Despite a goal a piece from first-year forward Ryan O’Neill and sophomore forward Tim Piechowski, the Tommies could not keep up with the USA Hockey National Team Development Program. The Tommies fell 5-2 Friday at St. Thomas Ice Arena.
The Tommies’ (1-3-0, 0-0-0 CCHA) offense put up 41 shots on goal and became more physical as the game went on, but NTDP’s (9-0) defense held the Tommies back to only two goals. NTDP consists of 30 skaters under 18 years old, with nine players committed to a Division I hockey team in the Big Ten conference.
“They’re a good hockey team. Got a lot of playmakers,” coach Rico Blasi said. “They made us pay for those two.”
O’Neill scored the first goal for the Tommies with under seven minutes left in the third period with a quick tap-in after a pass by senior forward Luke Manning.
“Our identity is to play with speed,” O’Neill said. “Regardless of who we’re playing, I think that the main objective for us is to play fast and play hard.”
Two minutes into the third period, Piechowski broke away with speed and found the back of the net.
“We know that we are a fast team who can go up and down the ice well, so we keep utilizing it,” Piechowski said. “I think it’s just going to create more and more opportunities for us.”
The Tommies and NTDP played physically, resulting in nine penalties for the Tommies and eight for NTDP. The visitors capitalized with two power-play goals.
“A guy falls on the power play, they score backdoor,” Blasi said. “Then a really big-time play on their second power play goal, so other than that I thought we played pretty good.”
Facing young opponents, the Tommies had an idea about the skill hitting the ice.
“We kind of knew they were going to be fast and skilled and play young,” O’Neill said.
Blasi and Piechowski both agreed that facing a team like NTDP in a non-conference matchup helped the Tommies become better as a team.
“I thought we played well as a team, and we keep growing and growing as the game just kept coming,” Piechowski said.
The Tommies will head to University Park, Pennsylvania, to compete against Penn State for a road matchup on Thursday, Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. and Friday, Oct. 21 at 6 p.m.
“Penn State is going to be a highly skilled team, just like USA is, so for us, we know we can play that game now,” Blasi said.
Natalie Hoepner can be reached at hoep8497@stthomas.edu.