College men’s hockey: the St. Lawrence is showing signs of competition even if its record does not | University sports

This season, SLU went from 6-29-2 to 4-27-5, and in the ECAC hockey game, the Saints went from 3-17-2 to 2-18-2.

The Saints were hampered at the start of the season when last year’s top scorer, Carson Gicewicz, was lost to the year due to injury after playing only two games. SLU also lost striker Cade Gleekel early in the season when he left the program.

As you would expect after these two starts, the offense has struggled this year, going from 2.03 goals last year to 1.78 last season. They also affected the power play, which went from 19.5% to 14.5 this year.

But SLU has improved a lot defensively this year. The Saints allowed 3.61 goals after allowing 4.03 the previous year. The SLU’s range has dropped from minus 16.4 a year ago to minus 7.8 this season.

I think the important thing is that we have a benchmark for our guys, said the Saints’ coach Brent Brekke. We understand what they are capable of and who they are as a player and understand what they can do. We have established a culture of what we want to be and our work ethic and level of competition. I think we have taken a few steps in these directions.

The Saints have shown more combat this season, even if they were not rewarded with victories. SLU went into overtime 11 times in 36 games, but only posted a 1-5-5 record in these competitions.

Over the year, our message has grown from “Right there” to “Being close is not enough,” said Brekke. Being competitive is not our goal. Our goal is to win hockey games. It’s part of the building process to be confident and participate in games. The next step is that you have to win, and that is our goal. We play to win and succeed and be champions for the long term.

The Saints closed the season on a strong note, beating Harvard 6-3 in their last home game, ending the regular season with a 2-2 tie at Colgate and playing a competitive game in the opening round of ECAC Hockey quarterfinal at Harvard, which the Crimson swept.

I thought that in our last six games or so, we started competing at a fairly consistent level and being in the games and we gave ourselves a chance to succeed, said Brekke. We have made good progress against good teams. Our guys felt more confident during the year.

SLU has had a difficult time since former head coach Greg Carvel left for UMass at the end of the 2015-16 season.

After an all-time record of 17-13-7 under former coach Mark Morris the following year, SLU went 18-83-9 overall and 8-53-5 in ECAC hockey games in the three last years.

To add to the frustration of the losses, the Saints saw a series of key players choose to leave school early to play professionally, stop playing hockey altogether or go to other schools.

In the last two seasons leading up to this one, the SLU has lost goaltender Kyle Hayton (Wisconsin), forward Jacob Pritchard (UMass) and defenseman Ben Finkelstein (Boston College) as transfers. Gleekel left early this season and at the end of this season, SLU top scorer, forward Zach Risteau (7 goals-16 assists) put his name on the NCAA transfer portal, which makes little likely to return to SLU next season.

But Brekke and his assistant coaches Ben Murphy and Tommy Hill worked hard to recruit. They added a few players over the summer who joined the team this year, including first-year goalkeeper Francis Boisvert, and Brekke said at least five players will join the team as freshmen in the fall.

You are always ready to recruit outside your current team, said Brekke. You want your list to get better and better. This is the opportunity we have for the guys to come and really help lay the groundwork. Our premise with everyone on our team is that you win your opportunity and nothing is given. You deserve it, whether you are a returning guy or a new face entering the program. You control your daily habits and your impact on the program and the opportunity is there for you, every day, to earn your place.

The arrival of the SLUs will not be announced for at least a month and possibly longer, but a player who has already announced a commitment to the program and could have an impact is forward Greg Lapointe of the League’s Coquitlam Express British Columbia Hockey League.

In 59 games this season, he has scored 29 goals with 31 assists. The 5-foot-9, 174-pound player from Granby, Quebec is a 19-year-old who averaged more than one point per game in each of his last three seasons.