The 2022–23 Lindenwood Lions men's ice hockey season was the inaugural season of varsity play for the program. The Lions represented Lindenwood University and were coached by Rick Zombo, in his 13th season.

Season With nearly two years lead time into their first season, Lindenwood was able to compile a full slate of games against Division I opponents. Predictably, as the team was still populated by club team players, the Lions were one of the worst squads in the nation. However, among the poor results there were bright spots. Lindenwood got a baptism of fire by playing both Minnesota and Michigan, two prohibitive favorites for the NCAA championship, in the first two weeks of the season. While the Lions lost all four games, they did show the ability to score. Over the course of the year, Lindenwood averaged just over 3 goals per game, which was well on par with most other D-I programs.

The biggest problem for the Lions was keeping the puck out of their own net. Lindenwood allowed an average of almost 42 shots against per game, much higher than the nominal 30 shots. Their three besieges goalies were unable to handle the sheer volume of chances that were thrown in their direction with each surrendering more than 4 goals per game on average. The defensive situation didn't get any better as the season progressed but that didn't stop the Lions from winning several games in their first season.

Despite having several extended layoffs during the campaign, as well as mostly playing on the road, Lindenwood was able to win 7 games during the season. While each victory came against a team with a low national ranking, they had performed far better than other recent entries to D-I (Stonehill, St. Thomas) and would look to continue their transition to the top level of college hockey next year.

Departures Coltin Craigo Forward Graduation (retired) Praveen Dhaliwal Forward Left program (retired) Vegard Faret Forward Graduation (retired) Blake Finley Defenseman Left program (retired) Stephen Friedland Goaltender Left program (retired) Max Helgeson Forward Transferred to Alaska Anchorage Ryan Leonard Defenseman Left program (retired) Zach Martin Forward Graduation (retired) Niki Molson Defenseman Left program (retired) Brendan Murphy Defenseman Graduation (retired) Kyler Newman Defenseman Graduation (retired) Ethan Paulin-Hatch Goaltender Left program (retired) Jack Radley Forward Graduation (retired) Hayden Ursulak Forward Graduation (retired)

Recruiting Adisen Brueck Forward 21 Plantation, FL Adam Conquest Forward 22 Milford, MI; transfer from Bowling Green Cade DeStefani Forward 21 Bedford, NH Kabore Dunn Defenseman 20 Mill Bay, BC; transfer from Maine Hunter Johannes Forward 18 Eden Prairie, MN; transfer from American International Drew Kuzma Forward 19 St. Albert, AB Matt Ladd Goaltender 24 Getzville, NY; graduate transfer from Canisius Shane LaVelle Forward 21 Chaska, MN Max Neill Forward 21 Portage la Prairie, MB Joe Prouty Defenseman 20 Apple Valley, MN Kieran Ruscheinski Defenseman 21 Calgary, AB; selected 206th overall in 2019 Roni Salmenkangas Goaltender 23 Tampere, FIN; graduate transfer from Ferris State Coltan Wilkie Defenseman 22 Elkhorn, NE

Roster As of August 16, 2022.

Standings

Schedule and results

!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season

Scoring statistics LW 30 13 17 30 16 F 28 13 16 29 87 F 26 8 15 23 12 F 28 7 13 20 26 F 29 6 14 20 6 C 26 7 8 15 42 RW 22 6 6 12 6 D 30 2 10 12 8 F 26 6 5 11 48 D 30 2 9 11 36 D 30 3 7 10 12 LW 30 3 7 10 48 D 30 2 8 10 23 D 23 2 6 8 14 F 30 2 5 7 28 D 26 1 6 7 12 C 26 5 1 6 19 F 25 2 3 5 23 D 29 1 2 3 20 LW 19 1 1 2 17 F 9 0 1 1 4 F 12 0 1 1 4 D 1 0 0 0 0 F 2 0 0 0 0 G 7 0 0 0 0 G 8 0 0 0 6 G 16 0 0 0 0 Total 92 161 253 517

Goaltending statistics 16 946:02 5 10 1 67 610 0 .901 4.25 8 438:33 1 6 0 32 269 0 .894 4.38 7 417:54 1 6 0 33 238 0 .878 4.74 Empty Net - 12:21 - - - 2 - - - - Total 30 1812:50 7 22 1 134 1117 0 .893 4.44

Rankings

PollWeekPre12345678910111213141516171819202122232425 26 27 (Final) USCHO.comNR-NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR-NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR-NR USA TodayNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 1, 13, or 26.

References