It’s a start to a new season, and the Gustavus Men’s Hockey team could not be more excited.
Their season opener was last weekend at the MIAC Showcase, where the Gusties came away with a 2-1 victory over Augsburg and another 2-1 victory over St. Mary’s.
With such a great performance last weekend at the Showcase, the Gusties have gotten their season off to a positive start with two victories against conference opponents.
Senior goaltender Josh Swartout feels the changes the team has made this season are all for the better in the long run. “I think its going to be a fun year. [It’s] a different year due to losing so many seniors, but seeing all the new [first-years] come in and the talent they have, it’s exciting,” Swartout said.
However, not everyone on the team feels that many changes need to be made in order to have a successful season.
“As for expectations, I don’t feel they are any different than years past. If we play to our potential, we can beat anybody on any night. Our goal is to focus on one game at a time. There are a lot of new faces this year, but everyone is meshing well together. We have many highly skilled, hard-working players, so our expectations don’t change,” Senior forward Brad Wieck said.
The team’s performance last weekend confirmed that there do not need to be many changes from last year in order to produce a winning team.
The expectations going into the games last weekend were high, and as a result they made the games more fun to play as well as to watch.
Junior forward and captain Ross Ring-Jarvi felt the games last weekend lived up to their expectations. “We were expecting a fast-paced game that might be a little sloppy because it’s early in the season and both teams have plenty of new faces. However, we have so much talent and great new players that we came out looking more like a veteran team,” Ring-Jarvi said.
With that being said, experience and leadership will be the key to the Gusties’ success this season.
Swartout feels the leadership will come from the upperclassmen, but the experience needs to come from the individual.
“Coach [Petersen] has had the same game plan since I got here three years ago, and it has seemed to work out pretty well for us—work hard, control what we can control and good things will happen,” Swartout said.
Swartout is not the only team member who is sticking to what he has known for the past three years. Wieck feels the same about the season.
“Obviously we graduated a solid core class last year, but we returned a handful of experienced veterans. The new faces in the locker room have a lot of talent. In years past, we’ve been one of the better skating teams in the league, and I feel skating-wise this team may even be better than [in] years past. As the season progresses, we will find guys that click well together, and we will figure out what works for us and what does not. Each day is a stepping stone for our team, and we always try and get better. However, our expectations have not changed from previous years. We always expect to win,” Wieck said.
Not only are team members sticking to their guns when it comes to expectations, but they also haven’t changed much in terms of goals for this season. Swartout feels no goal is out of reach for this team.
“We have had some great success over the past two years, and I think it has to do with the goals we have set as a team. They may seem lofty to some people, but this is what we strive for: winning the conference title and winning the playoff championship are always two of our many goals that we have. But our main goal is to get better everyday as a team,” Swartout said.
Other team members agree with Swartout, as Wieck in particular felt that each player should play to his own potential.
“The season is young. As of now, our team goal is to play to your own potential in order to better the team. I feel as though each guy in our locker room sees there is a lot of talent. If we play to our potential, we’ll compete with any team in the country,” Weick said.
With so much talent and such high expectations for one another, the Men’s Hockey team appears to be making a promising start to another great season for Gustavus Hockey.
The men will play their first games at home at the Don Roberts Ice Rink this weekend with non-conference foes UW-Eau Claire and UW-River Falls coming to town.
The Gusties will play UW-Eau Claire on Friday, Nov. 5 with the puck dropping at 7:05 p.m. They will play UW-River Falls the following night also at 7:05 p.m.