After a tough loss to reigning national champion St. Norbert on Friday, Gustavus rebounded well on Saturday to even their record
Photo Courtesy of : Sports Information
A mixture of young and experienced talent led the Gustavus Men’s Hockey team to a 13-12-1 (10-6 in the MIAC) mark last season, one the team hopes will be much improved this upcoming season. Four contributing seniors from last year’s team are gone, replaced by an able number of talented first-years and sophomores, along with last year’s talented sophomore class.
A trio of junior captains this year’s team: defenseman Cody Mosbeck, forward Joe Welch and returning All-Conference standout forward David Martinson. Those three will lead a team wth just three seniors through the winter. Martinson finished last season with 21 goals and 20 assists, and his 41 total points ranked him second among MIAC competition last season.
The Gusties also return with one of the conference’s leading goaltenders, Sophomore Josh Swartout, who led the conference with a 2.29 goals against average en route to a 7-2 record. Senior Matt Lopes contributed strongly last season, as well, with a record of 3-4 and a 2.44 goals against average, good enough for third in the conference.
However, the Gusties are without junior contributors Welch, defenseman Tony Palma and forward T.J. Ridley, due to their participation on the Gustavus Football team.
With the ice at Don Roberts Arena still under construction, Gustavus has been forced to practice and play their home games at All Seasons Arena in Mankato.
“Playing our home games in Mankato has been like playing an away game with lots of your own fans at the game. We thank all our fans for their support, and for making the effort to come to our games while they are in Mankato,”said Mosbeck. Gustavus began this season last Friday night in Mankato against the 2008 Division III National Champion and #1 team in the country when they hosted St. Norbert’s College. After being down 6-2 early, Gustavus made a strong comeback, but it was not enough. Gustavus fell 7-5 in the season opener. Martinson led all scorers with two goals and an assist, while Juniors James Leathers and Eric Bigham and First-year phenomenon Ross Ring-Jarvi added goals of their own. Swartout had 22 saves and allowed six goals between the pipes.
Their win over Gustavus was St. Norbert’s 31st consecutive victory.
“When we were down 6-2, we could have folded, but we didn’t—we hung in there and played hard,” said Head Coach Brett Peterson. “I was pleased with the way we battled a good team. It shows good character from our guys.”
The following evening, Gustavus hosted Lake Forest in Mankato and rebounded from the tough loss the night before. Martinson found the back of the net three times and in doing so, became the 21st player in the program’s history to have three or more hat tricks in a game for his career. Leathers added his second score in as many games while Senior Casey Dynan and his younger brother Rory lit the lamp for the first time of the season. Along with his goal, Casey Dynan added a pair of assists while Ring-Jarvi added two dimes of his own. Lopes saved 16 shots on goal while allowing a single goal in the net for the Gusties.
“We didn’t play as well Saturday as we did on Friday. We had a bit of a letdown after playing the #1 team in the country but we finished on Saturday, something we didn’t do against St. Norbert’s,” said Peterson. “We’re much further today than we were a year ago. We had a large class of [first-years] and transfers last year…50 percent of our roster was new to the program. We’ve went through the growing pains and that win on Saturday [could not have] happened last year. We’re young, but we’ve got experience.”
Gustavus heads to Menomenie, WI, on Friday to take on UW-Stout and will then come home to take on UW-River Falls the following night.
“The team here has good guys and good hockey players,” said Ring-Jarvi. “It makes coming to the rink fun. We need hard work and for us to come together as a team to win the conference. We can play with anyone in our league and hopefully we can pull out a few victories against the top teams.”