The St. Thomas (Minnesota) Tommies men's ice hockey team represents the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) in NCAA Division I ice hockey.
History St. Thomas is one of the oldest ice hockey programs in the nation, predating even Minnesota, having played their first varsity game in the 1920–21 season. That year St. Thomas, along with six other small Minnesota colleges, formed the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and began playing one another in many sports. Over the course of the first sixty five years, St. Thomas was one of the better teams in the conference but it became the leading program once Terry Skrypek arrived in 1987. In his 23 years with the program, Skrypek won 13 conference championships, 9 conference tournament titles and reached the NCAA Division III championship game twice.
In total during its time as a Division III program, the St. Thomas had more wins than any other program with 1,164 victories over 96 seasons. The Tommies won 34 conference titles, made 17 NCAA Tournament appearances and were twice national runners-up.
In 2019 the MIAC took the unprecedented step of removing St. Thomas from its membership because of concerns about “athletic competitive parity.” Because the removal affected all sports and was effective at the end of the 2020–21 season, St. Thomas had time to decide what it would do next. The men's ice hockey program was given the green light to jump directly to the Division I level in July 2020. Before the end of the month, the seven teams who had previously announced their intention to restart the CCHA with the 2021–22 season voted unanimously to accept the Tommies as the eighth member of the conference.
Before the 2021–22 season, St. Thomas hired Rico Blasi to be their new head coach and bring them into their Division I era. The Tommies' first few seasons in Division I were rough, with the team only managing three wins in their first year. The Tommies would take their first step forward in the 2023–24 season, finishing 2nd in the CCHA, though they would be upset in the first round by 7th-seeded Lake Superior State. In the 2024–25 season, the Tommies finished with their first winning record in Division I, making it all the way to the CCHA Tournament Championship, before losing 2–4 to Minnesota State. In the 2025–26 season, St. Thomas opened the Lee and Penny Anderson Arena, replacing the, St. Thomas Ice Arena, one of the smallest rinks in Division I hockey at the time. The arena will officially hosted first hockey game on October 24, 2025, against Providence. Additionally, the 2025–26 season marked the Tommies' first season of full Division I eligibility, and the Tommies last season in the CCHA, before departing for the NCHC for the 2026–27 season.
Season-by-season results
Source:
Head coaches As of completion of the 2024–25 season Tenure Coach Years Record Pct. 1920–1921 Harold Dudley 1 6–1–0 1921–1923, 1925–1926 Joe Brandy 3 19–9–0 1923–1924 Dave Hayes 1 8–2–0 1924–1925 Bill Houle 1 1–0–1 1926–1927 Willard Faulk 1 5–9–0 1927–1928 John O'Halloran 1 4–5–3 1928–1930 Matt Coogan 2 15–13–0 1930–1932 Frank Penas 2 7–7–4 1932–1933 Joe Boland 1 7–3–0 1933–1935 Frank Haider 2 6–6–1 1935–1937 Frank Klingberg 2 12–10–3 1937–1939 Leo McGuire 2 13–7–2 1939–1942 Wee Walsh 3 18–3–3 1946–1948 Tom Cunningham 2 20–9–0 1948–1951, 1952–1955 Bill Funk 6 66–19–11 1951–1952 Norm Robertson 1 7–3–0 1955–1959 Ken Staples 4 38–19–0 1959–1962 Don Saatzer 3 19–14–0 1962–1963 Tom Martinson 1 11–4–1 1963–1970 Joe Flood 7 57–53–4 1970–1982 Gus Schwartz 12 150–150–5 1982–1987 Terry Abram 5 105–45–2 1987–2010 Terry Skrypek 23 415–194–45 2010–2021 Jeff Boeser 11 160–81–33 2021–Present Enrico Blasi 4 48–89–9 Totals 26 coaches 101 Seasons 1,217–755–128
Current roster As of September 11, 2025.
Awards and honors CCHA Individual awards All-conference teams First Team All-CCHA
2024–25: Liam Malmquist, F; Lucas Wahlin, F
Second Team All-CCHA
2023–24: Lucas Wahlin, F 2024–25: Chase Foley, D
Arenas
From the program's first season in 1920, home games were played on makeshift outdoor rinks each winter at different spots on campus, including locations atop tennis courts near Ireland Hall and a patch of land behind Dowling Hall. The hockey team left campus in the early 1960s, playing in various off-campus arenas nearby until settling at the Minnesota State Fair Coliseum for nearly 30 years. Attempts were made to bring the team back on campus, including a fundraising effort in the 1980s. Eventually the team built a shared ice arena with Saint Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights in 2003. With the move to Division I in 2020, St Thomas announced in 2023 that it would build the Lee & Penny Anderson Arena, marking the return of the program to campus for the first time in over 60 years.
Various outdoor rinks on-campus, St. Paul, MN (1920–1962) Cow Palace (now known as Doug Woog Arena), South St. Paul, MN (1962–1963) Aldrich Arena, Maplewood, MN (1963–1970) St. Paul Academy, St. Paul, MN (1970–1976) State Fair Coliseum, Falcon Heights, MN (1976–2003) St. Thomas Ice Arena, Mendota Heights, MN (2003–2025) Lee & Penny Anderson Arena, St. Paul, MN (2025–present)
Tommies in the NHL
As of July 1, 2025.
Player Position Team(s) Years Games Elwin RomnesCenter, TOR, NYA1927–19403602
References
External links Official Home Page