2007-08 Team Preview – St. Cloud State

Official Roster
Full Schedule
2006-07 Team Statistics

Top 5 Returning Scorers

1. F – Andreas Nodl – Sophomore – 18 G, 28 A – 46 points
2. F – Ryan Lasch – Sophomore – 16 G, 23 A – 39 points
3. F – Nate Dey – Senior – 10 G, 22 A – 32 points
4. D – Matt Stephenson – Senior – 2 G, 22 A – 24 points
5. F – John Swanson – Junior – 9 G, 14 A – 23 points

Key Losses From Last Season

F – Andrew Gordon – 22 G, 23 A – 45 points
F – Dan Kronick – 14 G, 12 A – 26 points
D – Justin Fletcher – 6 G, 18 A – 24 points
D – Casey Borer – 2 G, 9 A – 11 points
G – Bobby Goepfert – 17-10-7, .924 save percentage, 2.29 GAA

2006-07 Scoring By Class

Senior 35 27.56%
Junior 46 36.22%
Sophomore 11 8.66%
Freshman 35 27.56%

Non-Conference Schedule

2 vs. Canisius – Oct. 12-13
2 vs. Bemidji State – Oct. 26-27
2 at Clarkson – Nov. 23-24
1 vs. Miami (Ohio) – Dec. 29 – Ohio Hockey Classic, Columbus, OH
1 vs. Harvard or Ohio State – Dec. 30 – Ohio Hockey Classic, Columbus, OH

Incoming Freshmen

F – Tony Mosey (Salmon Arm – BCHL) / 19
F – Aaron Marvin (Warroad High School) / 19
F – Nick Oslund (Tri-City – USHL) / 19
F – Brian Volpei (Salmon Arm – BCHL) / 19
F – Garret Roe (Indiana – USHL) / 19
D – Brett Barta (Waterloo – USHL) / 20
G – Dan Dunn (Wellington – OPJHL) / 19

Average Freshman Age: 19.14

BCHL: 2
OPJHL: 1
USHL: 3
U.S. High Schools: 1

Breakdown of Current Roster

Freshmen – 7
Sophomores – 9
Juniors – 4
Seniors – 6

NHL Draftees

F – Andreas Nodl – Sophomore – PHI
F – Luca Cunti – Freshman– TB
F – Aaron Marvin – Freshman– CGY
F – Nick Oslund – Freshman– DET
G – Jase Weslosky – Sophomore – NYI
G – Dan Dunn – Freshman – WAS

2006 Season Recap

Bob Motzko’s second season in St. Cloud was certainly a success, as he led the Huskies to a second-place finish in the WCHA and an NCAA tournament berth.

During the middle of the season, a 20-game stretch where the team lost just once propelled SCSU to both of those aforementioned accomplishments. A pair of freshmen – Andreas Nodl and Ryan Lasch – excelled in their first seasons in the Granite City, notching 46 and 39 points, respectively. Junior Andrew Gordon led the team with 22 goals and was one of the premier forwards in the WCHA.

In his second and final season in St. Cloud, senior netminder Bobby Goepfert had another solid season, posting a .924 save percentage and a 2.29 goals against average.

Despite their regular season success, the Huskies fell victim to a late season slump. They took just one point from a red-hot North Dakota team at home to conclude the regular season. They followed that effort up by beating Minnesota Duluth in the first round of the WCHA playoffs, although both wins came in overtime after losing the Friday night game 3-1. At the WCHA Final Five, they were dominated by UND in the first semi-final, losing 6-2, and then lost in overtime to Wisconsin in the third place game on Saturday by a 4-3 score in overtime.

The Huskies were sent to Rochester, N.Y. for the NCAA East Regional and appeared to have a much more favorable draw that some other WCHA teams (such as Minnesota and North Dakota). Despite that, they bowed out in their first game to Maine by a 4-1 score.

2007 Season Preview

St. Cloud State losses this offseason rival those of any other WCHA team. In addition to Gordon signing a professional contract with the Washington Capitals and Goepfert graduating, senior forward Dan Kronick (26 points) and senior defensemen Justin Fletcher (24 points) and Casey Borer (11 points) also depart.

In total, SCSU loses 45 percent of their goal-scoring from a year ago, along with an elite goalie and three senior defensemen. Freshmen such as Warroad’s Aaron Marvin and Garret Roe (Indiana of the USHL) will need to help fill the void. Fellow forward Luca Cunti appears as if he’ll be able to join the Huskies this fall. A third round pick in this past summer’s NHL Entry Draft, Cunti had some issues getting clearance to play this fall, primarily because he’s a native of Switzerland and just recently came over to the U.S.

Four players who were freshmen last year will need to step up their play on the backend if SCSU is going to rival the success they had last year. Defensemen Garrett Raboin, Craig Gaudet, and Jon Ammerman will see much more icetime this year than last. Sophomore goalie Jase Weslosky will likely battle incoming freshman Dan Dunn for time between the pipes.

Key Question

This will be Bob Motzko’s third season in St. Cloud, and of course his first without Goepfert, who posted great regular season stats in his tenure as a Husky. Motzko seems to have done a good job recruiting, and it’s clear that he knows what he’d doing as a WCHA head coach. However, how much of the Huskies’ success over the last two years can be attributed to the play of Goepfert, and can the combination of Weslosky / Dunn replace him?

WCHA Blog Prediction:

Sixth place

Previous Team Previews
Alaska Anchorage
Colorado College
Denver
Michigan Tech
Minnesota
Minnesota Duluth
Minnesota State
North Dakota