APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University hockey team wants to leave the 2013-14 season right where it is — in the past.
Lawrence struggled to a 6-19-2 record a season ago, but the Vikings return a young and talented team for the upcoming campaign. The Vikings open their Northern Collegiate Hockey Association season on Friday night when they host Concordia (Wis.) University at the Appleton Family Ice Center.
“We certainly need to learn from our past experiences, both good and bad,” said Lawrence coach Mike Szkodzinski, entering his ninth season as head coach. “However, each year is a completely different group and a new opportunity. We are focused on getting the best out of this year’s group.”
The Vikings have hung their hat on toughness and defense throughout Szkodzinski’s tenure, but Lawrence allowed 4.1 goals per game last season.
“We have added some depth to our corps of defensemen, bringing in 4 new faces who we feel can contribute from day one to go along with five returners,” Szkodzinski said.
The leader of the defense is junior captain Brandon Boelter, who had one goal and 14 assists a season ago. The Vikings also have seasoned veterans like Kevin Killian, Phil Luongo and Steve Hughes back on defense. Newcomers like Austin Frank, Brad Mueller and Brendan Vetter bring size and skill to the defensemen.
“A key factor to our success will be how quickly our new bodies can adjust to the speed and physicality of college hockey,” Szkodzinski said. “Our goal is to be much stronger in the defensive and neutral zones. That has been a major focus during our first week of practice.”
The Vikings also return all three goaltenders, Mattias Soderqvist, Anton Olsson and Peter Emery. Soderqvist emerged as the starter after joining the team last year at mid-season. Despite just two wins, Soderqvist put together solid numbers with a .904 save percentage and 3.64 goals against average.
“Mattias has earned the opportunity to be our starting goaltender with his play and demeanor,” Szkodzinski said. “He has a presence about him that our players feed off of when he is in net. We are very confident in his abilities and expect him to be our rock in net this year.”
While Lawrence has a solid base and high expectations on defense, the Vikings have more questions on offense. Lawrence does return leading scorer Blake Roubos, who had 10 goals and 16 assists for 26 points as a freshman in 2013-14. The offense will start with him, and other teams know that as well.
“Roubos’ first step was to get stronger over the summer because teams will key on him,” Szkodzinski said. “He did that and is hungry to build on last season. His line mates will have to help create space for him to be successful on the score sheet. Again, we will only be successful if everyone contributes.”
Lawrence also returns a host of other forwards, seniors Gustav Lindgren and Patrick Coyne, juniors Renato Engler, Matt Moore and Ryan Rumble, to name a few, but none have had a breakout campaign yet.
“We will definitely have to score by committee this season,” Szkodzinski said. “We have several players who are capable of putting the puck in the net, but they haven’t proven that they can do it consistently. That being the case, we will have to get contributions from all four lines.”
Lawrence reached the NCHA playoffs last year but were eliminated by eventual national champion St. Norbert College, a team the Vikings upset earlier in the season. While the Vikings certainly want to get to the point where they are battling for a NCHA championship, they aren’t looking too far ahead.
“We definitely have some long-term goals within the program, but all the matters right now is getting off to a good start and playing the right way,” Szkodzinski said. “If we play the right way, with grit and tenacity, the results will speak for themselves as the season progresses.”