2020-21 Season Stats |
WIAC Season Preview
MENOMONIE (October 27, 2021) – Second-year UW-Stout hockey coach
Mike MacDonald believes his 2021-22 team will show improvement over last season.
After the COVID-19 pandemic limited schedules or completely wiped them out last season, teams across the country are antsy to get back to a full schedule this year.
Mike MacDonald is in his second year with the Blue Devils.
The WIAC played a limited 10-game schedule plus a shortened conference tournament last year. And the vast majority of the regular and conference tournament games across the league were played. Stout finished the season at 4-7 overall.
"This is an interesting year in Division III hockey," MacDonald said. "We feel better about our team and I feel like 80 percent of coaches feel their team is better."
The Blue Devils return 20 players from last year's squad and bring in 13 newcomers, two transfers and 11 directly out of junior programs.
With a large number of juniors players opting for another year of junior experience rather than rolling the dice and coming to a college program that may or may not have had any type of season, the pool of players increased, MacDonald said.
"All of Division III hockey will be better, but will it show up on the scoreboard?" MacDonald asked. "The question will not be 'did you get better?', but "did you get better by a greater percentage than your opponents?'"
Stout returns their top seven scorers from last season and nine of their top 10 scorers. The team also returns four goalies from last year and add a fifth, producing a deep goalie squad.
Team captain and first team all-WIAC selection
Raphael Gosselin (Sr, Quebec City, Quebec) returns as the Blue Devils' leading scorer, after scoring four goals and a team high seven assists.
Kobe Keller (Jr, Mosinee) led Stout in goals scored with five, of which two were power play goals, and added a pair of assists.
Logan Nelson (Sr, St. Michael, Minn), a three-time all-WIAC honorable mention pick, returns after scoring four goals and three assists.
Matt Dahlseide (So, Maplewood, Minn) and Peter Verstegan (Jr, Oshkosh) each scored two goals and four assists.
Defenseman
Joey Petronack (So, White Bear Lake, Minn) had a goal and five assists as a freshman, earning honorable mention honors.
Alex Nagel (Sr, Antigo) was just behind Gosselin in assists, dishing off six.
Alex Stuckert (Jr, Woodbury, Minn) had a goal and three assists, while
Brandon Connett (So, Baldwin) had two goals, both power play goals, and an assist during his freshman season.
Along with Gosselin, Nelson, Nagel and
Alec Skar (Sr, Forest Lake, Minn) are team captains.
"Our forward depth is much greater this year," MacDonald said. "We should be able to get more scoring from our third and fourth lines."
MacDonald also says to keep on eye on his defensemen this year when looking at the box score.
"I think we added a little more offensive depth to our back end," MacDonald said. "I prefer our defensemen to jump up to play. They won't be one-way players."
The Blue Devils return two all-conference goalies in
Brennan Kitchen (Jr, Utopia, Ontario) and
Zack Cloutier (So, Barraute, Quebec). Kitchen earned honorable mention honors in 2019-20 and Cloutier earned first team honors last season when he set a single season record for goals against average with a 1.63 mark.
Tyler Masternak (Fr, Oshawa, Ontario) joins the Blue Devils' goalie crew that also includes returners
Brady Meyers (Sr, Rochester, Minn) and
Marco Zink (So, Hudson).
"The goalies are the strength of our team," MacDonald said. "It is a nice luxury as a coach."
MacDonald sees a closeness among his team members.
"If the guys enjoy each other, that will help us out in games," MacDonald said. "If you love your team, you will work harder for them."
Stout played an exhibition game at Saint Mary's University last weekend to prep for the season. MacDonald suited up the players who had the least collegiate experience.
"For half the guys, it was their first game at Stout," MacDonald said. "They gained some valuable experience."
"Sure, we wanted to win," MacDonald said about the 3-2 overtime loss, "but the experience we gained was way more important than winning an exhibition game."
The Blue Devils open the season Friday, Oct. 29 when they host Bethel University at 7 p.m. at the Fanetti Community Center. Stout will host Concordia University-Wisconsin, Saturday, Oct. 30.
The conference will have a new point structure for the 2021-22 campaign and introduce shootouts following the five-minute three-on-three overtime period. If a shootout is needed, both teams will be awarded a tie in their overall record with the shootout determining the winner and which team will be awarded an additional point in the conference standings. Teams will be awarded 3 points for a win in regulation, 2 points for a win in overtime or shootout, 1 point for a shootout loss or overtime loss.
All six teams will qualify for the WIAC Tournament (Commissioner's Cup), which begins Feb. 18-19 with first round series between the No. 6 seed and No. 3 seed, as well as the No. 5 seed and No. 4 seed. The two first-round winners will advance to the semifinals at the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds for a semifinal series Feb. 25-26. Both semifinal victors will face off for the Commissioner's Cup on March 5. All games will be played at the higher seed.
