The Gustavus men’s hockey team concluded their season with a 2-1 loss to the University of St. Thomas on Saturday, March 8 in the MIAC Playoff Championship game. After a 3-2 win over Saint John’s University in the MIAC Playoff Semi-Finals on Saturday, March 1, the team advanced to the MIAC Playoff Championship game for the third year in a row.
Although the team’s ultimate goal was to make it to the NCAA tournament, they still walked away with more conference wins this season than their previous year. Last season the Gusties finished 9-5-2 in the MIAC, and this season they finished 12-3-1 in the conference and 16-7-4 overall.
Junior Blake Schammel believes that even though the team was not able to meet their end goals, they experienced increased success this season.
“We swept almost every [series] except St. Thomas and Concordia, so that was really nice to do,” Schammel said.
Two highlights of the season were the team’s regular season sweep of Saint John’s University and the MIAC playoff victory over Saint John’s.
“They ended our season last year, so I think that was a good goal to win two big games over them and I think our win over Saint John’s in the playoffs was another big win for us. It’s hard to beat a team three times in a year,” Senior Captain Corey Leivermann said.
Leivermann was awarded Gustavus Male Athlete of the Month for February, after earning a total of thirty points and scoring eighteen goals this season, which made him Gustavus’ leading scorer.
In addition to Leivermann’s Male Athlete of the Month accolade, he, along with teammates John McLean and Adam Smyth, were honored as members of the MIAC Men’s Hockey All-Conference team.
This was the first time Leivermann has been named to the All-Conference team, since he transferred to Gustavus from MSU-Mankato halfway through last season. Only one other player in the league scored 18 goals this season.
Sophomore goaltender John McLean was named to the All-Conference team after a standout season in which he recorded one shutout and allowed conference opponents to score only one goal a total of nine times.
For the second year in a row, Senior Adam Smyth earned All-Conference honors. Smyth scored 19 points this season, with 11 goals and eight assists, and five times this season Smyth scored multiple times in a game.
According to Leivermann, one strength of the team has been the depth of their offensive lines.
“We really have four lines that can score each and every night and I think that’s kind of been proven all year. It’s not one line that’s carried us, it’s been a committee,” Leivermann said.
Senior Joey Olson believes that the team’s success this season was derived from a strong team bond, as well as hard work.
“Nothing comes easy. You gotta go out and put the time in. Being a good teammate is big as well. The team comes first – ‘we’ not ‘me,’” Olson said.
Schammel agrees that the team has improved from last season to this season, partially because of improvement of team dynamics.
“We all get along very well, it’s been the best group of guys since I got here my freshman year. It’s been the best team I’ve been on as far as getting along with each other,” Schammel said.
The athletes also attribute their success to the atmosphere provided by the fans. A main reason Leivermann chose to transfer to Gustavus last year was because of the Division III atmosphere.
“When I came here our coach said we have one of the best Division III atmospheres in college hockey and I didn’t really know what that meant. But, after playing at places like Hamline, Bethel and even St. Thomas, we truly have some of the best fans in the MIAC and that was the main reason that brought me here,” Leivermann said.
Schammel expressed that the returning players have big shoes to fill if they want to win the MIAC Playoff Championship game next season.
“We have a lot of points that we’re graduating, so some of the guys who are returning need to produce and put up some more goals; and I think if we do all that and come together we’ll have a good year,” Schammel said.