CSB hockey searches for improvement

CSB hockey searches for improvement

By Bill Asp

Staff writer

    The Blazer hockey team ended last season with a record of 4-18-2 while finishing eighth in the MIAC. Although last season was disappointing, this season’s team has the potential and talent to become one of the elites in the MIAC.

    The Blazers have 12 new first-year players and one new first-year coach on this year’s roster. With new coach Dave Laliberte and so many new players, there is reason to hope that this year will be the year to turn the program in a new direction.

    “We have a young, exciting team this year,”  senior defender Kari Dykhoff said. “With the new coaching staff, I think we can turn this program around.”

    Key returning players include Dykhoff, junior forward Susan Engel, senior goaltender Kate Hall and junior forward Katie Ponsolle. Engel was the second leading scorer last season for the Blazers with 23 points. Hall returns as the leading goaltender from last season’s team, while Dykhoff and Ponsolle were among the top scorers on last season’s team.

    So far this season the team has a 2-2 record through four games. The team is looking to build on its early results.

    “I guess you could say we have an easier schedule early in the season,” Engel said. “This works out really well for us; especially since we have a lot of younger players. It gives them a chance to get used to college hockey and the competition on this level.”

    Another change this year is the preparation and detail that Laliberte brings to the team.

    “Coach Laliberte has been instrumental in getting us ready for the season,” Dykhoff said. “He set up a room in Murray Hall exclusively for hockey players to get ready for games off-ice. His organization is unbelievable, and he is very compassionate about what he does.”

    The goal of this season’s team is to prove that it belongs with the teams in the upper echelon of the MIAC. To do this they will have to prove early in the season that they can beat teams that they are favored against. With Gustavus and St. Thomas again the favorites in the conference, the Blazers have to improve in areas which they struggled last year.

    “This year I think we have a lot more drive and a lot more to prove,” Engel said. “To be the team we want to be we need to work on our shooting. Our defense has been great early in the season with everyone contributing.”

    Last season the team got into an early losing streak that they were never able to climb out of. This season, the returning players are looking to lead by example and not let what happened last season affect this season’s team.

“It all starts in practice,” Dykhoff said. “I think last year we got in a rut with losing. I think as upperclassmen we have to set the example both on and off the ice for the younger players. If we take it game by game and work hard we should be fine.”

    “In the end, if we can put the puck in the net consistently, everything else will take care of itself,” Engel said.

Athletic Department
College of Saint Benedict
37 South College Avenue
St. Joseph, MN 56374
320-363-5301
Fax 320-363-6098