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HockeySPECIAL SECTION

Page 17 Oct. 12, 2009 University Chronicle 2009-10 Season Preview

www.universitychronicle.com

2009-2010

Logan Marxhausen

Asst. sports Editor

Come October of 2013, the Husky hockey program and their fans will be enjoying the recently finished renovations of the National Hockey and Event Center.

“We feel very fortunate in the existing facility and all its purpose it has served over the years,” Morris Kurtz, Director of Athletics, said.

“We have been utilizing the original facility and we are now merely enhancing it. It was a challenging process, but we are excited about the National Hockey and Events Center and all it future potential.”

The National Hockey Cen-ter was original finished in 1989. With the renovations that are in place, the new building will be able not only host hock-ey games, but will be capable of hosting concerts, theater productions, speakers, ceremo-nies and various other athletic events.

“The current program is do-ing very well and we hope to maintain the status of the pro-

gram,” Kurtz said. “Along with all the renovations to fifth ave-nue, we think the renovations to the NHEC will serve its purpose well.”

The Civic Center as well as the NHEC are considered the “anchors” to the extensive re-development of Fifth Avenue, which will include additional housing, and commercial and retail facilities.

“The National Hockey Cen-ter has always been viewed as just a hockey facility,” Athletic Development Director Sara Granheim said.

“With these renovations the current building will be able to hosts certain events with a greater capacity. It was definite-ly in need of an upgrade.”

Granheim works with alum-ni and with athletics for scholar-ships and fundraising.

“Right now we are in the quiet phase of the campaign,” Granheim said. “This project will cost over $30 million. We have received private gifts as well as 6.5 million from the state of Minnesota. The public kick off for the new NHEC will be in the Spring.”

Mayor Dave Kleis, State

Rep. Steve Gottwalt, Governor Tim Pawlenty, State Rep Dan Severson and State Sen. Tarryl Clark attended the ceremony celebrating the signing of the bonding bill in 2008.

JLG Architects of Alex-andria, Minneapolis, Minn., Grand Forks and Fargo N.D., was selected to head up the ren-ovations that will start in August 2010.

JLG has had past experi-ences such as the $100 million Ralph Engelstad Arena and the Corporate Center in Grand Forks, civic centers in Bismarck and Fargo, N.D., the North Da-kota Museum of Art, The Mis-sissippi Master Plan for Elk River, Minn. with various other projects completed in the Upper Midwest.

The main differences will include 20 to 30 luxury suites and additional general seating. The entrance ticketing, admin-istration, pro-shop, concourse, restroom and concession ar-eas will be upgraded. The total number of seats for an event will hold around 8,000.

“It is a wonderful facility,” said Head Men’s Hockey Coach Bob Motzko.

“A lot of things have hap-pened in 20 years. I think our fans and supporters will benefit greatly. It is for the University as well as the community. It is going to be fun for the overall experience.

“I think we as sports fans are

happy. The XCEL Energy Cen-ter is a great place for hockey and the Gophers have the new TCF Bank Stadium for football. The sports enthusiast welcomes changes.”

The new renovations are for enhancing the fan experience

and creating an event center for central Minnesota.

“We are the state of hockey,” Motzko said. “We play in an ag-gressive league. Our school has been terrific as well as in need of an upgrade. The new NHEC benefits will be felt by many.”

Hockey Preview

photo courtesy of www.stcloudstate.edu

The proposed new National Hockey Center. Contstuction begins in 2010.

Huskies ready for new venue

Tyler Ohmann

sports editor

As freshmen Garret Raboin and Ryan Lasch got their first taste of the NCAA Tournament.

That year Husky hockey notched 22 wins thanks in large part to the freshmen Lasch.

Lasch had 39 points on the season, but the Huskies were upended in the first round of that NCAA tournament los-ing 4-1 to Maine.

As sophomores they were once again disappointed, as they could not take home an NCAA tournament victory.

As seniors, they are hop-ing to change that this sea-son.

“It’s definitely some mo-tivation, in the fact that this is your senior year and you want to go out on top like that,” Lasch said.

Raboin is thinking along the same lines.

“I think every year were going in it looking to win, but seeing as it’s the last time around definitely has a differ-ent tone to it than it has the last three years,” Raboin said.

SCSU head coach Bob Motzko looks at it a little dif-ferently.

“They’ve had three cracks at the NCAA tournament been in it twice, and to say they have opportunity to play in it three out of four years, there is not a lot of players that have that opportunity in college hockey,” Motzko said. “I think that’s our goal right now, find out how good we can be, move forward and become a very good WCHA team and if we do that it takes care of our business.”

Before their season open-er against the Red Hawks of Miami (Ohio), the Huskies played an exhibition match against the University of Lethbridge at the National Hockey Center.

They came out with a win besting the Pronghorns 4-3 thanks to two goals from highly recruited first-year player Ben Hanowski.

“He’s very talented, obvi-ously in his first game he gets to show off his offensive tal-ents and gets a couple goals. I wish I could sit here and tell you it’s going to be that easy all year, but our league is just not that way,” Motzko said. “He’s awful talented and he’s a hard worker to match that and a terrific kid and were just looking forward to him hav-ing an outstanding freshmen season.”

Scoring the other two goals for the Huskies in the game was junior Brian Vol-pei. The victory did a couple of things for the Huskies ac-cording to their coach.

“I think its just one step to get started and that’s the big thing, were able to pull the jerseys on and maybe get some of the nervousness out, get on the rink,” Motzko said.

Raboin and Lasch are fit-ting into their leadership roles quite comfortably.

“I Just try to bring energy to the rink everyday, try pass on things that I’ve learned in my three years here so far that might help make the road a little easier to travel for the younger guys,” Raboin said.

“We have some confi-dence you know knowing we have an older group from last year. If we put some wins together here that’s always going to improve our confi-dence,” Lasch said.

They both agree though that the young guys are still going to be key, they hope they will follow the lead of the seniors.

“They got some talent you know, they came in they were working hard for us early in

the fall during the lifts and ev-erything and you can see their hard working paying off for us out on the ice, so hopeful-ly they can keep up the hard work,” Lasch said.

Raboin echoes Lasch’s op-timism about the new guys.

“I think they are com-ing along well, Raboin said. “We know they are going to contribute for us, and they are good guys, they are falling into some roles on the team and I think they are going to do a nice job for us.”

The team this year is

missing what they thought would be a large part of their success—goaltender Jase Weslosky.

“Jase Weslosky played a lot of minutes for us, and so those minutes are up for grabs,” Motzko said. “We re-ally like our goaltending right now, with Dan Dunn return-ing in his junior year; these guys are going to battle hard, were going to throw them in there and replace those min-utes.”

“We’re fine with the situa-tion that we’ve got right now,

we’ve got good goaltenders and they are going to battle out for the job this year and it’s going to be exciting to see,” Lasch said.

Raboin thinks that this year’s team is different than any other he has played on.

“I think were going to be our own team. It’s not going to be like any other teams, we are unique in the players we have, were going to write our own story,” Raboin said.

The Huskies hope that story includes an NCAA vic-tory.

St. Cloud State HuskiesCoach: Bob Motzko

2007-08 Record: 18-17-3(13-13-2 WCHA)

Rank: 5

Key Returners: Ryan Lasch, F; Garrett Roe, F; Gar-ret Raboin, D

Key Losses:John SwansonF/D; Michael Olson, F;Jase Weslosky, G

Newcomers: Ben Hanowski, F; Mike Lee, G

GarrettRoe

9 (C)

Forward

University Chronicle Monday, Oct. 12, 2008PAGE 18 Husky Hockey 2009-2010

SamZabkowicz

3

deFense

CraigGaudet

4

deFense

NicholasRioux

5

deFense

BrettBarta

6

deFense

JaredFestler

11

Forward

MitchRyan

14

Forward

JordyChristian

13

Forward

TravisNovak

12

Forward

NickOslund

16

Forward

AaronMarvin

17

Forward

RyanLasch

19 (a)

Forward

ChrisHepp

18

deFense

RyanPeckskamp

20

Forward

BrianVolpei

21

Forward

DavidEddy

22

Forward

TonyMosey

27

Forward

DrewLeBlanc

29

Forward

OliverLauridsen

25

deFense

NateHardy

36

goaltender

DanDunn

41

goaltender

BobMotzko

Head

CoaCH

Home games in red* Conference games

Oct. 16 Union College 7:07 p.m.

Oct. 17Union College 7:07 p.m.

Oct. 23Minnesota-Duluth* 7:07

p.m.Oct. 24

Minnesota-Duluth* 7:37 p.m.

Oct. 30-31Michigan Tech*

6:07 p.m.Nov. 13

North Dakota* 7:37 p.m.Nov. 14

North Dakota* 7:07 p.m.Nov. 20-21

Wisconsin* 7:07 p.m.Nov. 27-28

Denver* 8:37/8:07 p.m.

Dec. 4-5Alaska Anchorage*

10:07 p.m.Dec. 11-12

Colorado College*7:07 p.m.Jan. 2-3

Brown University6:07 p.m.Jan. 8

Michigan Tech*7:07 p.m.Jan. 9

Michigan Tech*5:07 p.m.

Jan. 15-16Qunnipac 6 p.m.

Jan. 22Minnesota* 7:07 p.m.

Jan. 23Minnesota* 5:07 p.m.

Jan. 29-30Colorado College* 8:37/8:07

p.m.Feb. 5-6

Alaska Anchorage*7:07/5:07 p.m.Feb. 12-13

North Dakota* 7:07 p.m.Feb. 19-20

Wisconsin* 7:07 p.m.Mar. 5

Minnesota State-Mankato*7:07 p.m.

09-10 Schedule

Huskies to write their own story

2009-2010 Men’s Roster

Senior defensemen Garret Raboin thinks this years Huskies are unique

andrew jaCobson/ staFF PHotograPHer

SCSU denfensmen and senior captain Garret Raboin skates to stop in an exhibition against Lethbridge early this season at the National Hockey Center.

GarrettRaboin

7 (C)

deFense

John Ammerman

2

deFense

Ben Hanowski

10

Forward

TaylorJohnson

24

deFense

MikeLee

30

goaltender

University Chronicle Monday, Oct. 12, 2009 PAGE 19

Katharine Blum

Staff Writer

The Huskies are looking forward to a strong 2009-2010 season led by an impressive senior class, boasting eight ex-ceptional players.

The team will rely on the senior class to step up and lead the team throughout the sea-son.

“It is really important that the seniors and team leaders are doing things the way we want them done and better than everyone else. That way, the freshmen see how things are accomplished and can see what Husky hockey is all about,” Head Coach Jeff Giesen said.

Giesen agreed that there are additional things the team an-ticipates from the veterans.

“Obviously there are add-ed expectations of the seniors. They know what is supposed to happen and how things are supposed to work. They need to carry those skills with them at all times,” Giesen said.

“If they are working as hard as they can, and doing the things they need to do, then it all works out in our favor.”

Out of eight seniors, four players, instead of the usual three, were awarded the privi-lege of wearing a “letter” on their jerseys. Giesen declared, “The vote was that close. Our team voted, and obviously they picked 4 great leaders. I did not have any problem with having the extra captain.”

Claiming the “C” is senior Felicia Nelson. Nelson, a St. Paul native, transferred from Minnesota State after one sea-son to play for St. Cloud State.

Last season, Nelson played in 33 games tallying 21 points (8 goals, 13 assists). In her ca-reer, she has played in a grand total of 71 games, scoring a total of 46 points (23 goals, 23 assists).

Picking up one of the Alter-

nate Captain positions is fellow senior, Danielle Hirsch.

Hirsch is from Blooming-ton, Minnesota, and played hockey in high school at Shat-tuck St. Mary’s. In her career, she has played in 107 games notching 40 points (3 goals, 37 asssists). In 2008, she earned the WCHA Defensive Player of the Week and set the Husky single season record for defen-seman assists with 18.

Clinching another Alternate spot is St. Cloud native, Holly Roberts.

Before becoming a Husky, Roberts played for Warroad High School where she was a five-time letter winner for hockey. A key player for SCSU, Roberts has scored 77 points (33 goals, 44 assists) in 112 career games. Last season, she was tied for team lead in penal-ties with 54 penalty minutes.

Along with Hirsch and Roberts, senior Caitlin Hogan also sports an “A” on her jersey. The Oakdale, Minnesota local led the team with 136 shots and earned WCHA Scholar Athlete honors last season.

In a total of 112 games, Hogan has tallied 84 points (34 goals, 50 assists) in her career at SCSU.

Although having four strong recognized leaders, Coach Giesen does not expect them to carry all the leadership roles on the team.

“I don’t get too hung up on having a letter. I expect all of our seniors to lead, whether it is Meaghan Pezon, Katie Kem-merer, or Felicia Nelson. Just because you do not have a letter does not mean you cannot be a leader. All of our players are ex-pected to do things to help lead the team,” Giesen said.

However, it is extremely beneficial to the team to have a strong core of accomplished players leading the team.

“Player ability helps lead-ership because when the other players see how highly skilled

players work, and how much effort they put into the game, they think, ‘I want to be like that’ The leaders have to per-form and bring everyday- they cannot really take a day off when everyone is looking up to them,” Giesen said.

Leadership is not the only thing the Huskies value. The team has placed a huge empha-sis on team chemistry and unity on and off the ice.

“Our first and foremost core values as a team are com-munity and unity. All the deci-sions I make are based off of what is best for the team. The girls know that they need to put the team before everything else. We try to facilitate some things so the girls get to know each other and become that unit, but they do a good job of accomplishing it themselves. They have found over the past few years how important it is to get along and to have a good re-lationship with everyone else,” said Giesen.

“The girls are definitely friends off the ice. They have a lifelong friendship that carries on even after they graduate.”

Despite being in the most competitive conference in the United States, Coach Giesen expects nothing but the best from his team.

He said, “It is not even a question that the WCHA is the toughest conference in the country. There is a reason they have won 11 straight national championships.

Regardless, I think we are headed in the right direction. We found out our first weekend that you cannot just play one game of the series and not the next. I have high expectations and I think the players have high expectations, so hopefully that will carry over.”

The Huskies will return home to the National Hockey Center to play conference ri-vals, University of Minnesota, Friday, Oct. 23 at 2:07 pm.

Husky Hockey 2009-2010

Diana Karouzos

5

Defense

JenacaFredheim

4

Defense

Holly Roberts

6 (A)

forwArD

AshlanLambert

8

Defense

Alecia Anderson

10

forwArD

Courtney Josefson

11

forwArD

Felicia Nelson

13 (C)

forwArD

Brittany Toor

14

forwArD

Meaghan Pezon

15

forwArD

Danielle Hirsch

16 (A)

Defefnse

Kelly Meierhofer

17

Defefnse

HayleaSchmid

19

forwArD

Katie Kemmerer

20

forwArD

EllieSitek

21

forwArD

Lisa Martinson

22

Defense

Jocelyn Zabrick

24

Defense

Caitlin Hogan

25 (A)

forwArD

JaclynDaggit

27

Defense

Tayler VanDenakker

29

GoAlie

Anna Donlan

30

GoAlie

Ashley Nixon

37

GoAlie

JeffGiesen

HeAD

CoACH

Home games in red* Conference games

Oct. 23Minnesota* 2:07 p.m.

Oct. 24Minnesota*4:07 p.m.

Oct. 30-31North Dakota 7:07 /2:07 p.m.

Nov. 6-7Minnesota-Duluth* 7:07

p.m.Nov. 13-14

Bemidji State* 7:07/2:07 p.m.

Nov. 20-21Wisconsin* 2:07 p.m.

Nov. 27-28Brown University

Noon/11 a.m.Dec. 4

Minnesota-State Mankato*7:07 p.m.Dec. 5

Minnesota-State Mankato* 7:07 p.m.

Dec. 11-12Ohio State* 2:07/1:07 p.m.

Jan. 2Providence 3:07 p.m.

Jan. 3Mercyhurst 3:07p.m.

Jan. 15-16North Dakota* 7:07/4:07

p.m.Jan. 22-23Wisconsin*2:07 p.m.

Jan 29-30Bemidji State*

7:07 p.m./2:07 p.m.Feb. 5

Minneosta-State Mankato* 2:07 p.m.Feb. 7

Minnesota State-Mankato*3:07 p.m.Feb. 12

Minnesota* 7:07 p.m.Feb. 13

Minnesota* 2:07 p.m.Feb. 19-20

Ohio State* 6:07/1:07 p.m.

09-10 Schedule

Four captain the Husky shipHuskies decide four captains is better than three to lead the determined Huskies.

file PHoto

Senior and alernate captain Caitlin Hogan awaits a pass in a game last season. She is one of the leaders on this senior-dominated Husky squad.

Meet the 2009-10 Women’s HockeyKatie Allen

2

Defense

MSU-Mankato MavericksCoach: Troy Jutting

2008-09 Record: 15-17-6(11-13-4 WCHA)

Key Returners: Kurt Davis, D; Geoff Irwin, D; Kael Mouillierat, F; Austin Lee, G

Key Losses: Mick Berge, F; Mike Zacharias, GNewcomers: Evan Mosey, D; Tyler Pitlick, F

Minnesota Golden GophersCoach: Don Lucia

2008-09 Record: 17-13-7(12-11-5 WCHA)

Key Returners: Jay Barriball, F; Alex Kangas, G; Ryan Stoa, F; Jordan Schroeder, F

Key Losses: Justin Bostrom, F; R.J Anderson, DNewcomers: Seth Helgeson, D; Zach Budish, F

Denver PioneersCoach: George Gwozdecky2008-09 Record: 23-12-5

(16-8-4 WCHA)

Key Returners: Joe Colborne, F; Anthony Maiani, F; Patrick Wiercioch, D; Marc Cheverie, G

Key Losses: Patrick Mullen, D; J.P Testwuide, D

Newcomers: Drew Shore, F; Matt Donovan, D

Colorado College TigersCoach: Scott Owens

2008-09 Record: 16-12-10(12-9-7 WCHA)

Key Returners: Richard Bachman, G; Brian Connely, D; Bill Sweatt, F

Key Losses: Chad Rau, C; Eric Walsky, FNewcomers: Mike Boivin, D; Scott Winkler, F

Alaska Anchorage Seawolves

Coach: Dave Shyiak2008-09 Record: 14-17-5

(9-14-5 WCHA)

Key Returners: Kevin Clark, F; Paul Crowder, F; Josh Lunden, F; Jon Olthuis, G

Key Losses: Mat Robinson, D; Brian Bales, FNewcomers: Daniel Naslund, F

University Chronicle Monday, Oct. 12, 2009PAGE 20 Husky Hockey 2009-2010

Michigan Tech HuskiesCoach: Jamie Russell

2008-09 Record: 6-25-7(2-19-7 WCHA)

Key Returners: Drew Dobson, D; Jordan Baker, F/C; Brett Olson, C

Key Losses: Alex Gagne, C; Geoff Kinrade, D; Rob Nolan, G

Newcomers: Anthony Schooley, F; Tommy Brown, D

North Dakota Fighting SiouxCoach: Dave Hakstol

2008-09 Record: 24-15-4(17-7-4 WCHA)

Key Returners: Chris VandeVelde, F; Brad Eidsness, G; Chay Genoway, D

Key Losses: Brad Miller, D; Andrew Kozek, F; Ryan Duncan, F

Newcomers: Joe Gleason, D; Andrew MacWilliam, F

Wisconsin BadgersCoach: Mike Eaves

2008-09 Record: 20-16-4

(14-11-3 WCHA)Key Returners: Brendan Smith, D; Jamie McBain, D;

Derek Stepan, FKey Losses: Shane Connelly, G; Tom Gorowsky, F

Newcomers: Justin Schultz, D; Craig Smith, F

Minnesota-Duluth BulldogsCoach: Scott Sandelin

2008-09 Record: 22-13-8(10-11-7 WCHA)

Key Returners: Justin Fontaine, F; Mike Connolly, F; Jack Connolly, C

Key Losses: MacGregor Sharp, C; Josh Meyers, DNewcomers: Dylan Olsen, D; Dan DeLisle, F

1. Denver2. North Dakota3. Minnesota4. SCSU5. Wisconsin

6. MSU-Mankato7. Minnesota-Duluth8. Colorado College9. Alaska Anchorage10. Michigan Tech

WCHA standing predictions

Kevin Allenspach- hockey writer- St. Cloud Times

1. Denver2. Wisconsin3. Minnesota4. North Dakota5. St. Cloud State

6. Minnesota-Duluth7. MSU-Mankato8. Colorado College9. Alaska Anchorage10. Michigan Tech

Aaron Bjorkstrand- play-by-play- Husky Productions

Marty Sundvall- SCSU hockey stat crew

1. Denver2. North Dakota3. Minnesota4. SCSU5. Wisconsin

6. Colorado College7. Minnesota-Duluth8. MSU-Mankato9. Alaska Anchorage10. Michigan Tech

1. St. Cloud State2. Denver3.North Dakota4. Wisconsin5. Minnesota Duluth

6.Alaska Anchorage7. Colorado College8. MSU-Mankato9. Michigan Tech10.Minnesota

Mike Doyle- color commentator- Husky Productions

1. Denver2. Minnesota3. Wisconsin4. SCSU5. North Dakota

6. Colorado College7. Alaska Anchorage8. Minnesota-Duluth9. MSU-Mankato10. Michigan Tech

Tyler Ohmann- University Chronicle sports editor

1. Denver2. North Dakota3. Wisconsin4. Minnesota5. Colorado College

6. SCSU7. Minnesota Duluth8. MSU-Mankato9.Alaska Anchorage10. Michigan Tech

Kyle Stevens-University Chronicle opinions editor

1

1. Denver2. North Dakota3. Minnesota4. Wisconsin5. Minnesota-Duluth

6. SCSU7. MSU-Mankato8. Colorado College9. Alaska Anchorage10. Michigan Tech

Jordan Weinand-ice side reporterHusky Productions

10

9

8

4

7

3

6

2

Note: Rankings are based on the average of all the panelists. SCSU’s information can be found on page 18.

Expert Panel Picks