps Serratore is right to throw cold water on the whole “star is born” fantasy, at least until Sholl puts together a significant body of work. But unless the freshman breaks an ankle in practice this week, Serratore will continue to try and ride his thoroughbred back to the winner’s circle. It’s more than just the coach’s preference, the players gain confidence from having a winner between the pipes. 

The best advice to Sholl in his quest to corral the goaltending top spot in Bemidji comes from the late Al Davis of NFL infamy: “Just win baby.” 

Damon Whitten Proving People Wrong In The Soo

Although it requires reading between the lines, Lake Superior State coach Damon Whitten doesn’t love the fact that his CCHA fellow coaches voted his squad way down into sixth place in the preseason poll. Not a lot of respect for the reigning tournament champs, but Whitten’s rivals could not ignore the off-season exodus of offense from the Soo. On CCHA media day, the Lakers 8th-year coach sounded like a litigator making a case for his team replacing all the departing offense. At this stage of the season, it appears that Whitten is winning that case.

A quick look at the CCHA scoring leaders reveals that five of the top six spots are held by Lakers. Just as Whitten predicted in the preseason presser, Louis Boudon and Brandon Puricelli have been lights out in the attacking zone. And after sweeping Union College this weekend in the Soo, Whitten’s gifted freshmen class have been filling up the score sheets as well. 

“Timo Backus scored just a beautiful goal, Josh Nixon made a great play on that. Along with Dawson Tritt, those freshmen, they’re good players,” said Whitten in Friday’s post-game. “Really, really like the way those guys are playing.”

The Lakers power play is humming along at over 30%, the only CCHA team to clear that magic threshold. But it is special teams that trouble Whitten. It turns out that the biggest impact from the off-season flight from the Soo was not scoring goals, but preventing them on the penalty kill.

“We’ve [got] to find a way to get our PK on track, find the right personnel,” said Whitten. “Our top six PK guys all exited, and we’re struggling on that, shot ourselves in the foot a little bit. It’s hard as a coach. We didn’t have this lack of experience in the last year or two, there’s some lessons to be learned for sure.”

Whitten and his elite staff of Mike York and Zack Cisek are dedicated to teaching their new charges the art of the kill, while looking to improve on their 5-3 record. Three of those wins have come in non-conference games, lifting the post-season tournament fortunes of all those CCHA naysayers. Although he’ll never say it publicly, Whitten’s response to his coaching peers that voted his defending champs out of a home ice playoff berth should be as follows: “You’re welcome.”