GAME COVERAGE: Live Video
NEXT GAME: UW-Stout (8-7-2, 3-7-0 NCHA, 1-7-0 WIAC) will hit the road this weekend for two games with top-ranked
St. Norbert College (14-2-1, 8-1-1 NCHA). The Knights were recently bumped to the top of the national rankings in the latest USCHO.com DIII Men's Poll. The teams will meet in De Pere, Friday, Jan. 18, at 7 p.m. and square off at 4 p.m. the following afternoon, Jan. 19.
WEBCASTS: All UW-Stout home games are scheduled to be broadcast in a live video stream by
Blue Devil Video.
Live Stats should also be available for most home games.
TERRY WATKINS INTERVIEWS: Throughout the season, Jimmie Kaska of Sports Radio 1400 AM will speak with hockey coach
Terry Watkins. Listed are each of the interviews throughout the season. |
Listen to Interviews
2012-13 BLUE DEVILS (8-7-2): The Blue Devils' WIAC struggles continued last weekend as two losses to UW-River Falls dropped them to 1-7-0 in the conference. Stout fell into first-period deficits in both games, and could not mount a comeback in either. The weekend sweep came as a bit of a surprise since the Blue Devils were perfect at home heading into the weekend, and River Falls was not exactly rolling through their competition (entered the weekend 1-5-2 in NCHA). It will be no easy feat to break the losing streak this weekend, as they will have to travel to St. Norbert, who are currently riding an eight-game winning streak and ranked number one in the nation. Stout is being outshot, 579-469, by their opponents, but are only being outscored, 52-51. After going just 1-for-12 on power play opportunities against River Falls, their season conversion rate dropped to .203 (12-59). They have handled their opponents' power plays well, killing them at a .835 (14-85) rate. Through 17 games, 17 players have scored goals for the Blue Devils and 20 have recorded at least one point.
Kevin O'Donnell leads the team in scoring with eight goals and eight assists for 16 points.
Garrett Grimstad, who has a team-high 10 assists, has 15 points.
Zach Vierling and
Sam Carr each have 13 points, Vierling with seven goals, Carr with five goals and eight assists.
Joe Beaudette, who scored Stout's only goal Saturday night, has nine assists and three goals to join
Jordan Treddinnick and
Jason Cohen at 12 points each. Treddinick and Cohen each have four goals and eight assists. Cohen's plus/minus of +15 is the best on the team, trailed by
Logan Maly, who boasts a +11 rate.
Nick Hopper tripled his loss total this past weekend, going from 7-1-2 to 7-3-2 overall. He has a goals against average of 2.48 and a saves percentage of .922. Hopper has played in 727 of the total 1040 minutes of action (70 percent). |
2012-13 Statistics
HOME ICE ADVANTAGE: While it's never been labeled one of the nicest or prettiest venues in sports, the Dunn County Ice Arena has been a comfortable place for the Blue Devils this season. They are 7-2 at home this season, including wins over their only two ranked opponents. Further validating their home ice advantage is their 1-5-2 record away from the Dunn Co. Since the 2006-07 season, UW-Stout is 56-23-5 at the Dunn County Ice Arena.
STOUT'S LAST TIME OUT: The Blue Devils were dealt their first home loss of the season, Friday, and absorbed another, Saturday, both at the hands of UW-River Falls. Friday night, Stout erased an early 2-0 deficit, but could never grab a lead of their own as they fell, 4-2, Friday night at the Dunn County Ice Arena.
Garrett Grimstad and
Mike Hartviksen scored the two goals that knotted the game at two apiece before River Falls' Adam Cardwell scored the decisive goal with seven minutes to play in the game. Stout squandered a power play early in the third period, and later was on the wrong end of a 4-on-4 goal by Adam Cardwell, who totaled four goals in two nights. |
Friday: River Falls 4, Stout 2 | On Saturday night, Stout shot themselves in the foot with 15 penalties for 46 minutes, preventing them from getting in any kind of rhythm as they dropped their second game to River Falls in as many nights. Adam Cardwell, who delivered the game-winner the night before, started the scoring when he stole the puck right in front of Stout's goal, and promply snuck it past
Nick Hopper for a 1-0 lead. Cardwell added a second goal 51 seconds into the second period to stretch the Falcons' lead to two.
Joe Beaudette scored Stout's only goal of the night to pull Stout within one headed into the third period, but that was as close as the Blue Devils would get. |
Saturday: River Falls 2, Stout 1
SCOUTING #1 ST. NORTBERT COLLEGE (14-2-1): As they have been known to do in recent years, the Knights are steamrolling their opponents and were recently bumped to the top slot in the national rankings. They are currently on an eight-game win streak and most recently, defeated #11 Superior, 5-0 and 3-1, last weekend. Their two losses and their tie all came against ranked teams, and they have simply destroyed everyone else. St. Norbert has outscored their opponenets, 83-26, and out-shot them, 583-369. They are converting on 38.5 percent of their power plays while limiting their opponents to goals on just 8.6 percent of their opportunities. Five different Knights have more points than anyone on Stout's roster, led by
Kyle Stroh, who has 14 goals and 14 assists for 28 points.
Cody Keefer trails Stroh with 24 (10 goals, 14 assists), while
Cullen Bradshaw and
Joe Perry have each added 23. Tyler Zepeda has nine goals and eight assists for 17 points. Goalie
David Jacobsen has played in 15 of the team's 17 games, recording a record of 12-2-1. Jacobsen has a GAA of 1.29 and a save percentage of .938.
ST. NORBERT'S LAST TIME OUT: In their weekend sweep of Superior last weekend, St. Norbert did something they had not done in a very long time. The wins of 5-0 and 3-1 gave the Knights their first weekend sweep of Superior at Wessman Arena in 16 years. The last time they did so was 1997, the year they won their first NCHA regular season championship. On Friday, St. Norbert wasted no time grabbing a lead they would just add to the rest of the game. Joe Perry, Kyle Stroh, and Brandon Hoogenboom combined for three goals in the first 12 minutes to take command of the game early. Perry later added another goal and an assist for a game-high three points. |
Friday: SNC 5, Superior 0 | On Saturday night, the Yellowjackets looked a little more like the 11th-ranked team in the nation, but it was St. Nortbert who came out victorious against, taking the contest, 3-1. As it has been all season, St. Norbert's power play proved to be the difference in this one. With the game tied, 1-1, shortly after the start of the second period, Tyler Zepeda and Mason Baptista each added a power play goal to extend the lead to two. Norbert was 2-of-4 on the power play, Saturday, moving them to a ridiculous 38.5 percent on the season. |
Saturday: SNC 3, Superior 1
THE SERIES: St. Norbert has dominated the series throughout its history, leading 33-5-3, overall. The Knights swept the three-game season series last year and have won eight of the past ten meetings.
LAST TIME WHEN THEY MET (Feb. 10, 2012): St. Norbert College scored three goals in the first period on their way to a 4-2 win over UW-Stout Friday at the Cornerstone Center. In doing so, the Knights clinched the NCHA title. St. Norbert got two goals in the first six minutes of the game, both even strength goals by Cullen Bradshaw and Cody Keefer, then tacked on a power play goal in the 14th minute by Chris Ria. Stout answered back with a pair of goals in the second period to pull to within one goal.
Logan Maly scored in the 13th minute for his second goal of the season and freshman
Carl Bombardier scored his first goal as a Blue Devil in the 17th minute. The Knights added another power play goal in the 14th minute of the final period.
Tom Lescovich recorded 39 saves as Stout was outshot, 43-24. |
Story and Stats
RECORDS AND MILESTONES: 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. He currently has eight assists, and nine more would put him at 55 for his career. Also, Carr needs to match his jersey number, 24, in games played this season 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 169 minutes watching from the penalty box in his Blue Devil career. Lachance moved into fifth place earlier this season and could grab the fourth spot with 21 more. He needs 31 minutes to move into elite company, as the 200-minute club is currently occupied by just three Blue Devils.
THE COACHES: UW-Stout: Terry Watkins (205-223-28) 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
. St. Nortbert: Tom Coghlin is in his 20th season as the head coach of the Knights and has accumulated a record of 411-113-45 in his first 19 seasons. His 205-58-28 record within the NCHA is the best tenure in league history in terms of winning percentage. Coghlin has coached his troops to 13 national tournaments since 1997, winning three of them and taking second in three more. Highlighted by the wins in 2008, 2011, and 2012, his six NCAA DIII National Championship appearances are the second highest total in Division III history.
THE CONFERENCES: Stout and St. Norbert are both members of the seven-team Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA). Stout is 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. This is the final year of the existence of the NCHA.
UP NEXT: Stout will play a home and an away game next weekend. They travel to St. Scholastica, Friday, Jan. 25, before returning home the following night for a 7:30 matchup with UW-Superior at the Dunn County Ice Arena.
