After two consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament, including a Frozen Four appearance in 2014, the St. Thomas women’s hockey team is eyeing an even bigger prize this season.

With a veteran core of seven seniors and a talented incoming freshmen class, head coach Tom Palkowski believes a national championship is a realistic expectation for the No. 4-ranked Tommies.

“I think the kids believe in it, and I think the coaching staff does,” Palkowski said. “I think the biggest thing is trying to get the chemistry together to get everybody to buy into the system. To trust themselves, their teammates, their coaches.”

Senior defenseman Karina Marette echoed Palkowski’s feelings about a national championship, citing a talented mix of new and returning players.

“I definitely think it could be where we make it this year,” Marette said. “We have a very good group of girls coming in, as well as a good base here. We’ve shown to be pretty successful in the past, and I think we’ve only matured from having those experiences.”

St. Thomas appears poised to pick up where it left off last season. During a 15-game span late in the season, the Tommies compiled a 9-3-3 record, won the MIAC playoff title and competed in the NCAA quarterfinals, where they lost 4-1 to Plattsburgh.

Palkowski said past experience will only help a roster he believes has more talent than in recent years.

“Based on what we’ve seen the last two years, we’ve lost to the eventual national champs both years,” he said. “Their coach after both games said, ‘this is by far the toughest team we’ve faced all year.’ With that, I like this group because I think we are a little more talented.”

The Tommie blue line is led by an experienced group of four seniors that have all appeared in at least 63 college games. Leading the way is senior captain and All-American Megan Juricko, who has 41 points in 87 career games.

Nuala Flood, Tori Bailey and Marette round out the group of senior defensemen.

Up front, the Tommies are led by senior Courtney Umland, the team’s top returning scorer with 10 goals and 20 assists a year ago.

Two transfers are also expected to bolster the Tommies’ forward lineup. Junior Kathryn Larson comes to St. Thomas after being among the national leaders in goals scored at Bethel. Sophomore Kaylee Druk comes to St. Thomas after a season at Division I Syracuse.
Umland believes the two new forwards will have a big impact this season.

“I think they brought a lot more physical aspect to our game. They’re really aggressive players which helps out a lot and just size and strength,” Umland said. “They’re helping out our forwards especially in goal scoring, too. They both have a good shot and are goal scorers you can just tell from practice.”

Not to be forgotten among the upper class talent is a group of 11 freshmen joining the program this season.

Among them is freshman goalie Kenzie Torpy, who likely secured the starting spot by stopping 26 of the 27 shots she faced in the team’s opening game on Oct. 31.

Palkowski mentioned it might be the most talented freshmen class the team has ever had and expects many of the rookies to receive significant minutes.

“We need at least half or more to step in and contribute right away,” he said. “The ones on the blue line, a couple of them got a little bit of ice this weekend. Up front, we have a couple kids that are playing on first and second line, and they looked awfully good on Saturday so I look for them to keep getting better and better.”

An interesting side note to the season is an 11-day, 10-night trip to Italy over Christmas break. The team will play three games against European competition and expects the trip to help build team chemistry.

The Tommies officially kicked off the 2015-2016 campaign with a 2-1 win last Saturday against then No. 3 Wisconsin-River Falls.

The team returns to action Tuesday, Nov. 10 against Wisconsin-Superior before opening MIAC play with a weekend set Nov. 13 and 14 against Gustavus.

Willie Faust can be reached at faus5612@stthomas.edu.