Tommies defeat Mt. Allison at U de M tournament

Game one of the six team Universite de Moncton pre-season hockey tournament saw the Lady Tommies upend the Mt. Allison Mounties 5 to 2.

The Tommies started out slow and were down to the Mounties 2 - 0 at the end of the first period. The shots favoured Mt. A 18 to 9. Most of the 18 shots were generated on the PP but both goals were scored at even strength.

STU came roaring out in the second and scored 4 goals and added another in the 3rd period. Captain Kayla Blackmore lead the way with a hat trick and 1 assist. Dani Miller had a goal and an assist and Erin MacIsaac scored her first as a Tommie. Shots at the end of the game favoured the Mounties 46 - 28 but they went 0 - 7 on the PP while St. Thomas was 2 - 5. Julia Sharun picked up the win.

The Lady Tommies continue the tournament tomorrow against the Saint Mary's Huskies at 1:30 PM and the game can be watched live on-line HERE.

Daily Gleaner: Blackmore lifts Tommies

Tommies fall to X-Men

A good showing tonight by the Tommies was not enough to secure their first win of the pre-season as STU dropped a 4 - 2 decision to St-FX in exhibition men's hockey play at the LBR.

The X-Men scored first at 6:29 of the opening frame, as Scott Brannon notched the marker on the powerplay. STU would respond with less than a minute to go when Stephen Sanza got his first as a Tommie with some help from Mike Reich and Jonathan Bonneau. Shots were 11 to 7 for X but the period was fairly even.

The second period was the Tommies ultimate demise as X scored at 8:49 and two late goals at 18:53 and 19:38 to pull ahead 4 - 1 heading to the third. Marco Desveaux shorthanded breakaway goal, X's third, was a back breaker.

In the final period the Tommies couldn't muster the comeback but made the score respectable with a late Bryan Main goal at 19:59 from Mike Reich and Kyell Henegan. Charles Lavigne faced 35 shots in a losing effort with STU firing 23 the other way. Mike Reich with 2 assists and strong play was the stutommies.com player of the game.

Daily Gleaner: X-Men double Tommies

Tomorrow afternoon the Lady Tommies will play the Mount Allison Mounties in Moncton at the UdeM pre-sesaon tournament. The men will be back in action Saturday afternoon at 4 PM against UQTR, who dropped a 3 - 2 decision against the Squirrels tonight in Woodstock.

Tommies set for full weekend of hockey

The men's and women's hockey teams continue their exhibition schedule this weekend with two home games for Troy Ryan's Tommies and 3 games in Moncton for Peter Murphy's Lady Tommies.

This evening, the St. FX X-Men invade the LBR for a 7 PM tilt against STU. The X-Men are 1 and 1 in exhibition play, losing a close game to the Calgary Dinos 2 - 1 and pounding the Dalhousie Tigers 8 - 1. St. Thomas is coming off a 6 - 2 loss to Acadia but Troy Ryan saw some positives from the loss.

"I'm most pleased with our last period in Wolfville," said Ryan, who was hired as the team's new bench boss in April. "I thought we started to do what we've been working on in practice, and we managed some shots on goal. In those two games I've seen a lot of bad habits, but I've also seen a willingness to change and learn."

Ryan said he expects his team to build on its third period against Acadia, in which it scored two goals and out shot the Axemen 15-5, and carry that upswing into a pair of exhibition matches against two traditionally high calibre opponents this week.

Daily Gleaner: Ryan sees progress with Tommies

On Saturday afternoon at 4 PM UQTR will be at the LBR for their 3rd game in a 3 game maritime tour that begins tonight in Woodstock versus UNB, then tomorrow in Truro versus SMU, and last but not least St. Thomas.

The Lady Tommies head to Moncton tomorrow for the Aigles Bleues annual pre-season tournament. They will start round robin play against the Mount Allison Mounties tomorrow at 2 PM, the SMU Huskies Saturday at 1:30 PM, and Sunday "to be announced" depending on results. We will try to get end of period scores for our Twitter and Facebook followers.

GOOD LUCK TOMMIES.

Tommies take a double dip in exhibition play

Saturday was not a fun day for the Tommies. Both the men and women fell to defeat in exhibition action against familiar AUS foes.

This evening in Charlottetown, the Lady Tommies lost 3 to 2 against the UPEI Panthers. The Panthers had a 2 - 0 lead after the 2nd period but the Tommies roared back with goals by Kayla Blackmore and Dani Miller to tie the game in the third. Unfortunately, the Panthers scored with 56 seconds to go on a rebound, after STU had pushed hard for the winner with momentum on their side. Julia Shurun took the loss facing 24 shots while the Tommies fired 30 the other way. Another good note the penalty kill was perfect again tonight and one of the goals was on the PP.

This afternoon in Wolfville the men suffered a 6 to 2 loss to the Acadia Axemen. Acadia had period leads of 3 -0 after the first and 5 - 0 after the second. Mike Reich scored both Tommies goals in the third to cut the lead to 5 - 2 but Acadia scored with 3 minutes left to cement the win. Justin Collier takes the loss in nets.

EDIT: The Tommies second goal was scored by Randy Cameron.  Official Box Score

Lady Tommies add to depth with latest recruit

The Tommie have added Cow Bay, Nova Scotia native Carly Critch to the 2011-12 roster.  Carly played in the Metro High School Girls Hockey League (Halifax area) last season and led her team in points as a defenseman.  Since her arrival at St. Thomas, Coach Murphy has switched her to a forward, where she played last night in STU's 2 - 0 victory over UPEI.

Carly has good acceleration on the ice and will certainly add to the Tommies depth this season.

Carly's (limited) profile from the MHSGHL

Former accolades for Carly

Lady Tommies start off on the right foot

Backstopped by Julia Sharun's 41-save performance in goal, the STU Tommies blanked the UPEI Panthers 2-0 tonight at the LBR in exhibition action.  Kayla Blackmore (Danielle Miller, Erin MacIsaac) opened the scoring early with a top shelf marker at 2:51 of the first period.  The Panthers outshot STU 12-5 over the first 20 minutes.

The second period was scoreless thanks to Sharun's exceptional play as UPEI directed 13 shots at the STU net versus just 4 shots for the Tommies.

The third period brought a close call for UPEI, as the puck appeared to have crossed the line, but Sharun made a diving save to reach back to swipe the puck away from the line.  The goal judge triggered the red lamp, but the referee immediately waved off the goal.  The Tommies responded at 18:14 when Katie Brewster (Kathleen Boyle, Courtney Fox) was sprung loose on a breakaway and sealed the win with a nifty backhand.

UPEI outshot STU 41-16 overall, but the Tommies gained their first victory of the exhibition season, and look forward to a rematch tomorrow night at 7:00 PM in Charlottetown.

Tommies drop exhibition opener

The Hollywood script writers were noticeably absent in the tale of new Tommies' head coach Troy Ryan's first game behind the bench, as the Tommies opened their final season at the venerable Lady Beaverbrook Rink with exhibition action against the UPEI Panthers.  The Panthers scored 55 seconds into the game and coasted to a 7-3 victory.  Yuri Cheremetiev scored 2 goals and Felix-Antoine Poulin added a single for St. Thomas.  Charles Lavigne played the first two periods in goal, and was relieved for the final stanza by rookie Justin Collier.  The Tommies men continue their pre-season tuneups on the road Saturday night against Acadia.

Daily Gleaner: Tommies run into trouble early

Tommies add trio of players. Zandbeek, MacDonald, and Collier

STU makes the addition of three MHL veterans to round out their line-up for the 2011-12 season. DG: New era for Tommies dawns Wednesday. A big question mark all summer was who was going to replace Ben MacFarlane and get the back-up goaltending position behind Charles Lavigne? Consider it answered.

Courtesy MHL

Justin Collier, most recently of the Pictou County Weeks Crushers, will be a solid reinforcement to the goaltending tandem. In 40 regular season games last season, Justin posted an impressive 2.61 GAA, a .919 save percentage, and 21 wins for the Crushers. This was no fluke as his save percentage has been over .915 for the past three seasons.

Justin's MHL profile

Yarmouth County Vanguard - Article

Courtesy MHL

Robert Zandbeek comes to STU after being the Captain of the MHL's Woodstock Slammers last season. He also has 3 years experience in the always tough AJHL. A native of St. Albert, Alberta, Rob had a break-out season last year scoring career highs of 20 goals and 38 assists for 58 points for the Slammers. Rob is known for giving it "his all" every shift and being a good character guy.

Rob's Slammers profile

Courtesy MHL

Last but not least, John MacDonald former Captain of the Metro Marauders will wear the Tommies green and gold this season. John is well known to Coach Ryan, as he has played for him the past 2 seasons in Nova Scotia. Not a big point producer, John is willing to do what it takes to get wins. If the coach thinks enough of this kid to bring him on board, he may just surprise a few people.

John's MHL profile

Tommies head up north to Alaska for latest recruit

Courtesy Alaska All-stars

The STU Lady Tommies have added another forward to the ranks for the upcoming 2011-12 season. Brianne Bohn of Wasilla, Alaska has come east to patrol the left wing for St. Thomas. Bohn definitely has some skills and will give the Tommies depth in the foward ranks, something they have been without for the past several years.

Coach Murphy had this to say about our new Green and Gold prospect, "She (Bohn) has a great set of wheels and is very dogged and determined on the puck. She will provide excellent depth at forward and will look to help the team on the scoreboard. We are very pleased to have her attending St Thomas."

Good luck Brianne and WELCOME!

Brianne's AAA profile

STU Athletics' Article

Coach Ryan out to "fix" Tommies

Bill Hunt of The Daily Gleaner recently caught up with Coach Troy Ryan and spoke to him about the St. Thomas Men's program and a few things that are going to happen this season. Here are a few quotes from the story.

To that end, he's spent the summer "getting (my) feet wet within the university and getting to know the people you have to work with on a daily basis to get things done, whether it's admissions or the registrar's office and meeting with them and seeing how they would like things done in the future. That's been one of the busiest parts of my job."

"I like the change I've been able to make already. Erick Tremblay wanting to come back...that, to me, is a small success. I like the fact we've been able to tap into the OHL a bit and get a couple of quality recruits."

Read the entire article here. DG: Ryan rolls up his sleeves at STU

QMJHL veteran Jonathan Bonneau added to Tommies roster

Courtesy QMJHL

The Tommies have added another CHL veteran player to the line-up for 2011-12.  Jonathan Bonneau, who  most recently played for the Chicoutimi Saqueneens, will add some spark on left wing this year for STU.

Bonneau was drafted 4th overall in the 2007 QMJHL entry draft by the Victoriaville Tigres, where he played for 2.5 seasons before being traded to PEI.  In his overage year he was traded 2 times, first from PEI to Rouyn-Noranda, then to Chicoutimi.  His point production improved every year in junior hockey with totals of 24, 31, 37, and 42 points respectively in his four year junior stint.