Northern Star: St. Scholastica Men’s Hockey
The Saints will face off with Augsburg for the MIAC title, at Mars Lakeview Arena, Saturday at 7 PM.
DULUTH, Minn.- From day one of practice on, teams work tirelessly to raise that trophy at the end of the season. For the St. Scholastica men’s hockey team, the chance to do just that is one game away.
After years of falling short in the conference tournament, the Saints enter this weekend with an opportunity to make their mark on school history.
“Yeah it’s great. Especially last year, after being out in the first round, everyone kind of had that stuck in the back of their head and especially with the guys we brought in with the seniors and the juniors we had this year, we’re all ready for a chance like this to come around,” says sophomore forward Alessio Raso.
“I know you hear the sports and everyone’s like, ‘Oh they’re not going to do well going into the MIAC, but proving what we did this year, our second year in the MIAC, I think it gives other teams hope, they can see that they can do the same thing, so I think it brings everyone together too, as a community,” says sophomore forward Jacob Seitz.
It hasn’t been an easy four years for CSS, working under three coaching changes during that time. Now in his second season at the helm, head coach Dave Williams has brought this team’s potential to life.
“It’s an unbelievable experience and a great opportunity for me. Kevin Moore, one of my closest friends did a great job, setting the ground work here and creating a culture you can win with, so we’re trying to build off that and also implementing our own stuff here so, it’s going great so far, really tight knit group of guys that are just willing to compete for each other every single day and I think we’re seeing the success of that now,” says Williams.
“Facing that adversity was tough. And now we’re kind of coming around and turned the corner and the program’s heading the right direction, so it’s pretty cool to see that and to have success my senior year is awesome,” says senior defenseman Alec Severson.
Over the course of the season, St. Scholastica has posted a 10-2-1 record at the Planet and landing the one seed, the Saints earned home ice advantage going into the MIAC Championship game.
“It definitely helps a lot. Just the nerves of everything and we’ve been pretty good at home too which helps us out. We like playing here, we play well here typically so we’re looking forward to it,” says Williams.
“It’s kind of awesome the support we’re getting from the school and everyone there. The student section we had last week was unbelievable and kind of expecting the same thing this weekend,” says Seitz.
Two weekends ago, CSS earned the sweep over the team they’ll face off with in the championship, but don’t expect the Auggies to give up the title so easily.
“College hockey is tough and any team can win on any night so, big target on the back. Being number one in the conference all year kind of, everyone is just out to get us every night,” says Severson.
“They have the experience of playing in big games for sure. That’s a team that went to the final four last year and almost returned every one of their players and added a few DI transfers on top of it so, they’ve been there before, they’ve been to the big dance, they know what it’s all about so we’re going to have to be ready,” says Williams.
The Saints will face off with Augsburg for the MIAC title, at Mars Lakeview Arena, Saturday at 7 PM.
