There is no rest for the Believers.
That’s what Rico Blasi and his St. Thomas men’s hockey coaching staff call the first group of players who committed to the Tommies after it was announced the program was making the unprecedented leap from Division III to Division I.
Rather than enjoy the team’s best streak of the season — 6-1-1 in their past eight games — the Tommies have spent the week getting ready for a home-and-home weekend series against No. 15 Minnesota State.
Rico Blasi, the University of St. Thomas’ first Division-I hockey coach, stands for a portrait in the multimedia studio of O’Shaughnessy Education Center in St. Paul on April 6, 2021. (Liam James Doyle / University of St. Thomas)
Those players, especially transfers who had burned a season of eligibility, knew they would be swimming upstream against bigger, established programs, and some of them knew they would never be playing for an NCAA tournament bid because the program was starting a five-year probationary period — although an NCAA rules change could alter that this summer.
When they committed, St. Thomas didn’t even have its full complement of 18 scholarships funded. That has since changed, Blasi noted, while also acknowledging, “We still have a long way to go.”
But, he added, “We’re making good progress, developing a culture, an identity. We felt like that was really important for St. Thomas.”
Now upperclassmen, a handful of the Believers are leading the way in the competitive Central Collegiate Hockey Association, where the Tommies are the new kid on the block playing against longtime Division I programs such as Bemidji State, Bowling Green Lake Superior State and Michigan Tech.
And, of course, Minnesota State, winner of five NCAA championships, and the runner-up in 2023 after being ranked No. 1 for much of the season. The Mavericks (17-7-2) lead the CCHA with a 12-4-2 mark. The Tommies, 10-11-5 overall, are sixth in the CCHA with a 7-7-4 record
Liam Malmquist, a senior from Edina who transferred from Wisconsin, leads the CCHA in assists (20) and points (32). Cooper Gay, a junior from Hanover, Minn., ranks third in conference goals (13), followed by Malmquist (12) and Lucas Wahlin (10), a junior from Woodbury.
“Most of them were getting nothing to come here, because we didn’t have anything,” Blasi said. “… We’ve done a really good job in creating our identity and culture. We had a 3.65 GPA last year, and that’s normal for us. I’ve never been around a male sport our size that is so academically inclined, and it’s St. Thomas — it’s not a joke.”
Blasi joined St. Thomas after 20 years at Miami (Ohio), where his teams won a pair of CCHA championships, an NCAA title game appearance and twice advanced to the Frozen Four. Back then, he said, Michigan, Ohio and lower Ontario were the program’s hunting ground. It’s a little easier in Minnesota — “it’s called the State of Hockey for a reason,” he said — but St. Thomas can’t rest on its central location.
When the Tommies joined the CCHA, Blasi said, some opponents were unaware of the largest of St. Paul’s many private universities. That’s changing. While the program is dominated by East Metro players — St. Paul, Roseville, Woodbury, Farmington, Rosemount, Mendota Heights and Mahtomedi are all represented — Blasi already has reached as far as British Columbia, Calgary and Colorado for players.
“If guys are improving, getting better, learning, maturing, then that’s the day-to-day stuff that really matters,” Blasi said. “If we’re winning games, that’s even better. But if we do all the day-to-day stuff, we’ll win more games, and if we win championships, that’s great. too.
“We want to make them better hockey players, but also better people, and there’s a lot of messaging about culture and being a student. If we do what we want to do on a minute-to-minute basis, we’ll get where we want to be.”
Tommies vs. Minnesota State
When: 7 p.m. Friday / 6 p.m. Saturday
Where: Mayo Clinic HSEC Friday / St. Thomas Ice Rink Saturday
TV / Radio: Midco Sports Plus / ESPN-AM 1500
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