Hockey Preview: Blue Devils travel to pair of MIAC schools for weekend

THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (7-4-3, 1-1-0 WIAC) will be at the University of St. Thomas, (8-5-2, 6-2-0 MIAC) Friday, Jan. 15 and at St. Mary's University, (7-6-2, 4-3-1 MIAC) Saturday, Jan. 16. Both games are scheduled to get underway at 7 p.m.

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


THE 2015-16 BLUE DEVILS (7-4-3, 1-1-0 WIAC): Last year's points leader, Justin Moody, is currently leading the 2015-16 Blue Devils in scoring with 13 points, with five goals and eight assists. Freshman Joe Anderson scored his first collegiate hat trick last week at Gustavus Adolphus, doubling his number of goals on the season to six. Anderson also has six assists, trailing Moody with 12 points. Jake Useldinger and Tyler Cayemberg each have a shorthanded goals and Useldinger has two power play goals and Cayemberg a team-high three power play goals. Both have five goals, with Useldinger adding six assists and Cayemberg five assists.  Cayemberg has the team's other hat trick, performing the feat against Concordia-Wisconsin in November.  Danny Ray leads the team with seven assists and has three goals, two of them coming on the power play. Karl Andersen and Shayne McLaughlin each have four goals. Riley Colvard has five assists with a pair of goals and Joe Kleven has six assists and a goal. As a team, the Blue Devils have proven to be the most prolific in the third period, outscoring their opponents 21-17 in the final stanza. They are outscoring their opponents, 14-12, in the second period. The Blue Devils are a bit of a slow starter, getting outscored 10-8 in the first. Stout has scored 43 goals (3.1 goal per game) and has given up 39 (2.8). Stout has not given up an overtime goal this season, nor have they scored an overtime goal in three opportunities.  Spencer Viele made his first start in goal since Nov. 21, when he started against Gustavus Adolphus, Jan. 9. The junior keeper allowed three goals in the 5-3 decision, and made 19 saves. Viele went down with an injury during the Concordia Wisconsin game in November. Viele has a 3-1-1 record with a GAA of 1.71 and a saves percentage of.948. Chase Hollander has a 2-3-1 record, working six games with a GAA of 3.51 and a saves percentage of .864. Freshman Nick Schmit has worked four games with a record 2-0-1, on a GAA of 3.51 and a saves percentage of .915. Schmit made a team season-high 44 saves against Hamline University, Jan. 8. The team is posting a team GAA of 2.74. 

THE 2015-16 BLUE DEVILS PREVIEW: UW-Stout's 2015-16 roster features two seniors, 12 juniors, three sophomores and 13 freshmen. Ten returners played in all 26 games last year and 11 played in 20 games or more. The Blue Devils return 13 of their top-15 scorers and six of their top-eight scorers from last season, including junior forward Justin Moody, who led the squad with 11 goals, 12 assists and 23 points. UW-Stout will play nine of its first 13 games at the Fanetti Community Center (formerly the Dunn County Ice Arena), including seven consecutive home contests from Nov. 21-Jan. 8. The Blue Devils were picked to finish fifth in the WIAC in a preseason poll. Jake Useldinger scored seven goals and nine assists. Craig Lindegard added seven goals and eight assists, while Tyler Cayemberg had five goals and 10 assists. Spencer Viele and Chase Hollander split time in the net, with Viele posting a 5-11-1 overall record, with a goals against average of 3.62 and a saves percentage of. .908. Hollander had a 3-6-0 record with a GAA of 4.13 and a saves percentage of .893.

STOUT'S LAST TIME OUT: The Blue Devils tied with Hamline University, 4-4, Jan. 8, then downed Gustavus Adolphus, 5-3, Jan. 9. Hamline stormed back from a 3-1 deficit to forge a tie with the Blue Devils.  Joe Anderson scored a hat trick and added an assist over Gustavus Adolphus. 


SCOUTING ST. THOMAS: The Tommies are receiving a few votes in the latest USCHO.com poll and are currently on top of the nine team MIAC standings. Connor McBride leads the team in scoring with eight goals and four assists and Michael Dockry has five goals and six assists. McBride has three power play goals. Joe Morris has played every minute, with the exception of nearly four minutes of empty net, for the Tommies. Morris has a GAA of 2.25 and a saves percentage of .920, both MIAC best marks. The Tommies are averaging 2.9 goals and giving up 2.3 goals. 

TOMMIES' LAST TIME OUT: The Tommies split in a conference weekend series with St. Mary's, losing the first, 4-3 then coming back for a 6-2 win. The Tommie special teams were on point, as the Purple went 3-for-4 on the power play and stifled the Cardinals, killing all six of its penalties.  Connor McBride also tallied a hat trick. 

LAST TIME ST. THOMAS AND STOUT MET: St. Thomas scored on the power play and shorthanded, then topped off the night with an empty net goal on their way to downing UW-Stout, 4-0, November 15, 2014, at the Dunn County Ice Arena.

THE SERIES: The Blue Devils hold a 10-7-1 lead in the series, which began during the 1971-72 season. The Tommies have won the last two meetings.


SCOUTING ST. MARY'S: The Cardinals are currently in third place in the MIAC. Martin Gruse is the team's points leader with nine goals and 15 assists. Bob Kinne has nine goals and 11 assists. Jay Heinle leads the MIAC in goals with 12 and has four assists. Phil Heinle has worked 11 of the team's 15 games (5-4-2), with a GAA of 3.16 and a saves percentage of .892. Jay and Phil Heinle are brothers. Jake Hebda has started three game (1-2-0) with a GAA of 6.30. The Cardinals are averaging a league-best 4.5 goals and are giving up 3.7 goals.

THE CARDINALS' LAST TIME OUT: The Cardinals split a weekend conference series with St. Thoams, winning the first, 4-3, but losing the second, 6-2. St. Thomas scored four unanswered goals-and six of the game's final seven-as the Tommies handed the Cardinals a 6-2 setback at the St. Thomas Ice Arena in the second game of the teams' two-game conference series. Saint Mary's, coming off a 4-3 victory over the Tommies on Friday-snapping a 22-game winless streak against the Tommies. The Cardinals will host UW-Stevens Point, Friday, Jan. 15, before hosting the Blue Devils.

LAST TIME ST. MARY'S AND STOUT MET: The Blue Devils and the Cardinals have not met since Nov. 4, 2010 when Stout took a 4-3 win in Menomonie. Branden Gay scored two goals for Stout, including the eventual game winner. 

THE SERIES: The teams are tied at 11-11-0 in the series, which began during the 1975-76 season.


USCHO.com TOP 15 DIVISION III POLL: Blue Devil 2015-16 opponents receiving votes in the latest USHCO.com Division III poll are: UW-Stevens Point, 4th; UW-Eau Claire, 8th; UW-River Falls, 13th; MSOE, 15th. St. Scholastica, Augsburg, Concordia-Moorhead and St. Thomas are receving votes. 

TEAM CAPTAINS: Captains for the 2015-16 season are Jake Useldinger, Derek Sand, Justin Moody and Danny Ray.

AWARDS AND HONORS: Freshman forward Joe Anderson was selected as the UW-Stout/Northwestern Mutual athlete of the week after scoring a hat trick and an assist in a 5-3 win at Gustavus Adolphus, Jan. 9. Anderson also scored a goal the night before against Hamline University...Goalie Nick Schmit was selected the UW-Stout/Northwestern Mutual athlete of the week, Dec. 14, after recording two wins in his first collegiate starts...Forward Tyler Cayemberg was selected as the WIAC athlete of the week after scoring a hat trick against Concordia University Wisconsin, Nov. 21. Cayemberg had two power play goals and completed the hat trick with an empty net goal with three seconds remaining...Goalie Spencer Viele was selected as the WIAC athlete of the week after snagging a win over Bethel and playing to a scoreless tie with Gustavus Adolphus, Nov. 6-7. Viele posted a saves percentage of .963 over the two games.

THE COACHES: UW-Stout: Terry Watkins (230-272-32) is in his 19th 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 reached 700 games as the head coach of a UW-Stout hockey team (varsity and club) when the Blue Devils played UW-Stevens Point, Dec. 7, 2013. St. Thomas: Jeff Boeser, a key figure in UST ice hockey success for more than three decades, was named head coach in April 2010 following the retirement of 23-year head coach Terry Skrypek. The 2015-16 marks his sixth season as the Tommies head coach.. St. Mary's: Bill Moore has been the Cardinals coach since the 2008-09 school year. In 2014-15, Moore guided the Cardinals to their first MIAC post-season appearance since 2003-04. The Cardinals, who finished second in the regular-season conference standings in 2014-15, reached the MIAC Playoff championship game, falling to Hamline 4-2.


THE CONFERENCES: UW-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. Even though Superior is leaving the conference is other sports after this year, the hockey programs will remain affiliated with the WIAC. MSOE is a member of the NCHA. Concordia-Moorhead and St. Olaf College are members of the MIAC.

SCORELESS TIE: If fans were looking for scoring in the UW-Stout/Gustavus Adolphus College game Nov. 7, 2015, they went away disappointed. The scoreless tie with the Gusties was a first for UW-Stout, which has never had a scoreless tie in any of the program's varsity games, stretching back to 1968. Gustavus last season set an NCAA Division III record for ties with eight and one was a scoreless tie. According to Tim Danehy of collegehockeystats.net, scoreless ties are "not common obviously, but not that rare overall" across all divisions, both men and women, and appear to be on the rise. So far this year, six scoreless ties have been reported, but the Stout/Gustavus double goose eggs were the first of the season for Division III men. Last season there were 17 scoreless ties reported to collegehockeystats.net, of which six were Division III men, Danehy said. In 2013-14 there were nine total and 2012-13 had 10 total. The same night UW-Stout and Gustavus were going scoreless, the UW-Eau Claire women and St. Catherine played to a 0-0 decision.

LENDING AN ASSIST, continued: Chase Hollander was awarded his second career assist in the Blue Devils' 5-2 win over Concordia University Wisconsin, Nov. 21. That makes two different Stout goalies that have gotten assists during the 2015-16 season. Spencer Viele was awarded an assist Nov. 6 against Bethel University. The two helpers mark the first time two UW-Stout goalies have gotten an assist in the same year since the team returned to varsity status 20 years ago...When Spencer Viele was awarded an assist against Bethel University, Nov. 6, 2015, he was not the first Stout goalie, and won't be the last, to get an assist. Since the Blue Devil hockey program returned to varsity play during the 1996-97 season, seven goalies have earned at least one assist. Chase Hollander was awarded an assist for his pass as Danny Ray scored against UW-Superior, Jan. 17, 2015. Corey Koop did it during the 2013-14 season, Jeff Stone during the 2008-09 season, and Jake Schuman during the 2004-05 season each recorded an assist. Jeff Dotson did it in 2000-01 as a freshman, then did it again as a senior in 2003-04. Kelly Elde did it twice during the 1996-97 season.

PREVIOUS BLUE DEVIL HAT TRICKS (since 2008)
Joe Anderson vs. Gustavus Adolphus, Jan. 9, 2016
Tyler Cayemberg vs. Concordia University Wisconsin, Nov. 21, 2015
Austin Nelson vs. Aurora University, Jan. 23, 2015
Branden Gay vs. St. Scholastica, Dec. 2, 2011
Branden Gay vs. St. Norbert, Feb. 12, 2011
Scott Motz vs. St. Mary's University, Jan. 13, 2009
Nick Klaren vs. Northland, Nov. 4, 2008
Scott Motz vs. Northland, Nov. 4, 2008
Derek Hanson vs. Augsburg, Oct. 31, 2008
Derek Hanson vs. Concordia, Oct. 24, 2008

The Last Time in a Single Game...
Two Stout players recorded a hat trick: Scott Motz, Nick Klaren vs. Northland College, Nov. 4, 2008
A Stout player recorded two or more power play goals: 2, Tyler Cayemberg vs. Concordia Wisconsin, Nov. 21, 2015
A Stout player recorded a shorthanded goal: Tyler Cayemberg vs. Concordia-Moorhead, Dec. 11, 2015
A Stout goalie recorded 40-45 saves: 44, Nick Schmit vs. Hamline University, Jan. 8, 2016
A Stout goalie recorded 46-50 saves: 49, Spencer Viele vs. Aurora University, Jan. 24, 2015
A Stout goalie recorded 50-55 saves: 51, Corey Koop vs. UW-Eau Claire, Feb. 20, 2014
A Stout goalie recorded 55-plus saves: 59, Corey Koop vs. UW-Stevens Point, Dec. 7, 2013
A Stout player recorded four goals: 4, Brad Weappa vs. Hamline University, Jan. 18, 2000
A Stout goalie recorded an assist: Chase Hollander vs. Concordia Wisconsin, Nov. 21, 2015
A Stout team scored 5-7 goals: 6 vs. UW-Superior (W 6-2), Dec. 4, 2015
A Stout team scored 8-10 goals: 8 vs. Concordia Wisconsin (W 8-5), Jan. 10, 2015
A Stout team scored 10-plus goals: 11 vs. Northland College (W 11-2), Nov. 4, 2008
Stout posted a shutout: vs. Gustavus Adolphus (0-0), Nov. 7, 2015
Stout was shut out: vs. UW-Eau Claire (0-7), Dec. 3, 2015
Both teams played to a scoreless tie: vs. Gustavus Adolphus, Nov. 7, 2015

BLUE DEVIL RECORD BOOK
Individual Records
Goals by Game: 8, Glenn LaChapelle vs. UW-Stevens Point, Feb. 18, 1973
Assists by Game: 9, Chuck Gerber vs. UW-Stevens Point, Feb. 18, 1973
Points by Game: 9, Glenn LaChapelle (8/1) vs. UW-Stevens Point, Feb. 18, 1973; Chuck Gerber (0/9) vs. UW-Stevens Point, Feb. 18, 1973;
Saves by Game: 67, Tom Slupe vs. Wisconsin JV, Feb. 14, 1970
Goals by Season: 43, Glenn LaChappelle, 1972-73
Assists by Season: 28, Derek Hanson, 2008-09
Points by Season: 65, Glenn LaChapelle (43/22), 1972-73
Saves by Season: 850, Tad Larson, 1977-78
Goalie Win/Loss Record by Season: 21-5-2, Matt Koenig, 2008-09
Goals by Career: 80, Glenn LaChapelle, 1970-73
Assists by Career: 80, Derek Hanson, 2006-10; Scott Motz, 2006-10
Points by Career: 140, Derek Hanson (60/80), 2006-10
Saves by Career: 2480, Tad Larson, 1974-78
Goalie Win/Loss Record by Career: 44-16-4, Matt Koenig, 2005-09
Fastest First Period Goal: 10 seconds, Mark Ryder vs. UW-Stevens Point, Feb. 17, 1973
Fastest Second Period Goal: 6 seconds, Mike Kautz vs. UW-Stevens Point, Jan. 20, 2006
Fastest Third Period Goal: 6 seconds, Duane Johnson vs. St. Cloud State, Dec. 2, 1978
Fastest Overtime Goal: 6 seconds, Curt Moore vs. Concordia, Nov. 26, 1976
Team Records
Most Goals in a Period: 11, vs. UW-Stevens Point, Feb. 17, 1973
Most Goals in a Game: 21 vs. UW-Stevens Point, Feb. 17, 1973
Most Goals Allowed in a Game: 18, vs. Wisconsin JV, Feb. 14, 1970
Most Penalty Minutes: 21-54 vs. UW-Eau Claire, Dec. 13, 1997
Most Penalty Minutes, Both Teams: 35-96 vs. UW-Eau Claire, Dec. 13, 1997


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. 

NEW NAME: The Dunn County Board last spring approved renaming the Dunn County Ice Arena to the Fanetti Community Center in recognition of Marilyn Fanetti's contribution to fundraising efforts undertaken by the Menomonie Youth Hockey Association to remodel and add to the arena at the Dunn County Recreation Park. Fanetti donated $370,000 to the project and asked that the hockey arena and new community room be named for her family.

UP NEXT: The Blue Devils have only four home games remaining on their regular season schedule and will next be home Tuesday, Jan. 19 when they host St. Scholastica at 7:30 p.m. Stout will host UW-Superior, Thursday, Jan. 21 in a non-conference game at 7:30 p.m.