NEXT GAME: The UW-Stout Blue Devils will open their season with five road games before returning for their home opener, Nov. 9, against Augsburg College. First up on the schedule is Marian University, where Stout will travel, Saturday, Oct. 20 for a 7 p.m. start. Stout's final record last season was 8-17-2 (4-13-1 NCHA), while Marian finished 13-9-4 (12-5-3 MCHA).
WEBCASTS: Marian will provide both
live stats and
video for the game. All UW-Stout home games are scheduled to be broadcast in a live video stream by
Blue Devil Video.
2011-12 BLUE DEVILS: UW-Stout was all over the map last year, as they kept fans guessing which Stout team would show up. The Blue Devils started the season 4-1, and were 4-2 after three weekends of play. They went 1-5-1 over their next seven games, however, and went into the Christmas break 5-7-1. Stout showed signs of life later in the year as they split of pair of closely-contested games with then fourth-ranked UW-River Falls, and played a lot of close games down the stretch. The Blue Devils grabbed just one win in their final eight regular season games before being bounced in the first round of the NCHA playoffs by the College of St. Scholastica. Stout returns seven of their top eight scorers from last season, but lose All-American
Branden Gay, who served as the team's leading scorer the past two years.
Sam Carr, an All-NCHA selection a year ago, led the team in assists and will look to distribute the puck again in his senior year. Carr also scored four goals, giving him 21 points on the season, trailing only Gay. Teammate
Mike Hartviksen gathered 20 points on 10 goals and 10 assists. Four other Blue Devils scored at least 16 points, all of whom will return this season.
Kevin O'Donnell collected 19 points,
Jordan Tredinnick, 18, while
Garrett Grimstad and
Charles Lachance each added 16.
Nick Hopper and
Tom Lescovich, who will both return for their senior year, split time between the pipes last season. Each appeared in 15 games, and had very similar stat lines. Lescovich finished 5-8-0 with a save percentage of .891, while Hopper ended the season 3-9-2, with a .907 save percentage. |
2011-12 Statistics
LAST TIME OUT: The Blue Devils ended their 2011-12 campaign with a series loss to St. Scholastica in the first round of the NCHA Peters Cup. In Game 1 of the series, Stout scored four unanswered goals to forge a 4-4 tie. The scoring did not start for the Blue Devils until late in the second period, but came in bunches from then on. Four different Blue Devils added a goal, and the teams headed into game two all square. In Game 2, Stout grabbed a 2-0 lead, but could not convert it into a win. St. Scholastica scored two goals in regulation to force overtime, setting up a sudden death situation for the whole series. The Saints scored just over a minute into the overtime period, earning them the ticket to the second round while Stout packed it in for the offseason.
SCOUTING MARIAN: Marian finished 13-9-4 last season, and their conference record of 12-5-3 earned them a third place finish in the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association. The Sabres were recently picked fourth out of eight teams in the MCHA in the preseason coaches' poll. They return five of their top six scorers from last year including standout senior Dakota Dubetz. After leading the team in scoring his sophomore year, Dubetz delivered another solid campaign last season, scoring 14 goals while dishing out 20 assists for a team-high 37 points. Brian Berger, who led the squad with 17 goals, trailed only Dubetz with 27 points. Senior Brendan Roberts rounds out the trio that brings back most of the goal production. Dubetz, Berger, and Roberts accounted for nearly half of Marian's goals a season ago, and will look to absorb the ten goals they will lose from the departure of Bryce Wilson. Josh Baker received the most time between the pipes, but Randy Willis made 10 appearances as well. Both goalies recorded at least a .900 save percentage. Baker held the edge in goals allowed average, but Willis' record of 6-2-0 was better than Baker's (7-7-4). |
2011-12 Statistics
LAST TIME OUT: Much like Stout, Marian finished their season with an overtime loss in their conference tournament. After winning both regular season contests with MSOE, the Sabres failed to complete the three-game season sweep. After falling behind, two second period goals gave Marian a 2-1 advantage heading into the second intermission. A third period goal and an overtime score by MSOE, however, sent Marian into the offseason.
LAST TIME WHEN THEY MET: In both teams' second game of the season last year, they exploded for four second period goals and went on to a 6-2 win over Marian at the Dunn County Ice Arena. After a scoreless first period, Stout wasted no time in getting on board in the second period. Branden Gay scored 13 seconds into the period, followed five minutes later by a Dan Cecka goal. Kevin O'Donnell scored his first of two goals on the night, scoring with two minutes left in the period. Finally, Joe Beaudette scored his first goal of the season with less than a minute remaining in the stanza with Stout's only power play goal of the night. O'Donnell, Cecka and Logan Maly each added three assists. Shots were relatively even, with Stout holding a 35-33 advantage. Tom Lescovich recorded 31 saves. The Sabres' Josh Baker took the loss, working the first two periods for 22 saves. Randy Willis came on in the third period and recorded seven saves. The game improved Stout to 2-0, while Marian fell to 1-1. |
Story and Stats
RECORDS AND MILESTONES: Tom Lescovich is currently 375 saves shy of 2000 for his career. Only two Stout goalies have ever reached that milestone: Tad Larson (2480) and Jeff Dotson (2226). Additionally, Lescovich is third in team history in save percentage (.911). All-time leader Mike Stone's career percentage was .916...
Sam Carr needs to duplicate his assist total from last season in order to pass Joel Gaulrapp and current head coach
Terry Watkins for fourth all time in assists. 17 assists would put him at 55 for his career. Also, Carr needs to match his jersey number, 24, in games played in order to hit the 100-game milestone for his career. The last player to do so was his brother, Robert Carr, along with two others in the 2010-11 season. Coincidentally, Robert played in 27 games his final season, which matched his jersey number as well...
Charles Lachance has previously spent 130 minutes watching from the penalty box. Fresh off a career-high 81 minutes last year, Lachance can move into fifth place all-time with 25 minutes, and could grab the fourth spot with 60. He needs 70 minutes to move into elite company, as the 200-minute club is currently occupied by just three Blue Devils.
THE COACHES: Terry Watkins (197-218-26) is in his 17th season as the head coach of the Blue Devils' varsity program. Watkins spent eight years coaching the club team (104-102-16) as Stout prepared to return to varsity status in 1997. Watkins was the 2006-07 NCHA coach of the year when Stout finished in a three-way tie for first. Watkins had a Hall of Fame career at Stout as a defenseman. Stout won a WIAC title in 2010-11, and an NCHA title during the 2006-07 season.
Marian University: The Sabres are coached by
A.J. Aitken, who is in his first year as head coach. Aitken is the sixth head men's hockey coach in the program's history, after spending the past nine seasons as an assistant coach at St. Norbert College. During his time on the hockey staff there, the Green Knights are 217-37-23, in addition to capturing three national championships.
THE CONFERENCES: UW-Stout is a member of the seven-team Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA). Stout is also a member of the five team Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC). The WIAC is made up of Stout, UW-Eau Claire, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Superior and UW-River Falls. The NCHA includes the five WIAC schools as well as St. Norbert and St. Scholastica. Marian is a member of the eight-team Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association (MCHA). The conference is broken into a Northern and a Southern division, each containing four teams. Marian finished first in the Northern Division last year.
HOME ICE ADVANTAGE: Since the 2006-07 season, UW-Stout is 49-23-5 at the Dunn County Ice Arena.
STOUT'S RANKED HISTORY: Stout finished the 2008-09 season as the second ranked team in the USCHO.com poll. With the exception of the Nov. 17, 2008, USCHO.com poll, Stout had been ranked in the top 15 since the Nov. 13, 2006, poll. Stout made their first appearance in the poll on Nov. 27, 2000, when they received one vote, then moved up to 10th the following week. The 2008-09 season ending poll matched Stout's previous high mark of second in the Jan. 29, 2007, poll. Stout opened the 2009-10 season ranked third, their highest-ever season-opening ranking, but fell out of the polls midway through the season and returned to the top 15, Nov. 22, 2010. Stout was in the 2011-12 USCHO.com poll early in the season, dropped out, returned again, but has since dropped out.
UP NEXT: After Marian, Stout stays on the road for four more games. They face UW-Eau Claire next weekend, then travel to Minnesota to face St. John's University, Friday, Nov. 2, and Concordia-Moorhead, Sat. Nov. 3. Their home opener is on Friday, Nov. 9 against Augsburg College.
