Saint John's hockey opens the 2022-23 season with a 7:05 p.m. game on Saturday, Oct. 29, at Wisconsin-River Falls. – Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Stats | Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Doug Schueller's 15th season at the helm of the Saint John's University hockey program begins with a genuine sense of optimism.

For starters, the Johnnies are coming off a third-place finish in the MIAC (9-4-1 conference, 17-8-2 overall) in 2021-22 and their fourth consecutive appearance in the MIAC Playoffs.

Schueller returns six of the eight Johnnies that earned MIAC honors last season, including four of the five All-MIAC first-team selections in junior forward Lewis Crosby (Edina, Minn.), senior forward Auggie Moore (Edina, Minn.), junior defenseman Jack Olsen (Lakeville, Minn.) and senior defenseman Peter Tabor (Edina, Minn.).

All told, SJU returns 85 percent (206 of 243) of its points from last season (81g/125a of 91g/152a), including all but one of the 17 game-winning-goal scorers.

The Johnnies, however, need to replace All-America goaltender Mac Berglove '21, who posted a 13-6-2 record with two shutouts and a .932 save percentage (547 saves) last season. His 1.88 GAA was the fourth-best in program history among those with 1,000 minutes played or more. 

Here's a look at the 2022-23 Johnnies:

One Moore Season
Moore collected his second consecutive All-MIAC, first-team honor last season and will once again don the captain's "C" for the Johnnies in 2022-23. He played all 27 games and led the Johnnies in points (28), power-play points (8) and game-winning goals (4), while finishing second in goals (15) and assists (13). Moore finished second on the team with seven goals in conference play. He begins his senior season with 68 points (31g/37a), including 10 game-winning goals, in 62 career games.

Transfer Totals
A trio of junior forwards who transferred to SJU prior to the 2021-22 season, made instant impacts as sophomores last year. Crosby, like Moore, played all 27 games and led the Johnnies in goals (17) and finished second in points (23). He became the first Johnnie to score 17 goals or more in a season since Matt Erredge '99 (27 goals in 27 games during the 1998-99 season) and the first to record three hat tricks or more in a season since Craig Herr '92 in 1991-92 (six). Crosby led SJU in goals (8) and power-play goals (2), and tied for third in points (10) in conference play.

Michel finished fourth on the team overall with 19 points (10g/9a) in 25 games and tied with Crosby for the team lead with 11 points (3g/8a) and two game-winning goals in 11 conference games. Josh Maucieri (Crosby, Minn.) collected 14 points (5g/9a) in 25 games.

Sophomore Skaters
Rudrud is joined by five other sophomore forwards for SJU in 2022-23. Last season, Rudrud was named to the six-man MIAC All-Rookie Team, becoming the 20th Johnnie to earn the distinction since it was established for the 2004-05 season. He missed the Johnnies' final five games due to injury, but still managed to lead the team with 15 assists and finished third overall with 20 points. He ended the season with a seven-game point streak (1/g7a) and tied for the team lead with 11 points (3g/8a) and two game-winning goals in 11 MIAC games.

Jackson Sabo (Rosemount, Minn.) joined the Johnnies for spring semester and totaled eight points (4g/4a) in 13 games. Matt DeRosa (Alpharetta, Ga.) followed with six points (4g/2a) in 21 contests, while Cody Carlson (Buffalo, Minn.) and Garrett Smith (Eden Prairie, Minn.) dressed for 14 games each and recorded six (2g/4a) and five points (1g/4a), respectively.

Experienced D
The Johnnies return four of their main six defensemen from last season, minus Jerome Newhouse '22 (1g/3a in 16 games) and Max Osborne (5g/5a in 24 games), who transferred to Division I Alaska-Anchorage. Olsen's conference schedule was limited to nine games due to injury, but he still tied for the team lead among defensemen with seven points (0g/7a) from the blue line and finished second overall with a plus/minus rating of +11. He totaled 11 points, all assists, with a team-best +16 in 21 games overall. Tabor, meanwhile, led SJU's defensemen with 17 points (3g/14a) in 25 games, which were good for fifth overall. His 14 assists were second. He collected six points (2g/4a) in 14 league games.

Senior Joe Raleigh (Lake Elmo, Minn.) and sophomores Cooper Anderson (White Bear Lake, Minn.) and Danny Eckerline (Wayzata, Minn.) also return. Raleigh played all 27 games and collected four assists, while Eckerline appeared in all but one game and added an assist. Anderson totaled three points (1g/2a) in 13 games.

Offensive Depth
Junior forward Max Borst (Edina, Minn.) and five senior forwards combined for 41 points (14g/27a) a year ago. Borst tallied an even sheet, five goals and five assists, in 22 games, while Henry Enebak (Lakeville, Minn.) collected eight points (1g/7a) in 24 contests. Jack Johnson (Bemidji, Minn.) posted an efficient nine points (2g/7a) in 10 games, and Brett Meister (White Bear Lake, Minn.) and Dan Wieber (St. Joseph, Minn.) added two goals and three assists in 20 games each. Joe Papa (St. Charles, Ill.) appeared in 12 games and tallied four points (2g/2a).

In Net
To fill the void left by Berglove, who is now serving as the Johnnies' goaltending coach, SJU will turn to four student-athletes who have yet to play a minute of college hockey: junior Jaeger Reed (Crosslake, Minn.), sophomore Bailey Huber (Mahtomedi, Minn.) and freshmen Jon Howe (Chanhassen, Minn.) and Tom Kuriscak (Stillwater, Minn.).

Huber served as SJU's third-string goaltender in 2021-22 after he appeared in 49 games over two seasons with the NA3HL's Granite City Lumberjacks. He posted a 30-15-2 record with six shutouts, a 2.33 GAA, .920 save percentage and 1,295 saves.

Howe went 6-7-2 with a .900 save percentage and a 3.37 GAA in 17 games for the NAHL's Jamestown Rebels in 2019-20. He appeared in three games for the NAHL's Amarillo Wranglers to start the 2021-22 season, before returning to Jamestown for a 9-8-0 record, .906 save percentage and 3.03 GAA in 18 contests.

Outdoor Game for Hockey Day Minnesota
SJU and Augsburg will play an MIAC game outdoors as part of Hockey Day Minnesota at 5:45 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27, at Polar Lakes Park in White Bear Township. The game will be the first MIAC contest to be held as part of Hockey Day Minnesota since the event was established by the Minnesota Wild and Bally Sports North in 2007 and the second NCAA Division III game to be contested in the event's history. St. Thomas tied Wisconsin-Stout 1-1 at Xcel Energy Center as part of the 2017 event.

The Johnnies are 44-39-2 against the Auggies since the 1986-87 season: 19-15-2 in St. Cloud, 19-22 in Minneapolis and 7-3 at a neutral site. SJU is 7-9-1 in the last 17 meetings and the two teams have split their MIAC series each of the past three seasons.

The Rest of the 2022-23 Schedule
The Johnnies' 2022-23 schedule has 10 home games at St. Cloud State's Herb Brooks National Hockey Center (HBNHC), including four on Thursday evening, as well as two additional neutral-site games: Dec. 10 vs. Lawrence (Wis.) in Rosemount and Jan. 14 vs. Wisconsin-Stevens Point in Sartell. 

Five of the Johnnies' eight non-conference opponents hail from the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC), including two - Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Stevens Point - that met in the league's championship game in March.

SJU begins the 2022-23 schedule with three consecutive road games and seven of the first nine away from St. Cloud. The Johnnies' bus ventures to Wisconsin the first two weekends, Saturday at Wisconsin-River Falls and Nov. 4-5 at Eau Claire and Northland, respectively. 

The Johnnies host Concordia-Moorhead for the MIAC opener Nov. 10 and take on St. Scholastica Nov. 18-19 (home on Nov. 18) before a two-game road trip over Thanksgiving weekend (Nov. 25-26) at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. SJU faces Bethel Dec. 1-2 (home on Dec. 1) and ends the 2022 calendar year Dec. 9 against Concordia (Wis.) for Senior Night and the Dec. 10 trip to Rosemount.

The team opens the New Year Jan. 6-7 with a conference series against Gustavus Adolphus (home on Jan. 6) and plays its final non-conference games the following weekend by hosting Wisconsin-Stout Jan. 13 in St. Cloud and the neutral-site contest vs. UWSP in Sartell. Conference competition returns Jan. 19 with a home game vs. Hamline (Jan. 21 in St. Paul) and continues with the outdoor game Jan. 27 as part of Hockey Day Minnesota. SJU hosts the Auggies the following night at the HBNHC and wraps up its regular-season schedule against Saint Mary's (home on Feb. 2) and St. Olaf (home on Feb. 10).

The Johnnies own the conference's final bye weekend (Feb. 17-18) before the MIAC Playoffs, which begin with the quarterfinal game (No. 4 vs. No. 5) on Thursday, Feb. 23 at the high seed. The MIAC semifinals follow on Saturday, Feb. 25 and the MIAC championship game, with the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III playoffs on the line, is set for Saturday, March 4. If the Johnnies were to host the championship, the game would be held on Wednesday, March 1, due to availability at the HBNHC.

RECEIVING VOTES: Wisconsin-River Falls received 15 votes, the first team outside the top 15, in the USCHO Division III Preseason poll. Augsburg was ranked No. 4, while SJU and St. Olaf picked up one vote apiece.

A LOOK AT THE FALCONS: Wisconsin-River-Falls went 2-0 in exhibition play last weekend with wins at Gustavus Adolphus (3-0 on Oct. 21) and at home over No. 4 Augsburg (1-0 in overtime on Oct. 22). The Falcons return a trio of 2021-22 All-WIAC honorees from a team that went 13-13-1 last season and finished second in the WIAC with a 9-6 record: junior (6-foot-7) defenseman Noah Ganske, junior forward Noah Roofe and junior goaltender Dysen Skinner. Ganske was last year's top-scoring defender in WIAC play and totaled 19 points (8g/11a) in 22 games. Roofe played all 27 games and collected 17 points (7g/10a). Skinner was named All-WIAC honorable mention and tallied a 10-10 record with a 2.36 GAA and a .907 save percentage (456 saves). UWRF also returns the 2021 WIAC Newcomer of the Year, Vilho Saariluoma, who missed a portion of the last season due to injury. He has 26 points (9g/17a) in 24 career games. River Falls was picked to finish third in the 2022-23 WIAC Preseason Poll, as voted on by league head coaches and sports information directors. UWRF hosts Hamline tonight (Oct. 28) ahead of Saturday's evening matchup with SJU.

FOUR YEARS AGO: SJU opened its home schedule with a 2-2, non-conference tie against Wisconsin-River Falls the last time these two teams met on Nov. 2, 2018, at the HBNHC in St. Cloud.

Following a scoreless first period, Evan Okeley '19 gave SJU a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal with 7:11 left in the second. Matt Colford '19 possessed the puck near the end line and found Okeley in the slot for a one-timer to the stick-side, left corner. 

Tanner Dufault '21 made it 2-0 with his first collegiate goal at the 16:49 mark of the second period. Colford skated toward the left faceoff circle and ripped a shot on net that deflected off Dufault to the back of the net.

Josh Arnold tied the game for UWRF with a pair of third-period goals on special teams. He cut the Falcons' deficit in half with a power-play tally 35 seconds into the third period and tied it with a shorthanded, breakaway goal three minutes later.

Andrew Lindgren '20 tied a career high with 38 saves in the tie, including a double-stacked stop of Eddie Matsushima on a penalty shot 8:09 into the second period.

The Falcons out-shot the Johnnies 40-18, including a 35-12 margin after the first period, but were 1-for-8 on the power play.

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 6-14-2 against the Falcons since the 1995-96 season, including a 4-8-0 record in River Falls, Wis. The 6-2 win the last time SJU visited Hunt Arena (Nov. 3, 2017) snapped an 11-game winless streak in the series.