APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University hockey team doesn’t have a philosophy major on the squad, but it’s a good bet the Vikings are thinking about Friedrich Nietzsche.
It was the German philosopher, not Kelly Clarkson, who said what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. After enduring a rough second half of the season, the Vikings have emerged with a Northern Collegiate Hockey Association playoff berth in hand.
Lawrence opens the Harris Cup playoffs with a quarterfinal series at No. 7 St. Norbert College (17-5-2) Friday and Saturday at the Cornerstone Community Center.
“This is one of the most resilient groups we have had at Lawrence,” Lawrence head coach Mike Szkodzinski said. “They continue to put forth tremendous work ethic every single day despite the less-than-ideal results. It would be very easy to pack it in, but this group just keeps bouncing back.”
The Vikings (7-17-1) have won just twice since coming back from the holiday break, but Lawrence has played a murderer row’s schedule in the last two months. Five of the last 12 games have been against ranked opponents (not including MSOE, who is 16th in the latest poll) and eight of those 12 were on the road.
“The NCHA is a great conference. Every single night is a challenge,” Szkodzinski said. “We have played hard nearly every game and simply need to stay the course. It is a hard thing to do, but if we stick to our plan and continue to be tenacious on the puck, we can stick with just about anyone.”
Lawrence did exactly what it needed to do last weekend when it won the series opener at Finlandia University. That victory clinched the No. 7 seed in the playoffs, and the Vikings did it against a team that had a win over league champion, No. 2 Adrian College, on its resume. The key was early scoring and a great effort from goaltender Mattias Soderqvist.
“Mattias has been our leader on the ice,” Szkodzinski said. “The team is very confident in his ability as is the coaching staff. He needs to be on top of his game and he know it and enjoys the challenge.”
Soderqvist improved to an .897 save percentage and 4.08 goals against average on the season. The goaltender also got a boost from a defense that forced Finlandia into an 0-for-10 on the power play last weekend. Continuing that trend will be critical since St. Norbert has scored on 28.1 percent of its chances on the man-advantage this season.
“Sound team defense is a must heading into Friday night,” Szkodzinski said. “That includes our forwards coming back hard, our defensemen taking away their time and space and our goaltender making the saves he is supposed to make. It will take all 20 guys suited up to commit to playing with a defense-first mentality.”
On the flip side, St. Norbert is without All-American and national player of the year David Jacobson in net. He was injured at the end of January in a pre-game warmup and was lost for the season.
The Green Knights were in the midst of a four-game losing streak when Jacobson got hurt, but St. Norbert won three straight to finish the regular season with sophomore goalie Tony Kujava stepping into the breach.
“They have a strong next-man-up mentality, and Kujava is a very, very good goaltender,” Szkodzinski said. “Sure, it’s a loss, but that team has proven in the past that they win as a team. We will have to test him and get to the net consistently.”
The Vikings are averaging just 2.12 goals per game so scoring has been at a premium. The Vikings’ leading goal scorer is freshman defenseman Brendan Vetter with seven, and the team’s top point-getters, forwards Blake Roubos and Jake Kreutzer, haven’t scored in their last six and five games, respectively. To compound the problem, St. Norbert leads the league in scoring defense at 1.83 goals per game.
“We have got to get to the paint this weekend,” Szkodzinski said. “St. Norbert does not give up many opportunities, so we have to bury our chances when they come.”