Last year, the Tommies had two former Colorado College players on the roster. With center Matthew Gleason sticking around for one more year, UST added two more in defenseman Chase Foley and forward Ray Christy to have a total of three former Tigers on the Tommies roster this season.

Gleason grew up with Christy and then played against him and Foley in high school before they eventually all went off to Colorado Springs.

“I was actually really good buddies growing up with Ray’s younger brother Robert,” Gleason said. “He was my age growing up, so we were always on the same youth teams. And then Ray was on my older brother’s team. That’s how we connected. Chase, I didn’t know too much, but we did the same summer training program growing up, so we crossed paths with that and also playing against each other. All three us were on the same high school elite league team as well.

Added Foley: “We all kind of committed to CC around the same time, so we definitely knew each other going in, and it’s special that all three of us were committed from the same area.”

First stop: Colorado College
All three were recruited to CC by former Tigers assistant coach and current Tommies assistant coach Leon Hayward. Foley liked the idea of playing where his dad played hockey and his parents met, while Christy also had a family connection.

Ray Christy, playing for Colorado College, takes a shot during a 4-3 win over Denver University on March 8, 2024. Christy played at St. Thomas Academy in high school, and has come full-circle returning to play for the University of St. Thomas. (Photo courtesy of Colorado College athletic department)

“I originally committed there with my brother, so it was just an opportunity that we couldn’t pass up,” Christy said. “Another big factor was Chase’s dad played there, and he had a super big impact on not only myself, but Chase’s career and my brother Robert’s career. It just was a cool spot and a great opportunity.”

Once they all arrived on campus, it didn’t take long for the guys to reconnect and strengthen their bonds.

“It was awesome just moving in,” Gleason said. “I started second semester of my freshmen year moving into an apartment with those guys and Jackson Jutting (Bemidji State) and Jack Millar (AHL Ontario Reign). So, that was awesome. Just always growing up playing against each other either, especially with the Cretin (Derham Hall) and St. Thomas Academy rivalry. That was cool just becoming teammates and building that brotherhood and memories on and off the ice.”

Their freshman year was during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“So, there were barely any students on campus,” Foley said. “We could basically only hang out with your team because you weren’t allowed to be in groups bigger than 10 or so people. We got really close our freshman year and then it just continued into sophomore and junior year when Matthew was still there. We hung with each other away from the rink and going over to each other’s apartments to watch movies and hanging out. It was a lot of fun.”

One might think that because Gleason and Christy are forwards that they might’ve played a lot together, but the twosome only played two shifts together their entire careers with the Tigers. One time was during a game at Western Michigan in Gleason’s last season at CC, and the other was a game against CC’s archrival, Denver, which resulted in a memory the two of them can laugh at now.

“We were playing Denver, and me, Matt and Jackson Jutting all ran for the hills, and the Denver guys took the puck and put it in the back of the net,” Christy said, with a laugh. “It was memorable for the wrong reasons.”

Next stop: University of St. Thomas
In 2023-24, Gleason transferred to UST, while the other two stayed with the Tigers for another year and had the best seasons of their college careers after battling injuries through a good chunk of their time at CC. After last season, Christy and Foley entered the portal and were enticed about the idea to come back to their home rink.

Chase Foley carries the puck for Colorado College in a game against Arizona State on Dec. 1, 2023. This season, Foley has six assists in 10 games for St. Thomas. (Photo courtesy of Colorado College athletic department)

“There’s a lot of factors going into it, but I think the number one thing was being able to play at home in front of some friends and family,” Foley said. “So, they don’t have to travel as much to Colorado Springs. There’s other ones, too. Ray was obviously going to come here, and Matthew was one of my really good friends, and I wanted to be able to reconnect with those guys and being able to play Division I hockey at home is something pretty special and not everybody gets the opportunity to do.”

When St. Thomas coach Rico Blasi called, Christy said it was an opportunity to come home.

“I enjoyed my time in Colorado, it was great, but the opportunity to come home and be part of a new program that was on the rise was something that really interested me.” Christy said.

Hayward said Christy and Foley both fill a specific need on the Tommies roster, with Christy serving as a good replacement for another CC transfer in Noah Prokop and Foley being a leader on the power play.

“Ray knows who he is as a player,” Hayward said. “I don’t think he came here saying ‘Hey, I want to be on the power play’ or ‘I want to do this, or I want to do that.’ He really wanted to be part of a team and a team that has a chance to win some games and compete. I think that’s what ultimately drew us to him and him to us. I think it was a good fit in terms of stylistically what we were looking for at the time and what he had to offer.

“Chase is a power play 1-type guy with great hockey sense. He’s elusive. He’s just a really smart player, and he always has been. That was something we were looking for, for our power play and frankly, I don’t think we had had the first three years here at St. Thomas. So, he was a very specific need. Certainly, for us the portal has changed from ‘Hey, let’s just get guys to fill spots’ to ‘We have a very specific need and does this player fill it?’ Chase is a prime example of that. He had a few other options at some bigger schools, and I think we lucked out with obviously a little bit of a relationship there and then being able to come close to home. So, it worked out. But he was very specific. We really needed someone to run a power play, and I think you’re seeing that now and what that kind of means to our team.”

Reunited, and it feels so good
Now that they’ve all been reunited, Gleason and Foley are off to solid starts as the former is second on the team in goals and the latter is second in assists. Christy also returned to the lineup last weekend against Bowling Green after being out for two weeks with an injury. Almost two months into the season, the two newcomers feel that they’ve fit in nicely within the Tommies roster.

“Coming into a new team, it’s always a little nerve racking because you don’t know what you’re going to get,” Foley said. “But from the first workout in the summer, the sense you get from the guys is the team is bigger than the individual. That’s something that’s super easy to pick up on in our locker room. Everybody is playing for the guy next to them. Nobody is playing for themselves. Everyone has the greater goal, which is a championship in mind.

Added Christy: “It’s been great. I’ve been playing with them for quite a bit now. I know their games inside and out. Just having that special experience, just knowing where they’re going to be at and what plays they usually make. Off the ice, it does a lot because we have such good friendships where we’re not afraid to push each other or confront each other if things aren’t going the right way. To have those types of teammates that can be a rock and kind of build you to motivate yourself to be better, I’m super grateful to have them.”

Now that he’s played with both Christy and Foley at two colleges, Gleason says he’s built up a tight connection with both, and he said that benefits the team.

Matthew Gleason has five goals and one assist in 11 games with St. Thomas this season, matching his goal total from 2023-24 with the Tommies. (MHM Photo / Ryan Stieg)

“Just during office conversations (with Christy), we always saw the game the same way,” Gleason said. “I think the cool thing with Ray is that he’s an older guy and he’s seen a lot of hockey. So, we have a lot of conversations about how the game works and what we can do as players to be better in those situations and how we can attack different teams. Basically, just work on our strengths to be more effective in games.

“With Foley, you understand the way somebody works on the ice and how they react as a person, it makes the communication better. I think that’s the biggest thing with playing with guys you build a relationship with. You know how to talk to each other. Sometimes you need to scream at each other and sometimes you just need to have a conversation. Just overall, getting on the same page and working toward that end goal.”

According to all three of them, that end goal is a CCHA championship. The Tommies were predicted to win the conference in the preseason CCHA polls, and even though they’ve gotten off to a bumpy start, they all believe that the team still has what it takes to finish at the top in their final collegiate seasons.

“For me personally, that’s what I want to hang my hat on here at St. Thomas,” Gleason said. “Helping the culture move forward brick by brick, as Rico always says. Building those relationships with guys and winning a conference championship and hanging that first banner in the new rink for those guys next year and the history going forward.”

Foley and Christy agreed with Gleason’s thoughts and said they’ll keep striving to make that happen.

“That was our goal at the beginning of the year and nothing’s changed,” Foley said. “That’s what we’re all working hard for.”

The post Tigers To Tommies appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

One of the big series finds St. Cloud State — the most surprising team in the NCHC, if not the whole country — at home on its Herb Brooks National Hockey Center ice to take on perennial CCHA contender Michigan on Friday and Saturday.

The Huskies sputtered through their non-conferemce schedule with a meager 2-4 record, but now we suspect St. Cloud State coach Brett Larson was using those non-conference games precisely as they were intended, to work newcomers into his lineup and juggle units for the regular season.

That suspicion gains credibility when you check out the Huskies once the shooting started in the NCHC. Forget the 2-4 start, because St. Cloud State has zoomed through six games to take sole possession of first place, most recently disassembling University of Minnesota Duluth with the same sure-handed force that might have been deployed to disassemble that Thanksgiving turkey on your platter.

Huskies bite the Bulldogs
Scorewise, both games on the big rink at St. Cloud lived up to the intense rivalry tendencies of Huskies-Bulldogs games over the last decade, although this time both games saw some uncommon rough stuff to end both of the St. Cloud victories last Friday and Saturday night, by 2-1 and 6-5 scores.

The first game was scoreless until Jack Reimann scored late in the second period for St. Cloud State, and UMD’s Matthew Perkins scored midway through the third period to tie the game 1-1. That put Joe Molenaar in the spotlight. Molenaar has been a trusted, loyal soldier throughout his career at St. Cloud State, but he’s never given Larson reason to expect big goal numbers. Until this year. Molenaar, who scored only two goals last season, scored the game-winner with 2:19 remaining against UMD. It was his fifth goal in the last four games. 

The first game boiled over in lost tempers in the final minute as a couple of 5-on-5 scraps broke out. The second one came at the final horn and ended with UMD captain Luke Loheit switching from peacemaker to aggressor, delivering a face-to-face cross-check that earned him a 5-minute major, game misconduct and, because the official time of 20:00 didn’t leave much for punishment, he was also suspended for the next game (last Saturday).

Unlike the defensive shutdown battle, both teams hit the ice running in game 2, and it veered back and forth. Jack Rogers staked the Huskies to a 1-0 lead at 1:46. But Blake Biondi, getting a chance to center the injury-ravaged first line, scored on a power play at 8:56 for a 1-1 tie. Veeti Miettinen — who Larson *did* expect to score this season — regained a 2-1 lead for the Huskies on a power play at 17:46, only to see Anthony Menghini tie it 2-2 in the final second of the opening period.

That pattern resumed in the second period when Tyson Gross gave the Huskies their third lead of the night at 10:38, but UMD defenseman Owen Gallatin countered that in the last minute of the middle period for a 3-3 standoff.

St. Cloud State broke through for two goals in a row to open the third period, with Kyler Kupka scoring at 0:39 and Miettinen at 3:20 for a 5-3 cushion. That made eight goals in Miettinen’s last eight games. UMD battled back for a goal by Quinn Olson to cut the deficit to 5-4, but Jack Ingram made it 6-4 with 2:56 remaining. The Bulldogs weren’t about to concede, and with 1:48 to go, Gallatin scored his second of the game to cut it to 6-5. But the Bulldogs, who never led, couldn’t get the equalizer and went down to extend their exasperating streak to 0-7-1 in their last 8 games.

A look at the men’s hockey conference standings
With their early growing pains providing valuable experience, the Huskies sit in first place alone with a 6-0 conference record, leaving North Dakota (4-0) second in NCHC standings. North Dakota, however, can take satisfaction from moving up to the No. 1 rank in the U.S. College Hockey Online rankings.

St. Cloud State stays at home on its Olympic-sized — 200 x 100 feet — ice surface to take on Michigan, which like Minnesota, is finding it a challenge to string victories together in the Big Ten. The Wolverines, bristling with new talent, is only 2-4-2 in the Big Ten. The top three in the Big Ten are Michigan State (5-0-1),Wisconsin (4-2) and Notre Dame (3-1-2). Michigan State, definitely the surprise team in the Big Ten, swept Wisconsin 4-2 and 3-2 to make the Badgers’ stay at No. 1 short as they plunged to No. 6. The Spartans visit Mariucci Arena this weekend to face Minnesota.

In the CCHA, the standings show nearly everybody tangled up and deadlocked. Bemidji State lost 5-1 at Minnesota State Mankato. In their second game, Bemidji State came back to rally from a 5-2 first-period deficit to cut the deficit to 6-4 after two, then rallied for three unanswered goals late in the third period to escape with a 7-6 victory. Jackson Jutting scored at 13:58 and Lleyton Roed tied the game at 14:48 before Jutting scored the game-winner at 15:46. The three goals in the span of 1:48 was enough for the victory and the hop into first place in the CCHA.

It doesn’t get easier for Bemidji State, as the Beavers make a Thanksgiving weekend trip to its closest Hwy. 2 rival — North Dakota. Another pair of CCHA highlights this week show Michigan Tech at MSU Mankato, and St. Thomas is at home to face Lake Superior State.

Women’s hockey updates
In the WCHA women’s competition, Ohio State swept Wisconsin in a battle of undefeated league-leaders, winning 3-0 and then 2-1 on Hannah Bilka’s short-handed goal at 1:17 of overtime. Jennifer Gardiner, who scored the first goal in the second game, had two goals in the 3-0 opener.

Minnesota swept two games at Duluth, both by 3-1 counts, with Abbey Murphy scoring a goal in both games and Peyton Hemp scoring an empty-netter with 0:15 left. Hemp also scored the final goal in the second game. 

The WCHA gets a chance to flex its power this weekend with an array of games against Eastern foes. UMD stays home in AMSOIL Arena to take on Colgate, which is ranked No. 2 in the country behind Ohio State.St. Lawrence is at Ohio State. Minnesota and St. Thomas travel to Washington D.C. for a weekend tournament. The Gophers face Harvard on Friday afternoon and Cornell on Saturday afternoon. Flip-flop those opponents and days for the Tommies as they face Cornell and Harvard.

The post Hockey Over The Holiday appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.