When St. Thomas reclassified from Division III to Division I in 2021, it was by necessity, borne out of the fact that their previous conference (the all-Minnesota based MIAC) no longer wanted to play the Tommies.
Their athletic programs were too successful, and they were, essentially, kicked out of the league they had helped to found in 1920 by numerous instate rivals.
Because of the MIAC’s geographic base, St. Thomas had numerous built-in rivalry games every season. The Tommies’ archrival, however, was a special one: St. John’s, located about 90 minutes away in Collegeville. The annual Tommies-Johnnies football game was a huge deal in the Minnesota small college sports calendar and would routinely sell out big stadiums in Minneapolis and St. Paul. The hockey rivalry between the two perhaps wasn’t on the same scale but was also fierce and heated.
In the Tommies’ final year in the MIAC in 2020-21, the Johnnies won the regular-season title, but St. Thomas beat them for the conference title and the NCAA tournament bid.
It might take a while for the Tommies to find a rivalry game on the same level as the Johnnies (100 years of history will do that), but there might be one team out there in St. Thomas’ conference who fills a similar profile in Minnesota State.
In St. Thomas’ two-plus years of Division I hockey, the Tommies have already played the Mavericks outdoors in a raging snowstorm during their inaugural CCHA season and beat them once in overtime.
This season, with the Tommies (8-7-1, 6-4-0 CCHA) currently sitting atop the CCHA standings and with a winning overall record in December for the first time in the Division I era, it seems like the Tommies-Mavericks series this weekend will be more intense and meaningful than ever before.
“Ultimately, they’re a team in our state, they’re an hour and 20 minutes away,” Tommies coach Rico Blasi said. “They’ve been the best team in our conference dating back to the old WCHA, so they’ve been on top of their game for the last 10 years. We look forward to the challenge. They have a lot of weapons; I don’t care what anybody says. They’re still probably the team in our league to beat, so we need to come ready to go on Friday.”
First-year Minnesota State head coach Luke Strand hasn’t played St. Thomas yet but said that, based on what he can see on the recruiting trail, the Tommies and the Mavericks are already going head-to-head for many of the same recruits. It’s only natural for that rivalry to intensify on the ice.
“I think that’s going to be the direction it’s going,” he said. “They’re a private school, not far away, they’ve got a new rink coming… you look at all of those factors, when you get into the recruiting pool of players, they’re doing a really nice job. I think the head-to-head competition, just based on proximity, it going to emerge as a great rivalry.”
The Mavericks (6-6-2, 4-3-1 CCHA) come into the weekend fresh off a five-point weekend at Lake Superior State. Those points were much needed after they were swept by Michigan Tech the previous weekend.
“I thought we just played a better brand of hockey,” Strand said of the series in Sault Ste. Marie. He said it seems like the Mavericks have been more consistent on the road than in Mankato – which is borne out by their 3-1-2 away record compared to 3-5-2 at home. “We go on the road, and we play a kind of a blah, good hard road game, but then we come home, and we try to make some silly move that ends up in a turnover because you’re in front of the home crowd. So we’ve got to find that out as a group because our road starts have seemed to be better.”
MSU tied LSSU on in Friday night’s game but won the shootout, they went on to win 4-3 on Saturday night.
Blasi said he wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from the Mavericks with Strand behind the bench.
“I don’t think I’ve gotten too deep into that yet, but I know Luke, and he’s a really good coach. I know he’ll have them ready,” Blasi said. “I know there’s some different things they do on power play and PK, but so does everybody. Mostly, I look forward to playing a really good college hockey team. I know what the media said about them at the beginning of the year, but you can throw those things out the window.”
The Tommies, meanwhile, are coming off a split against Ferris State in which they lost 5-2 on Friday but rallied to win 7-1 on Saturday. The latter game featured three goals from Mack Byers–the program’s first Division I hat trick.
Blasi said Saturday’s result was something of a reaction to the previous night’s big loss.
“I think Friday night, the leadership group was not happy,” Blasi said. “They needed to come out on Saturday and lead the way. So all the guys that are part of the leadership group came out determined. And that was nice to see.”
This weekend’s series closes out the first half of the seasons for both teams. Friday night’s game will be in Mankato with Saturday’s game hosted by St. Thomas in Mendota Heights, Minn.
