Hockey Preview: Stout takes on former conference opponents

THIS WEEK'S GAME: The Blue Devils (2-4-0, 0-0-0 WIAC) host St. Scholastica (5-0-1, 5-0-1 NCHA), Friday, Nov. 22, then will be at St. Norbert College (6-0-0, 6-0-0 NCHA), Saturday, Nov. 23. Both the Saints and the Green Knights are members of the NCHA. After playing teams from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) the last four times out, UW-Stout (2-4-0, 0-0-0 WIAC) will turn it's attention to an even more familiar set of foes this weekend, two teams from the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA). The Blue Devil open that two game set tonight by hosting former conference foe and currently 10th ranked St. Scholastica (4-0-2, 4-0-2 NCHA). Stout was a member of the NCHA until pulling out this season. The Blue Devils will travel to second ranked St. Norbert tomorrow night.

WEBCASTS:  All UW-Stout home games are scheduled to be broadcast in a live video stream by Blue Devil Video. Brady Burzynski and Josh Halling will be on the call throughout the season.  Live Stats should also be available for most home games.

THE 2013-14 BLUE DEVILS (2-4-0, 0-0-0 WIAC): Kevin O'Donnell leads Stout with three goals and four assists O'Donnell has worked his way onto the UW-Stout all-time career scoring list. His 75 total points (31-44-75) ranks him 21st, his 31 goals rank him 25th  and his 44 assists rank him 15th. Matt Millis has two goals and two assists. Craig Lindegard has three goal, matching O'Donnell's number. Riley Colvard, Logan Maly, Shayne McLaughlin, Justin Moody, Danny Ray and Hunter Scott each of one goal and one assist. Seventeen different players have scored at least one point and Eleven players have scored at least one goal. Corey Koop has spent the most time in the net, posting a 2.28 goals against average and a saves percentage of .923. 

2012-13 BLUE DEVILS (10-13-2, 5-13-0 NCHA): After a hot start to the season, Stout finished the 2012-13 season with a 10-15-2 overall record, 5-13-0 in their last season in the NCHA and 2-10-0 in the WIAC. 

STOUT'S LAST TIME OUT: Despite taking both losses, Blue Devil goalie Corey Koop had a good weekend, stopping 29 shots in a 2-1 loss at Augsburg College Nov. 15, then stopped 29 shots again in a 1-0 loss at St. Thomas Nov. 16.  Koop raised his saves percentage from .907 to .923 and dropped his goals against average from 2.67 to 2.28. The Auggies outshout Stout 31-14, but Koop limited them to two goals after Stout took a 1-0 first period lead on a power play goal by Craig Lindegard. Koop kept the Tommies off the board until late in the third period. 

SCOUTING ST. SCHOLASTICA (4-0-2, 4-0-2 NCHA): All of the Saints' games have been within NCHA play and Scholastica is currently in third place.  St. Scholastica opened with 4-3, 2-0 wins over the Milwaukee School of Engineering, then had two ties with Concordia-Wisconsin, 5-5, 4-4. The Saints returned home to sweep Finlandia, 6-2, 4-1. Brandon Nowakowski leads the Saints in scoring with six goals and five assists. Dylan Nowakowski is right behind with five goals and five assists. Paul Marcoux leads the team in assists with six and had three goals. Derek Sutliffe, Dave Williams, Chad Golansowski and Alex Valenti each have two goals. Matt Malenstyn has five assists. Colin Rundell and Tyler Bruggeman have split some time in the net. Rundell has started four games and has a 2.88 GAA, while Bruggeman has started two games and has a GAA of 1.50.

THE SERIES: and the history of Stout and St. Scholastica goes back to when Stout returned to varsity status for the 1996-97 season.  Stout holds a 23-15-5 lead in the series, Stout took two of three games last year, with each team winning on their home ice. Over the last three seasons, Scholastica holds a 4-2-2 lead in the series.

LAST TIME THEY MET: In the teams' last meeting, Stout broke a 1-1 tie with two third period goals, but the Saints did Stout one better by scoring  the final three goals of the game. Brett Corcoran got the game winner with 20 seconds left in the game. Stout won the two earlier meetings in Menomonie, 2-1 in overtime, 5-2.

SCOUTING ST. NORBERT (6-0-0, 6-0-0 NCHA): The Green Knights are the second ranked team in the latest USCHO.com Division III poll and are currently tied with Adrian in the NCHA. Mason Baptista ranks 10th nationally with eight assists and has one goal to lead the Knights stat sheet. Joe Perry has a team-best five goals and two assists. Michale Hill and Erik Cooper had three goals. Hill has four assists, as does Blake Thompson. David Jacobson has started four games between the pipes and has a 1.50 GAA and a .929 save percentage. Tony Kujava has started two games with a 1.00 GAA and a saves percentage of .946. The Knights have outscored their opponents 27-8 over six games.

THE SERIES: St. Norbert holds a 37-6-3 overall lead in the series. The series record is in question because there are times in the history of the series when the Stout club program played the St. Norbert varsity program, and the St. Norbert club program played the Stout varsity program.

LAST TIME THEY MET: Stout won the first of three meetings between the teams last season. Stout took a 4-3 win in January, then lost 4-3 the next night. In the final game of the regular season, the Knights took a 4-1 decision.

USCHO.com POLL: St. Scholatstica is ranked 10th in the Nov. 18 USHCO.com Division III poll, and St. Norbert is ranked second. UW-Eau Claire is ranked first, while UW-Stevens Point is ranked fifth. UW-River Falls is receiving votes. Other Blue Devil opponents in the poll: St. Thomas, 11th; Utica 7th; Oswego State, 8th;  St. John's is receiving votes.

RECORDS AND MILESTONES: Kevin O'Donnell has worked his way onto the UW-Stout all-time career scoring list. His 75 total points (31-44-75) ranks him 21st, his 31 goals rank him 25th  and his 44 assists rank him 15th.Thirty career goals is the cutoff to appear on the UW-Stout all-time goals list.

AWARDS AND HONORS: Kevin O'Donnell was a first team all-WIAC selection last season.  Jordan Tredinnick and Zach Vierling honorable mention all-WIAC.

THE COACHES: UW-Stout:  Terry Watkins (209-237-28) is in his 18th 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. Watkins is closing in on 700 games as the head coach of a UW-Stout hockey team (varsity and club). St. Scholastica:.Mark Wick begins his 10th season behind the bench for the Saints in 2013-14. Wick, who is the program's winningest coach with 119 wins in nine seasons, is a two-time NCHA Coach of the Year being named in 2008-09 and then again in 2011-12. The Saints finished second in the league in 2011-12 for the second time in the past three seasons. The Saints have advanced past the NCHA Peters Cup quarterfinals six of the last sevens seasons. In 2009, Wick guided CSS to its second NCAA Tournament appearance and first since the 1982 season..  St. Norbert:  Tim Coghlin has constructed a 434-119-46 record in 20 seasons. During that time, St. Norbert has put together a 217-62-29 mark in the strong Northern Collegiate Hockey Association, the best tenure in league history in terms of winning percentage.

THE CONFERENCES: 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.

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  dropped out. Stout returned to the poll after a win over top-ranked St. Norbert, Jan. 18, garnering eight votes in the Jan. 21 poll, effectively ranking the Blue Devils 19th.

UP NEXT: The Blue Devils take the Thanksgiving weekend off. Stout will open WIAC play by hosting UW-River Falls, Thursday, Dec. 5 at 7:30 p.m., then will be at UW-Stevens Point, Saturday, Dec. 7.