St. Cloud State Hockey: 2007-08 Season Preview

• Ryan Lasch was selected as the third Hobey Baker top 10 finalist from SCSU in 2007-08. He joins other SCSU Hobey finalists Mark Hartigan (2002) and Bobby Goepfert (2007). An All-America award winner in 2008, Lasch is the seventh player from SCSU to gain AHCA All-America honors. This also marks the eighth time that an SCSU has earned AHCA All-America notice. He is the fourth forward at SCSU to gain this award, and this marked the third consecutive season that a SCSU player has earned AHCA All-America honors. Overall, SCSU skaters have earned All-American honors 19 times since Ronald Gordon became the Huskies' first All-American in 1969-70. Lasch is the first resident of California to gain AHCA All-America honors at SCSU.
• Ryan Lasch (first team), Andreas Nodl (second team) and Garrett Roe (second team) were all named for All-WCHA honors in 2008. This marks Nodl's second year as a All-WCHA selection, as he was named to the All-WCHA third team in 2007. Roe was named to the All-WCHA Rookie team in 2008, and Lasch was named the league's scoring champion this winter with 34 points (17g/17a)
• Sophomore forward Garrett Roe was selected in the 2008 NHL entry draft by the Los Angeles Kings. An All-WCHA Second Team selection and All-WCHA Rookie team pick in 2008, Roe rank third among the nation's Division I rookies with 45 points during his freshman year at SCSU. He posted 18 goals and 27 assists for the Huskies.
• SCSU players named to the All-WCHA Academic team in 2007-08 were Matt Stephenson, Aaron Brocklehurst, Marty Mjelleli, Garrett Raboin, Jon Ammerman, Ryan Lasch, John Swanson and Brent Borgen. WCHA Scholar-in 2007-08 were Raboin, Ammerman and Borgen.
• The Huskies set a new team record this winter by allowing only 18 power-play goals in 40 games last season. The previous best was 26 power-play goals allowed in 1999-00. The Huskies also set a new team record for best penalty-kill rate in 2007-08 at 87.4%. The old standard of 86.7% was hit in 1999-2000, when the Huskies were 170-196 on the PK. In 2007-08, the Huskies were 125-143 on the penalty-kill.
• The St. Cloud State men's hockey team made its second consecutive trip to the NCAA Division I tournament in 2008. This marked the seventh time the Huskies have been selected for NCAA tournament play. SCSU has qualified for NCAA tournament play six times since 2000, with the team's other NCAA bid coming in 1989. This marked Coach Bob Motzko's second NCAA tournament with the Huskies, and the second in his college coaching career. Motzko was a named the WCHA Coach of the Year in 2006 and 2007, and he has guided his Husky skaters to the WHCA Final Five in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
• Ryan Lasch ranked seventh in the nationin 2007-08 with 1.32 ppg. He ranked also ranked sixth among DI players last winter with 53 points overall. He ranked ninth in the nation with .62 goals per game, and his 13 power play goals last season were 4th best in the country and tops in the WCHA...Garrett Roe's 45 points last season were third best among the nation's rookie players...Jase Weslosky's 2.12 goals against average not only set a team record last season, but it also ranked 11th in the nation among DI netminders. His .931 save percentage set a team record, and it ranked fourth best in the country last season...SCSU led the WCHA and was fifth in the nation on the power play at 22.5%.
• SCSU's Marty Mjelleli was selected as a top 10 finalist for the 2008 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. Mjelleli was named a 2008 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award All-Senior All-America First Team award recipient. This marked the second consecutive season that a Husky gained Lowe's Senior CLASS Award All-Senior All-America status. Mjelleli is the first Husky to be named to the first team. He was also a nominee for the Hockey Humanitarian Award.
• The Huskies did not allow more than three goals in a game since a 5-3 loss to Colorado College on Feb. 8, 2008. In the last 13 games of the 2007-08 season, the Huskies allowed just 17 goals.
• Forward Andreas Nodl signed a professional contract with the Philadelphia Flyers (NHL) after his sophomore season in 2007--08. In two seasons with the Huskies, Nodl was a two-time All-WCHA selection. He will go down in history as the first Husky at the DI level to win a major national award, as he was named the HCA DI National Rookie of the Year in 2007. Nodl posted 90 points (36g/54a) during his two seasons at SCSU. In 2006-07, Nodl set a new freshman scoring record for the Huskies with 18g/28a for 46 points. In 2007-08, Nodl ranked third on the team with 18g/26a for 44 points.
• SCSU saw 12 of its former players skate in NHL games in 2007-08. Those former Huskies in the show include Bret Hedican (Carolina), Matt Cullen (Carolina), Tim Conboy (Carolina), Joe Jensen (Carolina), Casey Borer (Carolina), Tyler Arnason (Colorado), Jeff Finger (Colorado), Joe Motzko (Washington), Mark Hartigan (Detroit), Ryan Malone (Pittsburgh), Duvie Westcott (Columbus) and Mark Parrish (Minnesota).. Hartigan helped Detroit to a Stanley Cup championship, while Malone played in the Cup finals for Pittsburgh. Only seven other NCAA teams had more former players in the NHL this season than SCSU.
• For the third consecutive season, the Huskies have set a new team record for fewest penalty minutes and penalties in a season. SCSU had 194 penalties in 2007-08, which included 437 penalty minutes (both new team records). The Huskies were the third least penalized team in DI hockey last season with just 10.9 PIM per game. Of note, the old record at SCSU was 218 penalties in 2006-07, and previous mark was 248 penalties in 2005-06.
• Netminder Jase Weslosky set a new team record with a 2.11 GAA during his sophomore year in 2007-08. He allowed just 67 goals in 1900:44 minutes of play. The old record of 2.20 GAA was set by Bobby Goepfert in 2005-06. Weslosky also set a new record for save percentage in 2007-08 with a .931 rate. The old record of .926 was set by Scott Meyer in 2000-01. He had 910 saves last year, which ranks sixth in the team records behind season save record holder Brian Leitza with 1,041 in 1997-98. Weslosky had three shutouts in 2007-08 for the Huskies.
• The Huskies averaged 5,872 fans per game at the NHC in 2007-08. A total of 117,430 fans flocked to the NHC in 20 home dates last winter. This marked the 12th consecutive season that the Huskies have drawn more than 100,000 fans to their home games at the beloved NHC.
• SCSU faced one of the top 10 toughest schedules in Division I hockey in 2007-08. In fact, the Huskies played 26 of their 40 games in 2007-08 against nationally ranked teams (in top 20 at the time they played SCSU). SCSU charted an 11-12-3 record in those games - which included wins over Clarkson, North Dakota, Colorado College, Wisconsin, Harvard, Minnesota and Michigan Tech. SCSU completed its 2007-08 season ranked 14th in the final USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll released (and 8th in the final USCHO.com poll). This marked the third consecutive season that the Huskies were ranked among the nation's top 15 teams in the final national polls.
• The Huskies will return 17 players from last year's team that posted a 19-16-5, 12-12-4 WCHA record in 2007-08. SCSU placed fourth in the WCHA last season, and defeated Wisconsin in first round WCHA playoff action in 2007-08. Of note, six of the Huskies top 10 point producers are slated to return from last year's squad.
• SCSU's senior leaders in 2008-09 will include forward John Swanson, forward Michael Olson, forward Brent Borgen and defender David Carlisle.
• SCSU head coach Bob Motzko begins his fourth season with the Huskies in 2008-09. He owns a 63-43-16 career record at SCSU, which includes two NCAA tournament appearances and three WCHA Final Five appearances. He will be assisted in 2008-09 by Eric Rud and Mike Gibbons.
• Ryan Lasch tied a team record in 2007-08, with five game winning goals for the Huskies.
• The Huskies will compete in the 2008 Florida College Hockey Classic in Estero, Florida on Dec. 27-28, 2008. The Huskies will meet up with Cornell in first round play of the tournament, while Maine and Colgate will complete the tournament field at Germain Arena.
• The Huskies will open the 2008-09 season with an exhibition game against the University of British Columbia on Oct. 8, at the National Hockey Center. SCSU will open its regular season on Oct. 10-11, with a pair of home dates against non-conference rival Mercyhurst. Other non-conference opponents on the SCSU schedule in 2008-09 include Bemidji State and Robert Morris.
• SCSU has enjoyed eight winning seasons over the past 10 years, which includes records over .500 in 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08.