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EAU CLAIRE— Both men’s and women’s Blugold ice hockey teams reflected on their seasons so far, and looked ahead to what the future may hold following the winter break.
“Our season is really divided into three sessions- first semester, second semester and playoffs,” said Blugold men’s head hockey coach Matt Loen. This first session began with a rocky start, which is reflected in the team’s overall record of 5-6-1, but things have begun to trend upward.
“I think looking at where we were at the start of the first semester versus the end has been a great confidence builder,” Loen said. On Saturday, they beat No. 15 UW-Stevens Point 5-2, splitting the series. Prior to playing the Pointers, the Blugolds beat No. 10 UW-River Falls 3-0 in another positive sign for the team.
The women’s team, on the other hand, has been hot out of the gate. In the most recent U.S. College Hockey Online (USCHO) poll, they were ranked the No. 11 division three team in the country. The team is on a six game winning streak, including two games against higher ranked teams- No. 2 Gustavus Adolphus College and most recently No. 6 Augsburg University. These wins helped bring the team’s overall record to 10-3-0 and conference record to 4-1-0.
The next games for Blugold men’s hockey will be a series against Milwaukee School of Engineering on Friday, January 10 and Saturday, January 11 at the Hobbs Ice Arena in Eau Claire. Then on Tuesday, January 14 they will face off against the Pointers for the final time in the regular season.
Blugold women’s hockey will have their next game on Monday, January 6 against Hamline University, which received votes in the most recent USCHO poll. Looking even further ahead the team has another game against the Gusties, now ranked No. 5, and two games against No. 2 UW-River Falls, who beat the Blugolds 5-0 earlier this season. Nevertheless, the team seems unfazed by a tough schedule.
“We are just trying to build one that we were trying to accomplish over the first half of the season,” assistant coach Erin Connolly said.
For both teams there is still a lot of season left, and staying focused will be paramount to success. Forward Maddie Hulter summed up her mentality for the rest of the season succinctly.
“Just putting pucks in the net,” Hulter said. “Keeping a scoring mentality is huge.”
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