CSB+SJU hockey teams shooting for success in 2024-25 season

Led by experienced senior classes, the St. Ben’s and St. John’s hockey teams share a common goal for the season: win a MIAC conference championship title.

A 2023-24 campaign that added 11 first-year student-athletes to the SJU hockey team’s roster did not go in the direction the team hoped it would.

The Johnnies finished the season with a record of 9-12-4, placing fifth in the MIAC, and they missed the conference playoffs for the first time in six years.

Despite a start to the season that was not what they had hoped for, the Johnnies managed a second half turnaround that included six wins and two ties in their last 12 games of the season.

Head coach Doug Schueller noted that the team often performs better around winter break, as it is more similar to the players’ junior hockey days: They do not have classes, and their days consist of playing hockey and spending time with the team away from the rink.

Senior Spencer Rudrud highlighted how the age of this year’s team will be a factor in coming out of the gate hard this season.

“Being a year older and having that experience is going to go a long way [because there is] not as much growing pains to start the year,” Rudrud said.

The team has only two first-year student-athletes on the roster this year, and with a captain’s group that includes three seniors and one junior, they bring a lot of experience to the ice.

A key point in offseason training for the team was the effort to become a more physical team and be more difficult for their opponents to play against.

“I think our biggest thing going into this year is we wanted to be grittier, tougher, harder to play against,” Schueller said. Senior Matt DeRosa echoed this sentiment.

“Putting on a little more strength, a little more weight, and throwing the body around a little more than what we used to do is going to help us this year,” DeRosa said.

The CSB hockey team, coming out of a 2022-23 season in which they set a program record with 11 conference wins and tied the record for total wins with 14, took a step back in the 2023-24 season.

The Bennies finished with an 11-12-2 record, placing them sixth in the conference and outside of the MIAC playoffs by one place in the standings.

“Last year we lost a lot of games that I don’t think we should have lost, so we’re holding each other accountable to a different standard this year,” senior Aurora Opsahl said.

This year the team added seven new first-year student-athletes and returned many players, including two of their top three scorers from last season, Opsahl and Ava Stinnett.

With so much talent spread among all four grade levels, the team has a lot of depth with which to try out different line combinations as new situations call for.

Even with the difference in ages on the team, Opsahl praised the bond the team has developed with each other, which she says has helped foster a positive team culture.

Head coach Lindsay Macy is entering her third season with the Bennies, and Opsahl explained how the team culture has moved in a more positive direction since Macy joined the program.

“We’re having more fun, and this year we want to really be like, ‘hey, we’re going to win this game together as a team,’” Opsahl said, emphasizing the team-first mindset that has been cultivated under Macy’s coaching. The goal of both teams for this season, as for every season, is to be playing in the conference tournament at the end of the season.

“It’s definitely unacceptable for this hockey program not to make the playoffs. I think that’s got to be the standard, and we look to get back on track with that this year,” Schueller said.

Following two exhibition games each, both teams will start their regular season on Nov. 2 at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.