One hundred victories came as a surprise to men’s hockey coach Jeff Boeser.
The man they call “Duke” earned his 100th win on Friday with a 3-2 triumph over Hamline at Oscar Johnson Arena.
The 1975 graduate played hockey at St. Thomas and was offered an assistant coaching position in 1981 before being hired as the head coach in 2010. Boeser is now 101-48-20 in seven seasons as the head coach.
Boeser didn’t realize it was his 100th win until his players presented him with the game puck.
“I have had a lot of success in my life when it comes to hockey and just watching the boys every day working hard and getting better — that means more to me than anything,” he said.
Boeser said he is just a small piece of the puzzle and does not see this milestone as a personal victory.
“My job as a coach is to prepare kids to win games and you can’t do that without a great committed staff and good student athletes that are committed to your sport,” Boeser said. “I have been very fortunate enough to have in my seven years here those types of people.”
The team improved to 6-2-3 on the season after defeating Hamline twice last week. Eight players contributed nine goals during the series and the team killed eight of nine Hamline power plays.
“Hamline is a really good hockey team and we were very fortunate to come out of there with two wins,” said Boeser.
But he sees room for improvement.
“We gave up four goals on Saturday and that disturbs me a little bit, so obviously we’ve got to get back to work and work on our play without the puck, especially in the defensive zone,” he said.
St. Thomas has a young roster, with nine freshmen and 11 sophomores. Though the team may be young, it does not lack talent or leadership, he said.
“We have a good group of kids that are very committed; our captains are leaders and our seniors have done a great job of leading these young men,” Boeser said.
This sweep helped the Tommies re-gain a ranking in the Division III polls at No. 15.
The Tommies will face No. 3 St. Norbert Saturday.
“It will be a good test for our young guys, and they will kind of get an understanding of where they are nationally,” said Boeser.
Carolyn Meyer can be reached at cameyer@stthomas.edu.