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Saturday, 1 July 2006

2005 - 2006 Season Recap

FROM THE ORIGINAL STUTOMMIES.COM ARCHIVES
Editor's Note: External Links in this post are no longer active.

2005-2006 SEASON
Archive.



April 10th, 2006. STU Hockey Award Winners.

The 2005-06 STU Hockey awards have been handed out and here is the information for you die hard Tommies fans. STU Tommies.com congratulates all the worthy recipients. Thank you for the great season of hockey.

MVP - DON CONNOLLY TROPHY.

molnarsimWe have co-winners for 2005-06. Our incredible goaltending duo of Andrew Sim and Aaron Molnar split the work this year in net, as well as team MVP.

Andrew Sim 2.69 GAA .902 Save %
Record 7W 6L 0 T 2 Shutouts.

Aaron Molnar 2.76 GAA .919 Save %
Record 7W 6L 2 T

TOP DEFENCEMAN - LOU CHABOT TROPHY.

NO9ther03 Come on.....did you even have to ask who won this one? If he didn’t win this with his stats alone he definitely won it when he gave Mahon
(AKA Captain Squirrel) a little snow shower during the warm up skate before the Lou Chabot game. Thanks NICK!

Nick Theriault 28 games 12g 12a 24p 101 shots +4

MOST GENTLEMANLY PLAYER - SISTER ELIZABETH LEGERE TROPHY.

bellFourth in team scoring with 20 points, lead the team in +/- and only had 4 minor penalties. Not to shabby. Thatcher looked really good this year and we’re glad he’s feeling better, he really added depth to the lineup.

Thatcher Bell 26 games 7g 13a 20p +11




ROOKIE OF THE YEAR - ENDEAVOUR AWARD.

# 51 Anthony Butera was the Tommies rookie of the year. Anthony had a stellar opening campaign and finished the year on fire. The first half was a learning curve for sure and he learned the hard way that you have to watch out for Squirrels. His final stats looked like this. 28g 2g 14a 16p +10.

UNSUNG HERO - ERIC COUTURIER UNSUNG HERO AWARD.

Lucky #7 Bruce Gillis comes to play. A real treat to watch, he left everything on the ice each and every night. Tough as nails, this guy will be missed next year.

Special thanks to Bruce Hallihan of the Fredericton Daily Gleaner for providing this information.

March 23rd, 2006. Emily Hobbs, Second Team ALL CANADIAN.

Hobbs_05_06 In a first ever for St. Thomas, one of the Lady Tommies was selected as an All Canadian All-Star. Congratulations to “our” goalie Emily Hobbs. Emily earned this acclaim by stopping everything that was shot her way, night in and night out. Great work. Sorry we didn’t post this earlier, asleep at the wheel I guess.




Mar 5th, 2006. Nick Theriault Named to AUS All Stars.

NO9therCongratuations to Nick Theriault for being named to the AUS 2nd team all stars for defense. Nick helped to revitalize the Tommies in 05-06 and help lead them back into the playoffs. His booming shot, his physical presence, and leadership of a rookie laden blueline were important factors for the Tommies.

His 2005-06 statistics were outstanding and we look to Nick as one of the team leaders in 2006-07.


Feb 25th, 2006. Tommies Fall to Tigers in Triple OT.
PLAYOFFS - Tommies 3 Tigers 4 3OT.

The Lady Tommies may not have won their playoff game against Dalhousie but they sure pushed the heavily favoured Tigers to the limit. The St Mary’s Huskies now get to face a weakened Tiger in the AUS women’s semi-final this afternoon in Sackville NB, thanks to St. Thomas. The under dog Tommies fought back from a 3 goal deficit to tie the game in the 3rd period and force overtime. Scoring an unassisted goal for the Tommies in the second period was Caroline Hammerheim. In the third Michelle Goguen from Amy MacLennan and to tie the game at 3 was Kelly Hogg unassisted. Emily Hobbs faced 44 shots over 6 periods of hockey and was stellar, proving her 1st team all star selection was no fluke.

The 2005-06 Lady Tommies really put the T back in Team. The big T stands for Tommies We’re proud of your great accomplishments this year including your big wins against X and St Mary’s. You are a credit to St. Thomas.

Feb 19th, 2006. Tommies Battle but Lose to Huskies.
Game 3 - Tommies 1 - Huskies 3.

The hard and fast reality is sinking in, the season is over. The Tommies battled tonight but a poor start, SMU’s solid goaltending, and questionable calls late was enough to end the season. Scoring late in the third period was Nick Theriault. The real dagger was a foolish call to Chris Cook halfway through the 3rd that put the Tommies 2 men down. St Mary’s capitalized and the rest is history.

On a season ending positive note, the Tommies were back in the playoffs, killed the Squirrels 10 - 3, and have a solid core returning next year. I don’t know about you folks but does anyone think that Kyle McAllister would be a fabulous teacher? ONE MORE YEAR....ONE MORE YEAR, get your B ED. To Kyle we want to say, sorry, for being a little hard nosed previous to the Squirrels game. We couldn’t fathom an exceptional Captain such as yourself not beating UNB, it was important to everyone that you did. If this does end up being your swan song, thanks for the blood, sweat, and tears.

Feb 19th, 2006. Squirrels Sneak Past Tommies.
Tommies 1 Squirrels 3.

The Lady Tommies were defeated this afternoon by their nemesis the UNB Squirrels. The Squirrels did all of their scoring in the first period when they got 3 goals past Emily Hobbs. Emily shut the door after this and gave the offense a chance to come back. With so many of the teams regular players unavailable the hole was to much to climb out of and the Squirrels hung on. Scoring for the Tommies in the third period was Kelly Matthews from Rebekah Thompson. Emily faced 24 shots in the loss.

Feb 18th, 2006. Lady Tommies Shut Out Moncton.
U de M 0 - Tommies 5.

Emily Hobbs proved yet again why she is considered the best goalie in AUS women’s hockey. Emily stopped 31 shots on her way to backstopping the Tommies to a 5 -0 win at the LBR. Scoring for the Tommies in the first was Caroline Hammerheim, in the second period, Catherine Boudreau, and Stacey Beer, Rebekah Thompson, Amy MacLennan in the third. Caroline Hammerheim also had 2 assists with singles going to Catherine Boudreau, Amy MacLennan, and Marianne Waite. With the win the Tommies are now tied for 4th with UNB and MT Allison. Next up for the Lady Tommies is the UNB Squirrels at 1 PM this afternoon at the Aitken Centre. This game will be web cast. Follow this link. www.news-cast.com .

Feb 17th, 2006. Tommies Get Bit by Huskies.
Game 2 - Huskies 5 Tommies 3.

The home crowd was ready to rock but the St Mary’s Huskies had other ideas tonight at the LBR. SMU scored the first 3 goals in the first period and the Tommies weren’t able to come all the way back. They made it darn interesting and somewhat intense but it wasn’t enough. Scoring first for STU was Justin Roy from Brent Varty, then Nick Theriault from Anthony Butera and Kyle McAllister to cut the lead to 1 before the first period was done. This brought the crowd back to life.

Hoped dimmed again with just under a minute left in the second when the Huskies regained a 2 goal lead but Miguel Delisle from Mike Couch and Jeff Bateman cut the lead again. The goal came 30 seconds before the period was over. It felt as if the Tommies were going to pull out the come back win but it wasn’t to be on this night. Late in the 3rd with the STU goalie freshly on the bench the Huskies gained control of the puck and iced the proverbial cake with the empty netter. Aaron Molnar made some fantastic saves in the loss. St Mary’s out shot the Tom Cats 36 - 30. In other AUS playoff action tonight ST FX downed the Squirrels in overtime 4-3.

The Tommies head back to Halifax for Game 3 at 7 PM. The game will be heard live on 97.9 CHSR in Fredericton and on the internet. See the Broadcast page for the link

GO TOMMIES GO. Let’s Get’er Done!

Feb 15th, 2006 Tommies Shut the Door on the Huskies.
GAME 1 - Tommies 1 Huskies 0.

In a huge defensive effort the Tommies come out of Halifax with a 1 - 0 win over St. Mary’s and a 1 - 0 lead in their best of three AUS quarter final series. Anthony Butera got the lone goal from Jean Bourbeau and Justin McCutcheon at 9:52 or the second period. The Tommies had a 2 man advantage early in the second period but were unable to capitalize. Later in the period the Huskies had their chance with the 5 on 3 for over a minute but the Tommies weathered the storm and when Anthony Butera got out of the box at 9:46 he went in and scored 6 seconds later. Aaron Molnar made 21 saves for the shut out win. STU outshot the Huskies 27 - 21. GREAT WORK GENTLEMEN!!!

The Green and Gold come home to the friendly confines of the LBR on Friday night and will try to seal the deal. Get your tickets early and come out and cheer on your St Thomas Tommies. In the other AUS action tonight the Squirrels downed St FX 7 to 5.

Feb 15th, 2006. Quick Update.

What a great day to be a Tommies fan. It’s a mild February day and it’s just right to start the 2006 AUS playoffs. There is no broadcast of tonight’s game from Halifax but as soon as we get the score you can find it right here. Friday’s home game will not be broadcast either but if game 3 is necessary back in Halifax, you can listen to it on CHSR 97.9 FM in Fredericton or on the web. See our broadcast page for the link. GO TOMMIES!!

The Match Up. STU’s first round opponent is the St Mary’s Huskies. Of all the team’s this year, statistically speaking, SMU was St. Thomas’s toughest. Of a possible 8 points the Tommies earned 2 with a record of 0-2-1-1. An OT loss on October 22nd and a tie January 6th accounted for the points. Looking bye the obvious numbers the 2 teams had extremely close games with the exception being St. Mary’s 5 - 2 win. The other 3 games were tight and could have gone either way.

The two teams are statistically even with almost every indicator offensively and defensively being points of one another. There is one exception. Penalties. St Mary’s is either extremely disciplined or extremely good at distracting the referee. To top it off if they do end up in the box they have the best penalty killing unit in the league, not to mention a top ranked PP. The key for the Tommies going into Halifax is to either throw SMU off their game or be DISCIPLINED DISCIPLINED DISCIPLINED.

Feb 12th, 2006. Lady Tommies Upended in Antigonish.
Tommies 2 St FX 11.

St. Thomas showed they are only human after all. After playing to a gritty tie the day before the gas tank was a little less than full. Scoring for the Tommies in the third period was Katherine Woodford from Kelly Hogg and Hannah Muir and Amy MacLennan from Renee Edison. Emily Hobbs took the loss in net. The Tommies return home for a weekend match against U de M before closing out the regular season on Sunday against the Squirrels.

Feb 11th, 2006. Aigles Bleus Trip Tommies.
Tommies 2 Moncton 4.

In the final game of the 2005-06 regular season the Tommies fell to U de M. The Tommies held the advantage 1 - 0 going into the first intermission on a PP goal by Nick Theriault (Kyle McAllister may get credit later) with assists going to Kyle McAllister and Miguel Delisle. Moncton tied it up midway through the second period and took the lead shortly thereafter. Both goals scored on the PP. The Tommies responded on their own PP when Jeff Bateman banged home one with assists to Kyle McAllister and Anthony Butera. Unfortunately penalty trouble struck late in the period and Les Aigles scored with less than a minute left in the period.

The Tommies couldn’t recover and Moncton scored another in the third. Of note was the outstanding play of Andrew Sim who got the call in net tonight. Andrew stopped 3 breakaways and kept the Tommies in the game the whole way. Final shots on goal were STU 18 - UdM 25.

The Tommies start the playoffs Wednesday February 15th on the road in Halifax when they face the St. Mary’s Huskies. This game will not be telecast by CHSR but may be webcast. We will let you know as soon as we find out any broadcast information.

Feb 11th, 2006. Lady Tommies Fight Tigers to a Draw.
Tommies 1 Tigers 1.

The Lady Tommies continue to impress people with their inspired play against top ranked teams. Today was no exception when the Tommies fought their way to a 1 - 1 tie against second place Dalhousie. Emily Hobbs saw 40 pucks come her way and stopped 39. Renee Edison was the Tommies goal scorer with assists to Caroline Hammerheim. Again it should be stated for the record that the Lady Tommies are playing with a drastically depleted lineup and continue to surprise.

Feb 10th, 2006. STU SNAP SQUIRREL’S STREAK.
Squirrels 3 Tommies 10.

Everyone at the LBR tonight was treated to a helping of Squirrel STU and it seemed to be enjoyed by everyone. Never heard of Squirrel STU? Well, it is the sweetest tasting delicacy this side of Regent Street. To make this marvelous blend you need 11 things, some more than once. You will need 2 from Nick Theriault, 2 from Miguel Delisle, 1 from Matt Seymour, 1 from Jeff Bateman, 1 from Thatcher Bell, 1 from Anthony Butera, 1 from Justin McCutcheon, 1 from Justin Roy, and to top things off a tad of Aaron Molnar.

The Tommies went into tonight’s game with a 9 game winless streak against the Squirrels and it all ended like a rodent on the highway. In fact the Tommies scored a goal for every game (including tonight) since Derek Campbell scored the overtime winner in the very same Lou Chabot game 2 years ago. It was sweet revenge for Tommie fans who had endured more than their fair share of disappointments over the past several years. Although the game was a blow out it should be mentioned that Coach Eagles played his 3 rd and 4th lines regularly in the last minutes of the game. No less than 7 Tommie players had multiple points and 14 players in all scored points. For more info. follow this link. AUS BOX SCORE.

St Mary’s lost to X tonight, so the Tommies are tied with them for 4th in the standings. Moncton won, so the Tommies would do the Squirrels a favour tomorrow night by beating U de M in combination with UNB beating UPEI. If St Mary’s losses or ties Dalhousie tomorrow evening and STU wins, the Tommies will at least be starting the playoffs at home. That’s all for tonight. Tomorrow I hope to have the “STU Tommies.com Squirrel of the Game Award” ready to go. The winner tonight was Darryl Boyce. Congratulations rodent.

Feb 5th - 10th. Reality Check.

During the course of this coming week we’re going to make some observations, look at stats, and dissect the Tommies as they prepare to face their long time rival the UNB Squirrels. With two games left in the regular season, both against teams higher in the standings, it is very obvious that, for all intense purposes, the playoffs begin Friday night. So sit back, relax, and think about the following.

Feb 9th. The standings below show the Tommies record against every AUS team, in order of standing, plus the number of points, goals for, and goals allowed

TEAM W L T OTL POINTS GF GA
ACA 2-1-0-1 5 13 9
UdM 1-2-0-0 * 2 4 10
UNB 0-1-1-1 * 2 7 10
SMU 0-2-1-1 2 7 13
SFX 3-1-0-0 6 13 10
PEI 3-1-0-0 6 16 10
DAL 4-0-0-0 8 18 9
TOTAL 13-8-2-3 31 78 71

* STU has 1 game remaining against UdM and UNB.

Tommies Home Record - 7-4-1-1
Away Record - 6-4-1-2
Record when scoring first - 11-1-1-1

The leading scorers on the Tommies are Miguel Delisle with 28, Kyle McAllister with 26, and Nick Theriault with 21.

The Tommies record...
...when Delisle gets points -10-5-1-1
...when he doesn’t - 3-3-1-2

...when McAllister gets points - 11-4-1-1
...when he doesn’t - 1-4-1-0

...when Theriault gets points - 8-3-1-1
...when he doesn’t - 5-5-1-2

Feb 8th. In comparison to 2004-05 the current year offensive stats are improved. After 26 games last year the Tommies had 70 goals and this year the team has 78. In fact last years team scored 73 goals the entire year. One of the largest improvements in the teams offense has to be attributed to Thatcher Bell. He may not be leading the team in scoring but he’s getting points consistently and gives the team depth on the PP. Thatcher currently sits tied for 4th in team scoring with 6 goals and 11 assists plus leads the team in +/- with a +8. His current line mates of Justin McCutcheon and Matt Seymour give the Tommies a good blend of grittiness and scoring touch. You can count on Justin and Matt to give 110% every night and dig those pucks out from behind the net or in the corners. If this line were to really click, well, look out.

The top line consists of Miguel Delisle and Kyle McAllister. After that it’s kind of a guess. Sometimes it’s Chris Cook, who incidentally was out for both games in Nova Scotia last weekend, but it use to be Jeff Bateman. Let’s look at all 4. Miguel is having an excellent rookie campaign and is leading the team in scoring. He currently has a +5, 2 game winners, and the tying goal against the Squirrels back in November. It’s hard to say why exactly but you get the impression he’s on the verge of something. Miguel is either going to score a hat trick (or better) against the Squirrels or take Mahon out in a fight. Why? He seems to get up for UNB. His stats don’t lie. He took 19 minutes in penalties the first game against them. Second game he got the tying goal, was a +2, and had 4 minutes of unwarranted penalty time. (Remember Mahon’s diving routine?) Game 3 he scored the Tommies lone goal but buzzed around all night. Prediction - Big night on Friday for Miguel.

Captain McAllister....this guy is due. As was said earlier in the week he risks not beating the Squirrels as Captain of the Tommies. This cannot sit well with him. Overall he’s having a good year and as usual is right there in the hunt for the team lead in points. If he can get the Squirrel off his back on Friday night it will go a long way for overall success. A shorthanded goal would be really cool.

No news if Chris Cook will be or won’t be playing on Friday. We have our fingers crossed that he is. This guy is a gamer and look for him to be pumped heading into the playoffs. It doesn’t matter which line he is on, he makes an impact. Jeff Bateman has not quite got back his jump yet after missing the final six games of the first half. In all fairness to Jeff he has looked good recently (great timing heading to the playoffs) and really adds a dimension to the Tommies 4th line that has been missing. Most teams can’t match 4 lines for 3 periods and Jeff (especially against Moncton) added this plus played some PP and PK. Perhaps the coach is bringing him back slow but it’s all about the team and Jeff could very quickly be back on any or every line.

Now the “Grind line”. Yeah baby. Bourbeau, Cody, and any combination of Seymour, Roy, or Gillis......TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK, these boys ROCK and they are going to clean your CLOCK. Can’t wait for these guys to get on the ice. They have provided timely goals, big hits, aggressive in your face play, they back check, WOW. Best third line in the AUS bar none. One prediction, Bourbs is going to lay a devastating check on Friday.

The fourth line consisting of Varty, Gilbert, Lobb come to play every game. Varty scored 2 huge goals last weekend against X and expect more of the same. Again, if Bateman stays back here this line is very potent and a threat to score. How about the D-men getting involved? They have 4 game winning goals between them and keep the puck moving out of the Tommies end up ice. Butera has been getting some points lately and look for Mike Couch to have a big game. Don’t forget that one AUS coach picked Nick Theriault as having the best shot. If he unloads that howitzer you better not be in the road.

Feb 7th. The biggest improvement for the Tommies from last year has been team defense. After 26 games last year the Tommies had allowed 88 goals in comparison to this year’s 71. This has translated into 11 extra points in the standings, plus a birth in the post season. No small achievement.

Both goalies this year have commented in the local media about how well the D have been clearing rebounds and net crashers. Well it’s working and the team is reaping the benefits. The three new recruits Anthony Butera, Ryan Card, and Paul Giallonardo have stepped right in and have played huge roles in anchoring the defense, not to mention helping out in offensive stats as well. (We’ll look at them tomorrow.) Combined the three of them have plus 1 +/- and none of them should be overlooked for the AUS all rookie team.

The rookies have no doubt been helped by the 2 stalwarts on the back end, Nick Theriault and Mike Couch. Night in and night out, these two guys, with any combination of the 3 new guys, play the PP, PK, and regular shifts to the Tommies absolute credit. Let’s not forget the physical presence these guys bring and the fact the opposing team knows they WILL pay the price in the Tommies end. If Nick doesn’t get picked for the first or second team all-stars we’ll have something to say to the AUS and rightfully so. When Nick gets points, we win. Again that’s tomorrow night. The other 2 D-men Richard Power and Garrett Seymour have been there when ever called upon. The contribution they make is not a small one. They have been there game in and game out and have done nothing except help the team to the success they have enjoyed to date.

Feb 6th. One thing the Tommies have been blessed with during the entire 2005-06 season is great goaltending. The statistics for both goalies are fantastic.

Andrew Sim 12 games played, 2.58 GAA, .907 save percentage and 2 shutouts Aaron Molnar 14 games played, 2.74 GAA, .921 save percentage.

Until last weekend in Nova Scotia Coach Eagles had employed a “win and your in” policy concerning his goalies. Aaron played on Friday night against X effectually ending this decision considering that Andrew had won the previous game against Dalhousie. It is obvious that at some point in time the Coach was going to make a hard decision on who was going to play getting closer to playoffs A hard decision because either way was the right one. It looks like Aaron is going to get the call in the nets. It is comforting to note that Andrew is there if the call comes and the Tommies need him.

Feb 5th. Let’s clear the air and put the dirt right out there. The last time the Tommies beat the Squirrels was Wednesday, January 7th, 2004 in the Lou Chabot Memorial game. Derek Campbell was still a Tommie and scored the winner 30 seconds into overtime. That is a long, frustrating 2 years. You have to go back even further if you want to know the last time we won in regulation. Wednesday January 22nd, 2003 was the date, a 5 -2 win, again in the Lou Chabot game. The facts don’t lie, the rodents have owned us. Since Derek’s goal in OT our record is a dismal 0-7-1-1, one of those games being an exhibition match. Not very flattering in our books.

Our Captain over the majority of this stretch has been Kyle McAllister. Kyle’s record against the Squirrels? 0-4-1-1. He must try to pick the team up that one extra step or face the distinct possibility of ending his Captain’s tenure without one Squirrel kill to his record. It’s time to tighten up and concentrate on what everyone in Tommies Nation craves. What we deserve, after years of tree rat humiliations, is a win. It’s time to step up.

I just received an e-mail from a concerned Tommies fan that wanted to set the record straight. Kyle scored the game winning overtime goal against the Squirrels in game 2 of the 2003 AUS semi-finals. This is the Kyle we’re all going to see this coming Friday night. Thanks to you loyal fans for keeping us in check. STAND UP TOMMIES NATION!!!

Feb 5th, 2006. Panthers Beat Ladies Tommies.
Tommies 1 UPEI 2

Bad things happen to good teams and this was the case this afternoon on PEI. UPEI scored the first 2 goals and held on for a hard earned win. Nicole Ernst scored with less than 5 minutes left in the third period to narrow the gap but it wasn’t to be. The assist on the goal went to Catherine Boudreau. The Lady Tommies are in Halifax next weekend to face the AUS leading Dalhousie Tigers.

Feb 4th, 2006. Tommies Rough Up Tigers.
Tommies 7 Tigers 3.

Things just got a whole lot more complicated in the AUS standings. Not only did the Tommies clinch 5th spot, they moved closer to SMU and UNB for better seeding. Acadia has guaranteed themselves a bye and most likely first place by beating the Squirrels 5 to 1. St Mary’s lost to PEI and have 33 points, one behind the Squirrels and Moncton with 34. The Tommies have 31 points with all teams in the league having 2 games remaining. Let’s get back to the game in Halifax involving STU.

The Tommies took a first period lead at 10:42 when Justin McCutcheon scored with assists going to Ryan Card and Matt Seymour. Nick Theriault was next on the score card on the PP at 5:34 of the second with assists to Anthony Butera and Kyle McAllister. The Tigers responded by scoring 2 of their own to tie, but it was short lived. Kyle scored a few minutes later to retake the lead on the PP with one assist going to Jeff Bateman. Jean Bourbeau restored the 2 goal lead towards the end of the period with the another assist going to Jeff Bateman and one to Aaron Molnar.

The Tom Cats got it rolling early in the third with a goal from Matt Seymour with assists to Justin McCutcheon and Thatcher Bell. Miguel Delisle widened the lead to four at 7:41 with assists to Kyle McAllister and Anthony Butera. Dal. chipped away a bit with one more but Miguel’s second of the night sealed the deal at 18:33 with the assist to Kyle McAllister. Aaron Molnar faced 31 shots for the win.

The Tommies now face playoff hockey from this point forward with 2 HUGE games this coming weekend. The Squirrels show up for a friendly tilt on Friday night in the annual Lou Chabot Memorial game before the Tommies hit the road for the final game of the regular season in Moncton. Stay tuned right here this week, we’re going to break down a few key points for success starting Friday night against you know who.

Feb 3rd, 2006. Lady Tommies Shoot Down Squirrels in OT.
UNB 1 Tommies 2.

With an under staffed roster the Lady Tommies showed up for fight and won the “battle” against UNB in overtime tonight. Michelle Goguen was the overtime heroin and made everyone in Tommies Nation proud. With less than 40 seconds left in the OT period Michelle sent the Squirrels home with their tails between their legs. Amy MacLennan got the only assist.

The Doe Squirrels took the lead in the first and held it until the third, but that’s when their luck ran out. Catherine Boudreau with the assist going to Caroline Hammerheim tied the game late in the third and sent the game to OT with time running down. Although it wasn’t a power play goal it came a few seconds after an UNB penalty had elapsed. Emily Hobbs picked up the win stopping 22 pucks. With the win the Tommies leap frog the Squirrels and find them selves tied for 4th with Mt Allison. YES!!!!!! WAY TO GO LADIES!!! Let’s hope you can pass your secret onto the men for next Friday’s big game at the LBR.

Tommies Get Out of Antigonish With Win. Tommies 3 St FX 2.

A little scoring from an unexpected source helped the Tommies to victory tonight in Antigonish. Brent Varty scored two big goals to help widen STU’s lead in the standings to 4 points on X. Justin McCutcheon from Thatcher Bell and Matt Seymour started the scoring very early in the first and Varty early in the second made the lead 2 goals. The assists going to Jean Bourbeau and Thatcher Bell. The X-men shrunk the lead in half midway through but Varty with his second of the night scored before the period was out with the eventual game winner. Jeff Bateman and Ryan Card picked up the assists.

The Tommies were outshot 29 - 22 on the night and didn’t register a shot on goal in the third period. Aaron Molnar picked up the win and was solid for the Tommies in the third period. The Tommies still sit 3 points back of Moncton for 4th place as the Aigles Bleus beat Dalhouse 5 - 2. Saint Mary’s sacked the Squirrels 8 - 5 and Acadia downed PEI 5 - 3. The Tommies are in Halifax tomorrow night to play the Tigers.

Feb 3rd, 2006. Congratulations to Kelly Hogg.

Kelly Hogg of the Lady Tommies has been nominated by the AUS for the James Bayer Memorial Scholarship Award. The award is given to the AUS athlete who best demonstrates excellence in academics, athletics and exhibits strong leadership, sportsmanship and citizenship qualities. GOOD LUCK KELLY!! (With information from the Halifax Chronicle Hearld.)

Jan 30th, 2006. Tommies Statistics.

If you haven’t checked the AUS web page for Tommies team statistics, please follow the link below and have a look. Running over them quickly, there was one statistic I did the math on, which was quite interesting. The Tommies have scored first in ten (10) of their 24 games to date. Their record when scoring first - 7-1-1-1. Their only loss coming last Friday night against X.

Fourteen (14) times the opposition has scored first. The Tommies record is
4-7-1-2. If the boys score first there is a good chance they will win. Here is the
link. Tommies Stats. at AUS site.

Jan 29th, 2006. Lady Tommies Muzzle the Huskies.
St Mary’s 1 Tommies 2

In what can only be called an upset, the Lady Tommies defeated the number 8th ranked Huskies. The Tommies were drastically out shot 43-24 but Emily Hobbs was amazing. Scoring for STU was Caroline Hammerheim unassisted and Hannah Muir from Kelly Matthews. Both goals were in the third period. WAY TO GO LADIES!! Next game for the Tommies is this coming Friday night at home. The girls will be hosting the UNB Doe Squirrels in the female version of the “Battle of the Hill”. You won’t want to miss it!

Jan 28th, 2006. Tommies Pull Out Victory Over Dalhousie.
Tigers 2 Tommies 3.

The Tommies scratched out a hard fought 3 to 2 win tonight at the LBR. The Tommies took a late first period lead on a goal by Miguel Delisle with an assist going to Jean Bourbeau, only to have the Tigers score seconds later to tie it. If anything, the late goal by Dal was a sign of things to come in possibly the worst period of AUS hockey in history.

The 2nd period of the game was marred by penalty after penalty after penalty being called by the referee. Both teams felt the wrath of the man with the whistle. One of the strangest calls was a charging penalty assessed to Thatcher Bell when he couldn’t have skated more than 2 feet to the opposing player. Dal took a 2 -1 lead on the power play but the Tommies finally managed to tie it when Captain Kyle McAllister got the proverbial monkey off his back by scoring a power play goal to tie the game, assists to Anthony Butera and Andrew Sim. It felt as if the goal would never come after several minutes of 5 on 3 and 5 on 4 power play elapsed with no success. Two thirds of the Tommies “Grind line” was ejected from the game in the second when Mark Cody got the gate for checking from behind and Jean Bourbeau followed him for elbowing. Not to criticize, but the calls were almost as poor as the period.

The third period saw the Tommies take the lead for good when Miguel Delisle scored on a pretty set up by Kyle McAllister the other assist (his second of the night) went to the goalie Andrew Sim. “Simmer” shut the door and ended the night with 18 saves. The Tommies hit the road next weekend and play the Tigers and X in Nova Scotia.

In women’s action this afternoon the Lady Tommies lost 3 to 2 against Mt A. at the LBR. The Lady Tommies out shot and out chanced the opposition but couldn’t pump home the tying goal. The first goal was scored by Stacy Beer with the assist going to Michelle Goguen. Goal 2 was scored by Hannah Muir with assists going to Ashley Duguay and Kelly Hogg. The Lady Tommies are in action tomorrow afternoon against St. Mary’s. Game time is 2 PM at the LBR. Come on out and cheer on our Lady Tommies.

Jan 27th, 2006. Un-X-pected Bounces Do In Tommies.
ST FX. 4 Tommies 1.

The Tommies couldn’t follow the bouncing puck and it kept finding it’s way behind Aaron Molnar. St. FX scored a late first period goal on the power play that was deflected. Then scored it’s second goal in the exact same fashion, on the PP and deflected. The Tommies scored first to take the lead on a goal by Mike Couch with assists going to Brent Varty and Alex Gilbert. The lead was short lived because the puck seemed to favour the X-men all night.

X scored their 3rd goal with 2 seconds left in the 2nd period to take a 3 to 1 lead and again the puck took a bad bounce into the Tommies net. The icing on the cake was a third period shorthanded goal to end the scoring. With the win tonight and a UPEI loss to Acadia (3 - 4) the X-men secure a playoff berth and move to within 2 points of STU for 5th place.

The Tommies out shot the X-Men 37-31. The next men’s game is tomorrow night against Dalhousie. Game time is 7 PM at the LBR.

Tomorrow afternoon the Lady Tommies play Mt Allison, 2 PM at the LBR. Come out and support your St. Thomas Tommies.

Jan 23rd, 2006. Best and Worst of AUS Hockey, Halifax Daily News.

Matthew Wuest, a reporter for the The Daily News in Halifax, has released his coaches poll listing the best and worst players in 24 categories. This has become somewhat of an annual tradition in the AUS men’s hockey conference and it’s a fan favourite. If you would like to read the article in it’s entirety there is a link at the end of this entry.

Kyle McAllister was voted by the AUS coaches as the best faceoff guy in the league and Nick Theriault was voted the dirtiest player. Bruce Gillis tied with seven others as the best defensive forward and Andrew Sim received a vote as most improved player, as well as a vote for best goalie. Nick also got a vote for best shot.

There is only one comment to be made by STU Tommies.com before you exit the site to read the article. I was fortunate to hear an interview last season with Nick Theriault during a CHSR broadcast in Antigonish, NS. Nick made a comment on the difference between the ECHL and the AUS. (He has played in both) In the AUS smaller players love to use their stick and act like they are big guys. In the ECHL the smaller guys don’t as much because they will get the snot beat out of them in a fight. Nick stands up for his team and gives what ever the Tommies get, right back in spades. Not to mention that Nick can back up what he does on the ice. Maybe he has given some cheap shots but he’s got them also.

Jan 22nd, 2006. Tommies send Moncton Home Blue.
U de M 2 Tommies 3

After a disheartening loss to UPEI on Friday night the Tommies rebounded with a big win tonight against U de M. The win guarantees the Tommies a trip to the post season as UPEI cannot make up the difference. The number 7th ranked Aigles Bleus played a good road game but the rejuvenated Tommies looked strong on this night.

The Tom Cats got 2 first period goals by Thatcher Bell and Miguel Delisle. Assists on the first goal went to Justin McCutcheon and Nick Theriault, with the later going to Kyle McAllister and Chris Cook. Les Aigles made it a one goal game in the second but the boys replied early in the third with a goal from Nick Theriault, assists to Miguel Delisle and Anthony Butera. Moncton made it close with under a minute to play but could not beat Aaron Molnar to complete the come back.

The team looked especially strong tonight with the new lines Coach Eagles played. All the lines seemed to be effective and played more even minutes then in other games. The “grind line” of Jean Bourbeau, Matt Seymour, and Bruce Gillis played a gutsy game. Jeff Bateman, Aaron Lobb and Brent Varty really seemed to balance the attack by allowing the other lines a couple of extra minutes of rest. Aaron Molnar was at his usual best and stopped 31 pucks for the win. Nick Theriault was the Hilltop Bar and Beverage Company player of the game.

The Tommies will be playing for playoff position on Friday night 7 PM at the LBR when they face St FX X-Men. This will be the first trip back to “The Beav” for X since November 12th, when the Tommies posted a 4-3 win in a chippy game. You won’t want to miss the rematch. Come out and support your St. Thomas Tommies

Jan 21st, 2006. Lady Tommies defeat U de M.
Tommies 3 U de M 2.

Nicole Ernst, Caroline Hammerheim, and Ashley Duguay scored as the Lady Tommies downed the Aigles Bleus 3 - 2 in Moncton. Hannah Muir had 2 assists and Liette Arseneault stopped 18 shots for the win. The Tommies record improves to 6 wins - 7 losses, 1 point behind Mt Allison for 5th.

Men’s Magic Number at 1/2 Game.

The UPEI Panthers lost an afternoon game to the Squirrels 7-3. With the loss the Tommies magic number is reduced to 1 point. St. Thomas is back in action tomorrow night against Moncton. Game time is 6 PM at the LBR. Come out and support your
St. Thomas Tommies.

Friday, 3 February 2006

Congratulations Kelly Hogg

Kelly Hogg of the Lady Tommies has been nominated by the AUS for the James Bayer Memorial Scholarship Award. The award is given to the AUS athlete who best demonstrates excellence in academics, athletics and exhibits strong leadership, sportsmanship and citizenship qualities. GOOD LUCK KELLY!! (With information from the Halifax Chronicle Hearld.)

Monday, 30 January 2006

Tommies statistics

If you haven’t checked the AUS web page for Tommies team statistics, please follow the link below and have a look. Running over them quickly, there was one statistic I did the math on, which was quite interesting. The Tommies have scored first in ten (10) of their 24 games to date. Their record when scoring first - 7-1-1-1. Their only loss coming last Friday night against X.

Fourteen (14) times the opposition has scored first. The Tommies record is 4-7-1-2. If the boys score first there is a good chance they will win.

Sunday, 29 January 2006

Lady Tommies muzzle Huskies

St Mary’s 1 Tommies 2

In what can only be called an upset, the Lady Tommies defeated the number 8th ranked Huskies. The Tommies were drastically out shot 43-24 but Emily Hobbs was amazing. Scoring for STU was Caroline Hammerheim unassisted and Hannah Muir from Kelly Matthews. Both goals were in the third period. WAY TO GO LADIES!! Next game for the Tommies is this coming Friday night at home. The girls will be hosting the UNB Doe Squirrels in the female version of the “Battle of the Hill”. You won’t want to miss it!

Saturday, 28 January 2006

Tommies pull out victory over Dalhousie

Tigers 2 Tommies 3. The Tommies scratched out a hard fought 3 to 2 win tonight at the LBR. The Tommies took a late first period lead on a goal by Miguel Delisle with an assist going to Jean Bourbeau, only to have the Tigers score seconds later to tie it. If anything, the late goal by Dal was a sign of things to come in possibly the worst period of AUS hockey in history.

The 2nd period of the game was marred by penalty after penalty after penalty being called by the referee. Both teams felt the wrath of the man with the whistle. One of the strangest calls was a charging penalty assessed to Thatcher Bell when he couldn’t have skated more than 2 feet to the opposing player. Dal took a 2 -1 lead on the power play but the Tommies finally managed to tie it when Captain Kyle McAllister got the proverbial monkey off his back by scoring a power play goal to tie the game, assists to Anthony Butera and Andrew Sim. It felt as if the goal would never come after several minutes of 5 on 3 and 5 on 4 power play elapsed with no success. Two thirds of the Tommies “Grind line” was ejected from the game in the second when Mark Cody got the gate for checking from behind and Jean Bourbeau followed him for elbowing. Not to criticize, but the calls were almost as poor as the period.

The third period saw the Tommies take the lead for good when Miguel Delisle scored on a pretty set up by Kyle McAllister the other assist (his second of the night) went to the goalie Andrew Sim. “Simmer” shut the door and ended the night with 18 saves. The Tommies hit the road next weekend and play the Tigers and X in Nova Scotia.

In women’s action this afternoon the Lady Tommies lost 3 to 2 against Mt A. at the LBR. The Lady Tommies out shot and out chanced the opposition but couldn’t pump home the tying goal. The first goal was scored by Stacy Beer with the assist going to Michelle Goguen. Goal 2 was scored by Hannah Muir with assists going to Ashley Duguay and Kelly Hogg. The Lady Tommies are in action tomorrow afternoon against St. Mary’s. Game time is 2 PM at the LBR. Come on out and cheer on our Lady Tommies.

Friday, 27 January 2006

Un-X-pected bounces do in Tommies

The Tommies couldn’t follow the bouncing puck and it kept finding it’s way behind Aaron Molnar. St. FX scored a late first period goal on the power play that was deflected. Then scored it’s second goal in the exact same fashion, on the PP and deflected. The Tommies scored first to take the lead on a goal by Mike Couch with assists going to Brent Varty and Alex Gilbert. The lead was short lived because the puck seemed to favour the X-men all night.

X scored their 3rd goal with 2 seconds left in the 2nd period to take a 3 to 1 lead and again the puck took a bad bounce into the Tommies net. The icing on the cake was a third period shorthanded goal to end the scoring.

With the win tonight and a UPEI loss to Acadia (3 - 4) the X-men secure a playoff berth and move to within 2 points of STU for 5th place. The Tommies out shot the X-Men 37-31. The next men’s game is tomorrow night against Dalhousie. Game time is 7 PM at the LBR. Tomorrow afternoon the Lady Tommies play Mt Allison, 2 PM at the LBR. Come out and support your St. Thomas Tommies.

Monday, 23 January 2006

Best and Worst of AUS Hockey

Matthew Wuest, a reporter for the The Daily News in Halifax, has released his coaches poll listing the best and worst players in 24 categories. This has become somewhat of an annual tradition in the AUS men’s hockey conference and it’s a fan favourite. If you would like to read the article in it’s entirety there is a link at the end of this entry.

Kyle McAllister was voted by the AUS coaches as the best faceoff guy in the league and Nick Theriault was voted the dirtiest player. Bruce Gillis tied with seven others as the best defensive forward and Andrew Sim received a vote as most improved player, as well as a vote for best goalie. Nick also got a vote for best shot.

There is only one comment to be made by STU Tommies.com before you exit the site to read the article. I was fortunate to hear an interview last season with Nick Theriault during a CHSR broadcast in Antigonish, NS. Nick made a comment on the difference between the ECHL and the AUS. (He has played in both) In the AUS smaller players love to use their stick and act like they are big guys. In the ECHL the smaller guys don’t as much because they will get the snot beat out of them in a fight. Nick stands up for his team and gives what ever the Tommies get, right back in spades. Not to mention that Nick can back up what he does on the ice. Maybe he has given some cheap shots but he’s got them also.

Sunday, 22 January 2006

Tommies send Moncton home blue

U de M 2 Tommies 3
After a disheartening loss to UPEI on Friday night the Tommies rebounded with a big win tonight against U de M. The win guarantees the Tommies a trip to the post season as UPEI cannot make up the difference. The number 7th ranked Aigles Bleus played a good road game but the rejuvenated Tommies looked strong on this night.

The Tom Cats got 2 first period goals by Thatcher Bell and Miguel Delisle. Assists on the first goal went to Justin McCutcheon and Nick Theriault, with the later going to Kyle McAllister and Chris Cook. Les Aigles made it a one goal game in the second but the boys replied early in the third with a goal from Nick Theriault, assists to Miguel Delisle and Anthony Butera. Moncton made it close with under a minute to play but could not beat Aaron Molnar to complete the come back.

The team looked especially strong tonight with the new lines Coach Eagles played. All the lines seemed to be effective and played more even minutes then in other games. The “grind line” of Jean Bourbeau, Matt Seymour, and Bruce Gillis played a gutsy game. Jeff Bateman, Aaron Lobb and Brent Varty really seemed to balance the attack by allowing the other lines a couple of extra minutes of rest. Aaron Molnar was at his usual best and stopped 31 pucks for the win. Nick Theriault was the Hilltop Bar and Beverage Company player of the game.

The Tommies will be playing for playoff position on Friday night 7 PM at the LBR when they face St FX X-Men. This will be the first trip back to “The Beav” for X since November 12th, when the Tommies posted a 4-3 win in a chippy game. You won’t want to miss the rematch. Come out and support your St. Thomas Tommies

Saturday, 21 January 2006

Lady Tommies defeat U de M

Nicole Ernst, Caroline Hammerheim, and Ashley Duguay scored as the Lady Tommies downed the Aigles Bleus 3 - 2 in Moncton. Hannah Muir had 2 assists and Liette Arseneault stopped 18 shots for the win. The Tommies record improves to 6 wins - 7 losses, 1 point behind Mt Allison for 5th.

Men’s Magic Number at 1/2 Game.

The UPEI Panthers lost an afternoon game to the Squirrels 7-3. With the loss the Tommies magic number is reduced to 1 point. St. Thomas is back in action tomorrow night against Moncton. Game time is 6 PM at the LBR. Come out and support yourSt. Thomas Tommies.

Friday, 20 January 2006

Panthers hold on and beat Tommies

Panthers 6 Tommies 5. The UPEI Panthers showed tonight why you never take any AUS team for granted. The Panthers raced out to a 5 - 1 lead by the end of the second and when the Tommies finally woke up in the third, it was to little to late. It’s not that UPEI dominated STU, quite the contrary, STU probably had as many chances as them in the first 2 periods. The difference was capitalizing on your opportunities, and the Panthers did this in spades.The Tommies were down 4 to 0 at the half way point of the game. Justin McCutcheon scored shortly after to make the deficit 3 but the Panthers replied before the end of period 2 and went to the dressing rooms up by 4.The Tommies didn’t quit and scored 4 minutes into the third on the PP. Chris Cook from Kyle McAllister and Nick Theriault but UPEI really took a strangle hold half a minute later by making it 6 to 2. Jean Bourbeau made it interesting again unassited and Matt Seymour scored with 4 1/2 minutes to show some fight, assists to Justin McCutcheon and Anthony Butera. It was to little to late when Chris Cook scored his second of the night with less than 2 seconds left. Jeff Bateman and Kyle McAllister, with his third assist of the night, got the helpers.The Tommies magic number remains at 1.5. Next up is U de M on Sunday, not Saturday, at 6 PM LBR. Let’s hope the productive third period pumps some life back into the troops.

What’s a Tommie? This page has been updated. 01/20/06

Wednesday, 18 January 2006

Squirrels continue to frustrate Tommies

Tommies 1 UNB Squirrels 3.In a close game tonight, the Tommies came up on the wrong end of a 3 to 1 score. UNB’s goalie stole several sure goals and certainly deserved the first star in this game. Miguel Delisle scored on a break away in the second half of the first period to tie the game at one. Assists to Chris Cook and Mike Couch.The Tommies certainly deserved better tonight but couldn’t capitalize on their chances. Jeff Bateman and Kyle McAllister had glorious chances to score but got robbed by the Squirrel net minder. UNB’s final goal was scored on the empty net to seal the deal. Final shots on goal 34 for UNB and 27 for the Tommies. The Tommies next game is Friday night against UPEI. Note the time, it is a 6 PM start. The Panthers lost tonight 2 to 0 against Moncton. This means the Tommies magic number is 1.5. With a win on Friday night the Tommies clinch a playoff spot. The game will be broadcast over the internet by UPEI radio, please see the broadcast page for more details. In other AUS action tonight, Acadia pounded St FX 8-3 and St. Mary’s handled Dalhousie 5 -2. UNB, Moncton and Acadia have all clinched a playoff berth.As soon as time permits the “What’s a Tommie?” page will be updated with information about the Tommies mascot “Tommy the Tom Cat”. Thanks to the St. Thomas Student Union for lending stutommies.com a photo of our beloved mascot.

Tuesday, 17 January 2006

Game against UdeM rescheduled

Saturday’s game originally scheduled for 7 PM against U de M has been rescheduled to Sunday, January 22nd at 6 PM. The reason for the postponement is to allow STU to host it’s sixth annual Gala Dinner and Auction in support of the Millennium bursary fund.The game was originally scheduled to be broadcast on CHSR but had to be canceled. They would have liked to broadcast it but it couldn’t be rescheduled on such short notice. Thanks to CHSR, Dave Ritchie, and Canadian 2 for 1 Pizza for broadcasting Tommies games the rest of the year. It is truly appreciated.

Saturday, 14 January 2006

Molnar...Super star.

Acadia 1 Tommies 3. The first place Acadia Axemen were probably pretty happy to leave the LBR tonight and not have to worry about facing Aaron Molnar again this regular season. Aaron made 30 saves for the victory and many of them were of the huge variety. Acadia’s high powered offense could only solve him once and the rest was history.Scoring for the Tommies early in the second on the power play was Paul Giallonardo from Kyle McAllister and Justin McCutcheon. This held up until early in the third when Mark Cody got the eventual game winner unassisted. Thatcher Bell added some insurance mid way through the period with Jean Bourbeau getting the well earned assist digging the puck out from behind the net. Acadia got one with less than 10 minutes to go but Molnar Super Star closed the door. With the win the Tommies magic number falls to 2.5. The surprising UPEI Panthers beat ST FX in O/T tonight 3-2. Dalhouse lost 6-4 to the Squirrels and Moncton beat St Mary’s 3 to 1.The Tommies next game is against the Squirrels on Wednesday January 18th at the Aitken Centre. Game time 7 PM. Come out and support your Tommies and be prepared to make some noise to show those Squirrel fans a thing or two. The game will be aired over the internet by CHSR, see the broadcast page for more information. It can also be viewed by webcast for a fee.

In Ladies action the Tommies lost a heart breaker to Mt Allison 4 to 3. Mt A. scored with 6 seconds left in the third. Caroline Hammerheim, Ashley Duguay, and Nicole Ernst scored for the Tommies.

Friday, 13 January 2006

Unlucky Friday the 13th? You Bet!

St. Mary’s 3 Tommies 1. In a game where the Tommies out shot and out chanced their opponent, they didn’t out scrore them. The final shots on goal were 30-28 favouring the home team. The only goal came late in the second period and was scored by Jeff Bateman with assists to Kyle McAllister and Miguel Delisle.The Tommies were down 2 at the end of the first but came out firing in the second period. The team must have had 5 or 6 great chances to score but lady luck turned her back. Midway through the period the boys hit the post twice in the span of 10 seconds. Andrew Sim got the start in net and made some great saves in the loss and looked sharp on several occasions.The team gets another chance at lowering their magic number tomorrow night against first place Acadia. The game will be broadcast by The AVR Network, please see the broadcast page for more details. The Tommies magic number is at 3.5 with UPEI’s win tonight against Dalhousie. See you tomorrow night at the LBR. Show up and support your St. Thomas Tommies.

In Ladies action the Lady Tommies were also defeated 6-3 by St. Mary’s in Halifax. The game was close but the Huskies scored 2 goals in the final minute. Scoring for the Lady Tommies was Hannah Muir, Caroline Hammerheim, and Amy MacLennan.

Tuesday, 10 January 2006

Tommies fall from top ten

The CIS rankings were released today and the Tommies fell out of the top ten for the first time since November 15th.

Monday, 9 January 2006

Lady Tommies lose in exhibition play

The Lady Tommies came up on the short end of a 2 to 1 score against John Abbott College of Montreal in exhibition play on Saturday night. Scoring for the Tommies was Kelly Matthews. The Lady Tommies next game is Friday night 7 PM in Halifax against Saint Mary’s.

For those of you wondering what the calculation is for computing the Tommies magic number, here it is. Dalhousie and UPEI each have 6 points and 11 games remaining. 11 games x 2 points per game + 6 points = 28 points maximum for both teams. 28 points subtract the Tommies 21 points = 7 points or expressed in games 3.5 (3 wins and a tie/OT loss). Actually the Tommies magic number against DAL would be 4 (29 points max.) and 3.5 for UPEI because the Tommies have already beat them 3 times this season and if the teams ended up tied for points, the first tie breaker is head to head games.

Saturday, 7 January 2006

Acadia outlast Tommies 2 - 1

In a hard fought game on the Olympic ice surface of Acadia Arena the Tommies drop a close one 2 to 1. Scoring for the Tommies on the power play was Nick Theriault with assists to Kyle McAllister and Miguel Delisle. Aaron Molnar took the tough loss in net but played a fabulous game. He kept the the score close and made many great saves. Thatcher Bell missed most of the game and according to reports on EASTLINK suffered some broken teeth.With the loss the Tommies magic number remains at 3.5. Dalhousie was victorious tonight over the Squirrels 6 to 5. This was Dal’s 3rd win of the year, 2 of them against UNB. The Tommies are now 4 points behind Acadia for first place but fall to 4th in the standings tied with Moncton. U de M lost tonight 6 to 3 against SMU, who is now in sole possession of third. In other AUS action UPEI picked up it’s second win in a row, third of the year, beating ST FX 4 to 2.The Tommies are home next weekend with the back half of the home and home against SMU and Acadia. See you at the LBR or if your out of town you can listen to the Acadia game on the Internet compliments of the AVR Network. See the Broadcast page for the link.

Friday, 6 January 2006

Tommies tie Huskies 3 - 3

The Tommies had a strong game in Halifax tonight but had to settle for the tie against St. Mary’s. Thatcher Bell scored twice, the 1 st goal to tie the game at one. Justin McCutcheon drew the only assist. The Tommies took the lead in the second period on an end to end rush by Anthony Butera. The assist to Mark CodySt Mary’s tied it but not before Aaron Molnar made several big stops on a 2 man disadvantage mid way through the second period. Thatcher Bell restored the lead with his 2nd of the game late in the second with the assists going to Justin McCutcheon and Paul Giallonardo. St. Mary’s tied it early in the third with their third power play goal but Aaron Molnar closed the door the rest of the way for the tie. Molnar made 33 saves tonight.With the tie tonight, coupled with Dalhousie’s loss (5 - 3) to UPEI, the Tommies magic number is at 3.5 for a playoff spot. The Tommies are at Acadia tomorrow night at 7:30. See the broadcast page for more information.

Wednesday, 4 January 2006

St Thomas Tommies first half review [2005]

Jan 4th, 2006. First Half Review.

The regular season started October 14th in PEI on a positive note with a 3-2 win. PEI native, Thatcher Bell, saved the day with the winning goal mid way through the 3rd period. Aaron Molnar picked up the win. The team returned home the next night to play their cross campus rival the UNB Squirrels.

The game was interesting right from the opening face off. After the horn went to end the 1st, a fight between rookie defenceman Anthony Butera and 3rd year forward Stacey Smallman brought the fans to their feet. Smallman, in true Squirrel fashion, surprised Butera (in his second AUS game) by starting the fight. After the initial fleury of 5 or 6 punches thrown by Smallman, the STU rookie landed some great upper cuts and soon after brought the instigator down. Give Stacey the win based on his surprise attack and Mr. Butera a lesson on Squirrel tactics.

UNB kept taking one goal leads only to have the Tommies tie it up 3 times. The game was decided in overtime on a UNB breakaway goal and Aaron Molnar took the OT loss. After the game Tommie defenseman Mike Couch gave an honest statement to a local paper when he said “they hate us and we hate them”. It was nice to see some emotion as opposed to the standard post game drivel.

The Tommies home opener was on Friday, October 21st against Acadia. The Tommies came out victorious 5 to 1. Nick Theriault had 3 points in the win and Ryan Card scored less than a minute into the 2nd with the eventual game winner. Andrew Sim played a great game and got the win.

On Saturday night the St Mary’s Huskies invaded the LBR and the Tommies started out strong. They took the early lead only to have the Huskies fight back to tie it. The game went to overtime where an unlucky bounce off the referee and onto the stick of a SMU player led to the game winner. Andrew Sim took the OT loss. With the 3 points on the weekend the Tommies would end up being nationally ranked at #7.

The following weekend the 7th ranked Tommies were on the road to face Acadia and SMU. The Tommies were down 3 to 1 half way through the third period and things weren’t looking good for the Green and Gold on the Olympic size ice of Acadia
Arena. Out of the blue local boy Matt Seymour and Mark Cody caught fire and scored two goals in less than a minute to tie the game at 3. Acadia came back and scored with 50 seconds remaining in the third with what appeared to be the winner. Coach Eagles pulled the goalie and hoped for the best. With 11 seconds left in the third Captain Kyle McAllister potted his second of the game to tie the score. This was Kyle’s first game back after missing the previous 3 games with an injury. Good to have you back! Unfortunately for the Tommies, Acadia scored with less than a minute remaining in overtime to hand the boys their third overtime loss in 4 games. Aaron Molnar took the OT loss but was solid in net facing 50 shots.

The next night in Halifax the Tommies went into the first intermission tied 0 - 0 but it was all downhill from there. The Huskies scored the next 5 goals and eventually took the game 5 to 2. Andrew Sim took the loss.

On Wednesday, November 2nd the Squirrels infested the LBR with their presence and Part 2 of The Battle of the Hill. Less than 2 minutes into the game Anthony Butera was hit from behind by Nathan O’Nabigon. Once again the rookie defenceman learned to never turn your back on a Squirrel. O’Nabigon got 5 minutes and a game misconduct. The PP however was short lived thanks in large part to the Captain of the UNB dive team, Craig Mahon.(AKA Captain Squirrel) Rookie Miguel Delisle had a run in with Mahon in front of the UNB bench and touched him in the gut with his stick. Mahon went down like he was shot and Miguel was assessed 4 minutes for spearing. Good old Craig had to be helped from the ice but somehow found the strength to be back out on the point by the end of the power play. That guy is a trooper and true leader of our furry tailed rodent friends on the other side of the hill. The Tommies scored twice in the first and took a 2 goal lead into the second period.

The Tommies came out fast and furious and really took it to UNB early. Justin McCutcheon just missed making it 3 to 0 midway through the second while killing a penalty. The puck squirted out of the Tommies end and down the ice towards the UNB goalie, who proceeded to go out to his blue line to get the puck. The race was on and Justin was just barely first to the puck but whiffed on the deke and UNB got away with one. Shortly after this, momentum swung and UNB scored 3 quick goals to take the lead.

The third period was uneventful until the final minute. With the Tommies still down by a goal Coach Eagles pulled Molnar. The team couldn’t seem to organize in the UNB end and most of the chances were UNB’s into the open net. Two very near misses on the Tommie net started to send some of the doubters to the doors. With less than 15 seconds on the clock and the puck missing the open net by inches, UNB was called for icing. With their last chance to tie, the Tommies fought furiously in the UNB end for puck possession. With 5 seconds left Miguel Delisle found himself behind the net and sent the puck out front. It hit the UNB goal keeper and with 2 seconds left, it bounced in to tie the score and send the LBR faithful into fits of joy. In the overtime frame Nick Theriault came within a goal post of winning it for the Tommies but they had to settle for the tie. Aaron Molnar was the goalie of record with the tie.

Friday, November 4th U de M was in town to play the Tommies. This was the first game in Fredericton for the Aigles Bleus since Sebastian Savage was injured in an October 28th game against Acadia. The Tommies donated the 50-50 proceeds of this game and the UNB game to the Sebastian Savage Fund. STU also sold blue and white ribbons to help support this worthy cause.

The Aigles Blues played well and literally dominated the Tommies in a 4 to 1 win. The Tommies went 1 for 11 on the power play. Ryan Card scored the lone goal and Aaron Molnar took the loss in net.

Saturday, November 5th the team was on the road for their final trip of the regular season to PEI. This would also be the last game of the first half for newcomer Jeff Bateman and 3rd year forward Matt Seymour because of injury. Those two did not disappoint and both of them had a 2 point night. Chris Cook scored 3 points and the game winner in a 4 to 0 win. Andrew Sim recorded the shutout for his second win of the season.

The Tommies were back at home for their next 2 games. The Dalhousie Tigers were in on Friday, November 11th and St. FX X-men on the 12th. The Tigers looked hungry and came out swinging and held a 3 - 2 advantage going into the third. The Tommies responded by scoring 2 quick goals in the third to take the lead but Dalhousie tied the game less than a minute after that. The tie was short lived as Oromocto native Nick Theriault wired home the game winner on the PP with 15 minutes to play. Andrew Sim shut the door from there to the final whistle to get his third win of the year.

The game against X on the 12th was an interesting affair. The first goal scored by X was questionable as the puck squeezed between Simmer’s pads and slid slowly toward the goal line. It sounded like the Referee had blown the whistle before the puck went over the line but he didn’t think so and the goal counted. The Tommies countered with a goal by Nick Theriault less than a minute later.

The second period would see the remaining 5 goals of the game scored on the power play. First Ryan White of X took 2 minor penalties, one for holding and one for roughing. Just a few seconds later Miguel Delisle was skating past the penalty box and was hit in the face by Ryan White’s stick that was protruding over the penalty box and into the playing surface. Delisle went down on the ice for several minutes and White got issued 2 more minor penalties and a game misconduct for the stick infraction. Several minutes into the 2 man advantage, Delisle comes back onto the ice and ends up taking a face-off against Ryan Walsh, who takes exception to Miguel being back on the ice so quickly after being hurt. Walsh takes a poke at Delisle and gets assessed a 2 minute minor for roughing. The Tommies are on an extended 2 man advantage and find the back of the net 3 times on the PP.

X scored 2 more goals before the 2nd period was over but they would get no more in the third as Andrew Sim came up big time and time again for his 4th win and 3rd in a row. At the end of the game both coaches were assessed game misconducts for not obeying the referee’s directions as the teams left the ice. Coach Eagles would end up being suspended for 1 game because of this. Right or wrong, injured or not, Miguel Delisle was the catalyst behind the win on this night.

The following weekend would see the boys on the back end of the home and home games against Dal and X. On Friday November 18th the Tommies tamed the Tigers 3 to 0 with Coach Eagles in the press box sitting out his 1 game suspension. Assistant Coach Danny Grant didn’t miss a beat and Andrew Sim recorded his second shut out of the season, his 5th win of the year, and 4th in a row. Paul Giallonardo recorded the winning goal and Miguel Delisle had 2.

The rematch of the November 12th game between X and STU would take place in Antigonish. The same Tommie who gave them fits the week before did his thing again. Miguel Delisle came through with a big 4 point game including 2 goals (1 on a penalty shot). Andrew Sim stood large in net and stopped 33 St FX shots for his 5th win in a row. With the win the Tommies were back in the National rankings at #8.

The final weekend of the season saw the Tommies on the road in Moncton on Friday and back home for a Saturday night battle against the Panthers. Andrew Sim started for the 6th game in a row but just like their first game against U de M, the boys came up flat. Moncton thumped the Tommies 4 to 0 and the inability of the PP unit to beat the Moncton goalie, really hurt.

The final night of the first half had the Tom Cats back home in the friendly confines of the LBR. The Panthers scored first but couldn’t control the Tommies Captain in the third and the home side walked into the dressing room at the end of the game on a high note. Kyle McAllister scored 2 goals in the third including the winner. Aaron Molnar finished the first half just as he had started it, with a win against UPEI. With the win the Tommies cemented 3rd place in the AUS and would remain nationally ranked at #9.

So after the first 15 games of the season the Tommies are 2 points out of first place and their magic number is 5. With 13 games left for all teams, any combination of Dalhousie losses and St. Thomas wins, equalling 5, will see the Tommies in the playoffs.

On a related note, a comment was made in the local paper to the effect that it was about time the AUS was gaining some respect in the national rankings. Over the course of the first half up to 5 AUS teams have cracked the top 10 in the same week. While it is agreed that it is nice to see, it reflects poorly on the parity that we all know and love about the AUS. The national rankings are almost solely based on a team’s record and because of this, the AUS has historically shown poorly nationally. Why? All the AUS teams could beat each other on any given night. The best team wasn’t that much better than the worst team. Their records would be closer to .500 than the Ontario and Western teams, who had much easier fodder to feed off of. This year the AUS has two teams with 3 wins between them, each against one another, and the UNB anomaly against Dal. (The Tigers thumped UNB 7 - 1 on Oct 21st) This has translated into 4 or 5 extra points per team this year that they never usually get. For instance the Tommies and St FX have 10 points because of a perfect 5 and 0 record against Dal and UPEI. Acadia, St Mary’s, and Moncton have perfect records and 8 points apiece against the two bottom teams. All of these teams are ranked or have been ranked this year.

So while it is nice to see our Atlantic schools getting noticed nationally, it has come at the expense of 2 respected hockey programs and the parity that drives the league. In the short term I think we should be happy about it but in the long term let’s hope the national rankings include a few less AUS teams and the AUS standings show 8 vibrant, competitive teams.

Tuesday, 3 January 2006

Tommies finish 5th at Pete Kelly Tournament

Jan 3, 2006. The Tommies finished 5th out of 6 teams competing at the Pete Kelly Classic. The Tommies lost both games to fellow AUS teams SMU and Dalhousie by the identical 5 to 2 score. The second half of the regular season starts Friday on the road at St Mary’s and the following night in Acadia. Both games will be broadcast over the internet by CHSR. Saturday’s game can be viewed over the internet courtesy of EASTLINK cable. See our broadcast page for more information.