The Tommies received national attention with their Division I debut last fall and now fans from around the world are cheering on two St. Thomas women’s hockey players and their coach during the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. First-year goaltender Saskia Maurer and first-year defender Nicole Vallario are representing Switzerland while their coach, Joel Johnson, coaches reigning 2018 Winter Olympics champion Team USA.

This isn’t the first time Tommies have been part of the iconic sporting event, however. Since 1936, six members of the St. Thomas community have participated in the Olympics, appearing in hockey, speed skating, wrestling and track competitions.

Saskia Maurer:
2022 Beijing Olympics
Switzerland Women’s Hockey
Medals: Competing in bronze-medal game

Maurer came to St. Thomas in 2021 from Röthenbach, Switzerland and has been a crucial player throughout the women’s hockey team’s inaugural DI season. With Maurer between the pipes, St. Thomas secured its first NCAA win with a 2-1 victory over Bemidji State in October 2021.

Maurer received a bronze-medal for Switzerland at the Lillehammer 2016 Youth Winter Olympics, and competed at the 2021 World Championships and at the U18 World Junior Championships from 2017 to 2019.

For the Tommies (5-21-1, 3-18-1 WCHA), Maurer has a .917 save percentage over 10 games and was in the net for three of the team’s five wins at the DI level.

In 2022, 20-year-old Maurer is making her Olympic debut alongside teammate and long-time friend Vallario, who is also a Swiss native.

Nicole Vallario
2022 Beijing Olympics
Switzerland Women’s Hockey
Medals: Competing in bronze-medal game

From Lugano, Switzerland, Vallario joined the St. Thomas women’s hockey team in 2021 after the team’s unprecedented leap from Division III to DI.

Vallario received a bronze-medal for Switzerland at the 2016 Lillehammer Youth Olympic Winter Games and competed at the World Championships from 2018 to 2021 and the U18 World Junior Championships from 2016 to 2019. Vallario and Maurer were teammates for all but two of those events.

While skating with professional ice hockey club HC Lugano, Vallario won the 2017 Swiss Women’s Cup and the 2019 Swiss Women’s Hockey League Championship.

In 18 games with the Tommies, Vallario ranks sixth on the team in points with four goals and three assists, adding 22 blocks as well. Two lone goals from Vallario brought St. Thomas a 2-1 victory over Rochester Institute of Technology on Oct. 29; the win was the team’s third of the season.

Vallario has one assist in six games at the Olympics and hopes to secure the bronze-medal with Maurer.

The Switzerland women’s hockey team has only medaled once, earning bronze in the 2014 Sochi Games.

During the preliminary rounds on Feb. 2-8, Switzerland lost 12-1 to Canada, 5-3 to the Russian Olympic Committee and 8-0 to USA but won 3-2 against Finland. This advanced them to the playoffs where they beat Russia 4-2 before eventually losing 10-3 to Canada.

Switzerland will face off against Finland Wednesday at 5:30 a.m. CT in the bronze-medal game.

Joel Johnson
2022 Beijing Olympics
United States Women’s Hockey
Medals: Competing in gold-medal game

Johnson joined the St. Thomas women’s hockey staff in 2021 and, with more than 20 years of coaching experience under his belt, has led the Tommies in their DI debut while serving double duty as head coach of the U.S. women’s national team.

Johnson became an assistant coach for the U.S. women’s national team during the 2018-19 season and assumed the role of head coach in 2021, taking on the job of leading the defending Olympic champions into the 2022 Olympics.

The two roles put Johnson in a unique position, but he’s familiar with multitasking. At Bethel, the 1996 graduate played three sports and returned to coach hockey, golf and soccer. When he worked for the University of Minnesota in 2010, Johnson often coached an elite U.S. team as well.

Johnson spent 16 seasons on the University of Minnesota coaching staff and helped lead the Gopher women’s hockey team to six national titles. While on the Bethel University coaching staff for six seasons, he led the men’s hockey team to its only MIAC Championship.

The Tommies have a 5-23-1 record with Johnson as head coach, with wins against Bemidji, RIT and St. Cloud State University. The Tommies’ last win, a 3-2 victory against St. Cloud State on Feb. 6, broke the team’s 15-game losing streak.

Team USA will head to the gold-medal game against Canada on Wednesday, Feb. 16 at 10:05 p.m. CT after taking down Finland, ROC, Switzerland and Czechia on its road to defend gold.

Jeff Boeser
1976 Innsbruck Olympics*
United States Men’s Hockey
Medals: None
*Did not play in official tournament

With more than 40 years at St. Thomas as a player, assistant coach and head coach of men’s hockey, Jeff Boeser could definitely tell a lot of stories. One from his own book came the year after Boeser graduated from St. Thomas, when he made the 1976 U.S. Olympic hockey team.

A star athlete at the university, the Tommies expected big things from Boeser. Things didn’t go Boeser’s way, however, as he was the final man cut from the Olympic team, which went on to finish fifth in the games. Boeser appeared in 41 exhibition games and was cut the day before the Olympics.

After he packed up his gear, Boeser returned to St. Thomas where he became an assistant coach, and later head coach, for the men’s hockey team for 11 seasons until his 2021 retirement.

Roman Cress
2008 Beijing Olympics
Marshall Islands Track
Medals: None

Born in the Marshall Islands, Cress became a U.S. citizen as a child and grew up in Minneapolis. At 22 years old, Cress was a sophomore running track at St. Thomas when he qualified for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.

Cress would have represented his home country in the 2000 Games, when at the time, he was the fastest man in the Pacific, but the Marshall Islands did not meet International Olympic Committee requirements for sponsorship of five sports, including track. Under those circumstances, neither Cress nor the Marshall Islands were allowed to compete in the Sydney Games.

Eight years later, at age 31 and with only two months of training, Cress became the first male Marshallese sprinter in history to run on the Olympic stage in the 2008 Beijing Games. In the first-round heat of the 100-meter dash, Cress finished eighth, ending in 72nd place overall.

Cress graduated from St. Thomas in 2003 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Health Promotion.

Leo Freisinger
1936 Berlin Olympics (skater)
1964 Innsbruck Olympics (coach)
United States Speedskating
Medals: Bronze

A natural athlete, Freisinger was an Olympic speedskater by age 19 and the Chicago native had already competed in the 1936 Winter Olympics in Germany when he arrived at the College of St. Thomas.

In the 1936 Olympics, Freisinger won a bronze-medal in the 500m race and took home fourth in the 1500m race.

Though only enrolled from 1937-38, Freisinger continued to compete internationally while he was a St. Thomas student, donning purple and gray in the 1938 International Speedskating Championships in Oslo, Norway.

After leaving St. Thomas, Freisinger was selected for the 1940 Olympics. Those games were canceled due to World War II, but Freisinger returned to the Olympic stage in 1964 as the coach of the U.S. speed skating National team.

Dan Chandler
1976, 1980 and 1984 Olympics (athlete)
1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 Olympics (coach)
United States Wrestling
Medals: None

Dan Chandler coached the St. Thomas wrestling team from 1986-88; during that time, he was also selected to coach the 1988 U.S. Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling team in Seoul, South Korea.

In college, Chandler wrestled for the University of Minnesota, but it wasn’t until graduation that his career really took off. As an athlete, Chandler was a 12-time National Greco-Roman National champion, three-time World place winner and a three-time Olympian in the 1976, 1980 and 1984 Games.

Chandler went on to coach, and built a storied resume as a member of the U.S. Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling team’s coaching staff from 1988-2012. He coached a number of medalists, notably at the 2000 Olympic Games when three of his athletes won gold, silver and bronze.

In 2014, Chandler was named Greco-Roman Wrestling Coach of the Year by USA Wrestling, and he was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2013.

John Morgan
1988 Seoul Olympics
United States Wrestling
Medals: None

Chandler wasn’t the only St. Thomas wrestling coach at the 1988 Olympics; John Morgan, who was the Tommies’ assistant coach in 1988, also competed at the Games in Greco-Roman wrestling.

Morgan wrestled at North Dakota State University from 1982-1986 where he had a 98-36 career record and was a four-time All-American.

The NDSU Athletic Hall of Fame member was a part of the U.S. World Team from 1989-1991 and was a first alternate for the 1992 Olympic Games.

Morgan was coached by his fellow staff member, Chandler, during the ‘88 Olympics where he placed seventh in the 82 kg event.

Scout Mason can be reached at maso7275@stthomas.edu.
Lauren Price can be reached at lauren.price@stthomas.edu.