SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s hockey team opens its 2020-21 campaign Friday night at 7 p.m. when the Gusties host Lawrence University featuring a roster loaded with underclassmen. Fourteen first-years and six sophomores have their sights on making an early impact.
“Our freshman class is one of the better ones that we’ve had here in the last number of years,” Head Coach Brett Petersen said, who is in his 21st season at the helm. “But I also think a lot of other programs will come in with strong recruiting classes due to the pandemic and the backlog that it occurred in our sport. It’ll be a higher level of hockey and a great way to develop skill level in the bigger picture.”
The Gusties enter this year following a truncated 2020-21 season that was halted abruptly by COVID testing protocols. What today brings is the first regular season since the team’s fifth place finish in the 2019-20 season with a 7-7-2 conference record.
“We needed some guys to come back for an extra year because of how young we are, any additional experience that we could acquire is certainly beneficial with almost half the roster being first-year guys,” Petersen said. “We’re going to need every bit of experience that we get here, especially early in the season.”
The team returns four out of its five top goal scorers, including veterans Patrick Gazich (Sr., Minnetonka) and Mason Etter (Sr., Grafton, Wis.) who each saw playing time in the 2017-18 Gusties MIAC semifinal game. Etter was an was an integral piece in the 2019-20 defense that ranked second in the league with 2.35 goals allowed per game.
“I’m just pleased for Mason because a year ago he had ACL surgery and never stepped on the ice so that in itself is a great story on how hard he worked to get back to where he left off,” Petersen said. “Patrick has been named our captain and back in his fifth year, which is a testament on someone who didn’t make as big of an impact early in his career and is now playing a major role simply due to the fact of how much motivation he has and the time he’s put in and to get to where he is at.”
Other notable returners include Connor Clemons (Sr., Savage) with nine goals and 14 assists, Nick Klishko (Sr., San Diego, Calif.) who posted six goals and 13 assists, and Tyler Ebner (Sr., La Crosse, Wis.) who added seven goals and nine assists.
Bringing experience to the blue line is Toby Sengvongxay (Sr., Luverne) who was named assistant captain while Gazich will wear the C for the Gusties this season. Sengvongxay played in all 26 games in 2019-20 with two goals and eight assists and tacked on another in the five-game 2021 season.
“Toby is one of the finest young men that we’ve had in our program, both on and off the ice, he handles himself in a first-class way,” Petersen said. “We’ll be looking to him, Tyler, Connor, and Nick to log time up front and set the standard for our younger guys. They’re certainly up for the challenge, in really good shape, and excited to get going.”
The team begins with three weekends of non-conference games before facing off against Bethel in the first conference series since 2020. Additionally, the Gusties cap the season against MIAC newcomer St. Scholastica.
“We just started two weeks ago, we need to get some things on video,” Petersen said. “We have one scrimmage under our belts against St. Olaf but we just need to play. We have an opportunity to get a lot of guys in the lineup this weekend, and on the other side we just need to throw some guys in the fire too. We’re just excited to get going.”
The Gusties host Lawrence University for the season opener at 7 p.m. tonight and rematch against the Vikings on Saturday at 7 p.m.