Philippe Trudeau - More on the Tommies new goaltender

Courtesy -
ECHL Stockton Thunder

With the addition of Philippe Trudeau to the Tommies line-up, STU is hoping to make a serious push towards the 2015 AUS playoffs.  They currently sit nine points back of 6th place Moncton for the final playoff spot.

The 6' 6" goaltender takes up a lot of net so lets hope this will be an important piece of the puzzle that the Tommies were missing in the first half of the season.  Below you can find a quote from Coach Pat Powers', Trudeau's stats, and a few videos.  Welcome to the St. Thomas community Phil.

"Powers has kept tabs on Trudeau all season, especially when workhorse netminder Jon Groenheyde decided in mid-August he wouldn’t be returning. 

“I was recruiting him throughout the summer,” Powers said. “Obviously when Jon kind of disappeared on us in August, I made sure to keep in touch with Phil throughout the first half, just periodically.

“He texted me a few days before Christmas and said he was leaving pro and he was thinking about CIS.” From the Daily Gleaner 

Youtube video of Phil at Islanders Rookie Camp

Video highlights from a Jan. 18, 2014 game between Ottawa and Belleville with Trudeau being the difference maker as his 67's defeated the Bulls 2 to 1.

Men's and Women's updates, AUS officating

I haven't done an update for almost two months, where does the time go?

The first half of the AUS season is almost complete for both the men's and women's hockey squads and there are lots of little Tombits to share.  Where to begin?

Let's start with the Ladies.  With three games left to play in 2014 the Tommies are in good shape heading towards the Christmas break sitting in 3rd place.  They have two games left against Mount Alison and one left against Dalhousie.  Today's matinee against Mount Alison starts at 2PM at the GHC.

Rookie Becky Connor leads the team in points (11) and plus/minus (+7) followed closely by Teah Anderson (10 pts, +1) and rookie Lauren Henman (10 Pts, -1).  In net the rookie tandem of Abby Clarke and Taylor Cook have been adjusting to the shooters of the AUS with Clarke having the better GAA and save percentage (.917 & 2.51) than Cook (.882 & 4.02).  For the most part the goalies have been alternating starts but if one of the freshman begins to steal a few games, they very well might find themselves as the number one heading to playoffs.

With the reemergence of Moncton this year as one of the top two teams in the AUS, the Tommies will have to find a way to beat them and X if they want to get back to Nationals.  In four games this season STU is winless against St-FX and UdeM.  Granted they had two tight matches against the X-Women losing  4 to 3 both times - including a tough last minute comeback - but the Tommies have to figure out a way to win these games if they want to go far in the post season.  TEAM STATS

Everybody is probably waiting for some prolonged rant about the men's 1 win and 13 loss record.  Well you better stop reading now because it isn't going to happen.  Regardless of their record, the men's team, under the leadership of Pat Powers, is setting itself up for better things to come.  I'm not going to preach patience to anyone but I will preach understanding.

The train wreck that was Tommies hockey in years gone bye needed to be dismantled one piece at a time or one section at a time.  Pat took out whole sections of the train and replaced them.  It would be nice if the new parts ran perfectly when you hooked them up but it didn't happen that way and that's fine.  When the pieces start to fall into place, they gain some experience, and maybe a few breaks go their way, things will come around.  The understanding part is that we have some really good players and who knows, the addition of one piece could change our fortunes dramatically.

When looking at the AUS stats everyone sees the elephant in the room. Our goals against are killing us.  We match up well against every team in the league when it comes to offence but fall flat on our asses when it comes to defence. Maybe its the goalies or maybe its the D in front of them, who knows, but until something happens to change it, you are not going to beat UNB, Acadia, or SMU when you allow eight, nine, or ten goals per game.

The Tommies are going to be getting more help up front after Christmas with the additions of Zach Hall and Shane McColgan to the line up.  Do I think this helps our defence?  Sure it does, if the puck is 150 feet away from our zone it is hard to score on us and both McColgan and Hall add elite level AUS skill to our roster.  TEAM STATS

I did say above that you might be looking for a rant.  Here is a small one.  If you are a Fredericton AUS fan - I don't care if you cheer for the Tommies or the Squirrels - we have been watching some BRUTAL officiating at the AUC and GHC.  Is the AUS completely and utterly blind because I think the refs they hire bloody well are.  What exactly do you expect from a referee that was fired/banned/not allowed to officiate at QMJHL games but is still doing higher level AUS games? And please don't think I am using this as an excuse for the Tommies poor showing this year, I am not.  Head right over to UNB and ask their fans what they think of the officiating and they will echo our thoughts and they are at the top of the standings. While it may be cliche to say it is "a joke" the fact is that the joke is on the players and fans that watch the games and either cringe or laugh due to the officials.  Somebody at the league level should do something about it here in Fredericton.

Feel free to comment on the officiating below.  It won't hurt my feelings any.

Tombits

The Friends of STU Hockey released their Newsletter last week and if you would like to read it or past issues, please follow the following link, Friends of STU Hockey or click on the Friends tab above.

Weekend scores - The men's team played their second and final home exhibition game over the weekend and topped the Nippissing University Lakers 5 to 2.  Pat Power's new recruits accounted for all the goals including two from Andrew Fritsch and singles from J.C. Campagna, Matt MacLeod, and Rankyn Campbell.  Luke Lee-Knight and Tyler Piercy split the goaltending duties for the win.  Here is the box score.

In women's action the Lady Tommies were defeated on Saturday night by the SMU Huskies 3 - 2.  Kelty Apperson was the only goal scorer that we know of.  Before you send me hate messages for not having enough women's hockey news, please remember that I will go out of my way to get whatever I can but sometimes information is limited.

This weekend -  Both men's and women's hockey teams will be heading to the Belle Province for Exhibition games.

The Lady Tommies will play Universite de Montreal on Friday night, Cegep St-Laurent on Saturday evening, and finish up on Sunday afternoon versus Concordia University.

The Men will play a double header against McGill on Friday and Saturday before ending their road trip on Sunday in Trois Rivieres against UQTR.

STUTommies.com message -  As many of you have probably noticed the website hasn't been updated for several months.  The truth is that maintaining the website is time consuming and is a labour of love that I am not willing to sacrifice for any longer.  I think that 9 years was a pretty good run.  That being said, I will continue to bring you updates from time to time and perhaps the odd alumni update.

I will try to remain current on Twitter @STUTommies   but Facebook will not be updated.

Until next time....GO TOMMIES GO!!!

2013 - 2014 St. Thomas Hockey awards

Congratulations to all the individual award winners below and special congratulations to the Women's hockey team for being named the Leroy Washburn Community Service Award winners.

Women’s Hockey
Rookie: Myfanwy Thomson
Top Defensive Player: Caley Steinert
Most Improved: Laura Bray
MVP: Kristin Wolfe

Men’s Hockey 
Rookie: Matt Bissonnette
Unsung Hero - Eric Couturier Award: Jonathan Bonneau
Most Sportsmanlike - Sister Helen Legere Trophy: Steve Sanza
Top Defenceman - Lou Chabot Trophy: Marc-Andre Levesque
MVP - Don Connelly Trophy: Jon Groenheyde & Randy Cameron*

* This is only the second time in 53 years that the Don Connolly Trophy has been shared.

McGill Martlets, CIS Women's Hockey Champs!

Game winning goal scorer, Brittney Fouracres

Congrats go out to the CIS National Women's Hockey Champs, the McGill Martlets. Both teams, McGill and Montreal played extremely well in the gold medal game.

Both teams scored in the first period, McGill narrowly edged the Carabins in shots on goal 7-6. In the second period McGill was the only team to score, taking a 2-1 lead, McGill had lots more pressure on the Carabins goaltender, Elodie Rousseau-Sirois, with shots on goal 11-4.

The third period is when the scoring opened up though, first with McGill taking a 3-1 lead midway through the period. Not to be outdone though, Montreal started their comeback. The Carabins scored under a minute later to make it a 3-2 game. With 3:13 remaining on the time clock Montreal was able to get the tying goal, making it whole new hockey game. This was the first period in which Montreal lead the shots on goal 11-7.

The first sudden death overtime decided nothing. The four on four overtime was fast and exciting though with lots of close chances. McGill doubled the Carabins shots on goal 6-3 in the 10 minute frame. The second overtime was incredibly short, Montreal took a penalty late in the first overtime giving the Martlets a 4-3 opportunity at the beginning of the second overtime. It only took 0:37 to score the season ending goal. D-lady Brittney Fouracres had the final shot on goal for the season and it was worth all the marbles.