Hockey Preview: Blue Devils add depth to hockey line-up

Preview of Trine and Aurora Games Follows season preview

MENOMONIE (October 25, 2018) – After graduating only two players, the UW-Stout hockey team comes into the 2018-19 season with a lot of experience and a great deal of depth.
 
The Blue Devils return 10 of their top 12 scorers from last season and Terry Watkins, who begins his 23^rd season at the helm, is enjoying his team at this point.
 
"We have good players at every position," Watkins said. "We have good depth and the intensity at practice has been great."
 
With some modifications in the NCAA rules, the Blue Devils were able to have a two-game exhibition season, giving the coaching staff a chance to look at all the players. The Blue Devils won a pair of 2-1 overtime contests.
 
"We played all four goalies; all of our freshmen got a chance to play," Watkins said. "The kids now know where they sit."
 
Freshmen players scored all four of Stout's exhibition goals, and several of the freshmen have worked their way into the first four lines.
 
"These exhibition games have been great," Watkins said. "We learn a lot from the game situations."
 
The Blue Devils return a solid core of defensemen, anchored by second team All-American Mathias Ahman. Plus, the freshman class gives Stout much more depth.
 
Ahman was one of the highest scoring defensemen in Division III last season, finishing the year with 11 goals and 11 assists. Playing on the power play, Ahman used his powerful shot to score seven power play goals, 14^th among all players nationally.
 
Two-time all-WIAC selection Joe Kleven, a senior, returns, as does Trent Olson, Connor Chambers, Alex Bowe and Jack Cernohous. Kleven last season scored two goals and dished off six assists. Olson had five assists and Chambers was second behind Ahman in total points with two goals and 15 assists.
 
Incoming freshmen Dmytro Kobylyanskyi, Tomi Varjonen, and Alec Skar add size and quickness to the defense.
 
"We will be a lot better in the D-zone," Watkins said, "because of our size and because of our experience. Our problem will be who will our six or seven defensemen be every night. It's a great problem to have and we haven't had it for a while."
 
Stout has the luxury of having four goalies this year, led by All-WIAC first team pick Tommi Ahlgren. The junior from Finland started 18 games last season and posted a goals against average of 2.87 and saves percentage of .898.
 
Sophomore Evan Bisek saw action in a few games last season, getting a baptism by fire after joining the team for the second half of the season.
 
Freshmen Brady Meyers and Ridge Gerads are coming off solid juniors careers. Meyers, at 6-foot-3, takes up a lot of space in the net. Gerards took his juniors team to the national championship game last season. Both freshmen stopped penalty shots in the exhibition games and both made some big saves.
 
On the front line, All-WIAC honorable mention selections Dylan Zins and Hunter Anderson return. Zins scored five goals and five assists, while Anderson, who transferred to Stout last season, had five goals and seven assists.
 
Conner Valesano scored three goals and nine assists, Austin Jackson four goals and five assists, Gavin Smith five goals and three assists, Alex Toscano four goals and four assists and Lucas Carroll three goals and five assists as a freshman.
 
Also returning at forward are Konnar Dechaine, Evan Butcher, Ryan Mezara and Adam Kresl.
 
Freshmen Raphael Gosselin, Arutras Laukaitis, Alex Nagel, Logan Nelson and Steven Mordini are already pushing upperclassmen for spots on the top lines after having successful juniors careers, Watkins said.
 
The Blue Devils open the season Friday, Oct. 26 when they host Trine University at 7 p.m., then host Aurora University Saturday, Oct. 27.

BLUE DEVILS TO HOST TRINE, AURORA IN SEASON OPENER

THIS WEEK'S GAMES:  The Blue Devils open the season by hosting Trine University, Friday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. and Aurora University, Saturday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. The Blue Devils won both of their exhibition games this season.

WEBCASTS: All UW-Stout home games are scheduled to be broadcast in a live video stream by Blue Devil Video. Live Stats will also be available for home games.

A LOOK AT UW-STOUT:

• The Blue Devils return four seniors, defensemen Mathias Ahman and Joe Kleven, and forwards Gavin Smith and Dylan Zins. Stout has eight juniors, seven sophomores, and 11 freshmen. 
• Defenseman Mathias Ahman is the team's leading scorer from the 2017-18 season, tallying 22 points on 11 goals and 11 assists. Seven of his goals have come on power play.
• Junior Connor Chambers contributed 15 points, scoring two goals and a team-best 15 assists. Conner Valesano had 12 points, with three goals and nine assists. Hunter Anderson scored 12 points on five goals and seven assists. Anderson had a two-goal night in the first game with UW-Eau Claire.
• Dylan Zins scored five goals and five assists. Austin Jackson had nine points with four goals and five assists. Alex Toscano had four goals and four assists. Toscano has three power play goals.
• The Blue Devils had 19 players who  scored at least one goal, 20 players who have scored at least one assist and 21 players with at least one point.
• Complete Blue Devil 2017-18 Statistics

AHMAN IN NATIONAL STATS

• Ahman received national attention last season as one of the highest scoring defensemen in all of NCAA Division III, finishing the season with 11 goals and 11 assists for 22 points, ranking 16th nationally, averaging 0.85 points, a mark that led the WIAC. Ahman was second in the conference with seven power play goals, ranking 14th among all players nationally in power plays. Among defensemen, Ahman tied for third nationally in total goals.  In the WIAC among all players, Ahman ranked seventh in goals scored (11), 10th in points (11-11-22), second in power play points (7-6-13) and 15th in assists (11). Ahman was an All-WIAC first team selection.

BLUE DEVILS BETWEEN THE PIPES

• Tommi Ahlgren (6-10-2)  figured into 18 decisions last season, and finished with a GAA of 2.87 with a saves percentage of 898 and earned all-WIAC first team honors
• Evan Bisek (0-2-0) joined the Blue Devils at semester and made two starts.
• Two freshmen goalies join the Blue Devils, Brady Meyers and Ridge Gerads.

BLUE DEVIL SPECIAL TEAMS

• The Blue Devils power play was 17.1 percent (19-111), scoring 19 power play goals. Defenseman Mathias Ahman finished with seven power play goals. The Blue Devils' penalty kill was at 81.0 percent (20-105), allowing 20 power play goals. Stout had two short handed goals, one each by Lucas Carroll and Gavin Smith. The Blue Devils gave up eight shorthanded goals.

BLUE DEVILS LAST TIME OUT

• The Blue Devils finished the season at 7-16-3 overall, 4-5-1 in the WIAC, good for third. Stout faced off against UW-Eau Claire in the semi-finals of the WIAC tournament, losing the first game, 4-1, but coming back with a 3-2 win to force a mini-game, which the Blugolds won 1-0.
• Game Story and Statistics

Game Stats Tracker

UW-Stout	Statistics	Trine University	Aurora University	-
2.46	Goals/game	2.16	2.2	-
3.46	Goals allowed	3.7	3.8	-
17.1 percent	Power Play %	8.3 percent	8.9 percent	-
81.0 percent	Penalty Kill %	80.3 percent	68.2 percent	-
0	Shutouts	1	1	-

SCOUTING TRINE UNIVERSITY

• Like Stout, Trine graduated two seniors, but both were the team's leading scorers. In 2017-18, Lucas Bombardier had 14 points including six goals. The other senior, Ryan Murray, finished with 11 points including five goals. Trine is losing 25 points out of their 134 points. In his freshman yeaer Corey Robertson finished with 11 points, scoring seven goals on the season, including two power play goals. Fellow freshman Niko Moulakelis finished with four goals and five assists.  In net, junior Brett Young managed the pipes for majority of the season. Young finished with a 3.54 GAA, a .896 SV%, and a record of 6-14-2. Trine finished their inaugural season with a 6-17-2 overall record and a 2-14-2 record in the NCHA.Trine was picked to finish 11th in an NCHA preseason poll. Head coach Alex Todd is a Rice Lake native.
• Trine Statistics

THUNDER LAST TIME OUT

• Trine finished with a 6-17-2 overall record and a 2-14-2 record in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) conference. 

WHEN STOUT AND TRINE MET LAST

• The Blue Devils and the Thunder met last year in Angola, Indiana when both teams clashed for their first games of the season. 
• Trine was first to find the back of the net in the game, which they did in the 13th minute of the second period. Stout responded with its own goal in the 16th minute of the period when Dylan Zins took a pass across the face of the net from defender Connor Chambers and put the puck past Young's glove. The Blue Devils scored their second goal of the game in the seventh minute of the third period when Jack Forbort took a shot from behind the net and bounced it in off the back of the goaltenders pads. The Blue Devils won 2-1. 
• Game Story

THE SERIES:

SCOUTING AURORA UNIVERSITY

• Aurora's roster includes one senior, Max Kirkwood, who is the goalie. The Spartans graduated their leading scorer in Rihards Marenis who ended with 17 points and five goals. Four returning Spartans finished with double digit points, while Drew Doyon and Liam Stirtzinger return having a 14 point season. Doyon was the leading scorer on the team with eight goals. 
• In net, Sophomore Josh Boyko finished with 19 games played and held a record of 5-10-2. Boyko's held a 3.69 GAA and a .888 SV%. Jake Gwillim started in nine games and finished with a record of 0-5-2. Gwillim's GAA was 3.75 and held a .888 SV%. 

AURORA LAST TIME OUT

• The Spartans finished with a 5-15-5 overall record and a 4-12-2 record in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) conference. 

WHEN STOUT AND AURORA MET LAST

• The Blue Devils and Spartans met twice last season. The first game ended in a 3-3 tie in Geneva, Illinois. The second game went to Aurora as they shut out Stout 2-0 in Stevens Point. 

USCHO.com TOP 15 DIVISION III POLL: Blue Devil 2017-18 opponents ranking in the Top 15 in the latest USHCO.com Division III poll are: UW-Stevens Point, 3rd. Augsburg University and St. John's are receiving votes. USCHO.com Division III Poll


UW-STOUT COACH TERRY WATKINS

• The 2018-19 season marks Terry Watkins' (252-310-40) 23rd 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. Watkins played in UW-Stout's first-ever game, but he was a member of the Blue Devils' opponents, St. Paul Groveland, Jan. 19, 1969. St. Paul beat the Blue Devils, 8-4. Watkins enrolled at the Stout the following school year and joined the hockey team.
• 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.

TRINE'S ALEX TODD

• Alex Todd was named head coach of the Trine men's NCAA DIII hockey team in May of 2016, with the team beginning competition in the fall of 2017. In the team's inaugural season, Todd led the team through a grueling schedule featuring seven contests against teams that would finish the season nationally-ranked. Despite the losing record, the Thunder showed promise for the future seasons. Todd is a Rice Lake native.
   

AURORA'S JASON BLOOMINGBURG

• Jason Bloomingburg joined the Aurora University men's hockey program as Head Coach in the spring of 2016. Bloomingburg comes to AU after spending the previous four seasons as the head coach of the Florida Eels of the USPHL. In four seasons he amassed a 124-48-6 record, led the team to a pair of division titles and was the 2012-2013 USPHL Coach of the Year. He was a nominee for the same award for the 2015-2016 season.
   

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.
• Trine and Aurora are both members of the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association.

LIGHTING THE LAMP: It will now be easier to see when the the Blue Devils score. The Fanetti Community Center this summer received an upgrade in their lighting. The lighting in the ice arena was recently replaced with LED lights. The replacement was helped by Xcel Energy through their incentive program, Focus on Energy. The incentives offered by Xcel Energy and Focus on Energy — including bonus incentives through the program's limited-time Community Small Business Offerings (CSBO) campaign — helped offset the cost of the Menomonie Youth Hockey Association Ice Board's investment. | Complete Story

UP NEXT:  Stout will hit the road when they travel to Concordia-Moorhead, Friday, Nov. 2 and St. John's University, Saturday, Nov. 3.