by Noah Grant / sports@kvsc.org (Photo SCSU Athletics)

NEW FACES AND NEW DIRECTION AS HUSKIES LOOK TO MAKE STRIDES IN WCHA

15 years after working as an assistant coach for the Winnipeg area’s Fort Richmond Collegiate high school hockey team, Steve MacDonald finds himself behind the bench of a team with a promising outlook to the season.  

As the St. Cloud State women’s hockey team prepares to jettison a squad that boasts 15 upperclassmen into a highly contested WCHA division, they do so with a familiar face behind the bench. The departure of former head coach Eric Rud to Miami (OH) meant an opportunity for MacDonald. Previously serving as an assistant coach for 5 seasons, MacDonald was named head coach in June. He joins Kerry Brodt Wethington (1998-2002), Jason Lesteberg (2002-2006), Jeff Giesen (2006-2014), and Rud as the 5th head coach in team history.  

“I’m extremely humbled to have the opportunities that [hockey] has afforded me… to have the opportunity is extremely humbling and exciting,” said MacDonald. “I think most assistant coaches always wonder what it would be like to be in that role, to sit in the driver’s seat.” 

MacDonald will certainly find out with the season opener looming at the end of Sept. However, he won’t have to do it alone. The Huskies coaching staff already boasts a former Olympian and 2006 national champion in Jinelle Siergiej (Zaugg), who has been with the team since 2014.

MacDonald’s promotion led to a vacancy for an assistant coach, which was quickly filled by a familiar face for Siergiej, as St. Cloud State hired Molly Engstrom. Engstrom, who was a two-time Olympian and six-time World Championship participant, was a teammate of Siergiej’s at the University of Wisconsin. Both played in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. To make things even better for the coaching duties, Engstrom was a defenseman, while Siergiej was a forward.  

“We have, I believe, one of, if not the only staff in the country that has two Olympians…to be surrounded with two great assistants in Jinelle and Molly makes my life easy. I almost just kind of have to get out of their way,” said MacDonald with a laugh. “We get along great. They are obviously two of the better players to have ever played the game in the US and the world. They make my job easy and will continue to do that. For them to have played at the level that they played at, and then for them to have the respect that they have in the hockey world is just tremendous for our young women.”  

The Huskies finished 10-25-2 last season and 5-19 in the WCHA with 15 points, which saw them one point behind Minnesota State Mankato for seventh place, last in the WCHA. MacDonald, however, knows the team expects better results this year. 

“Any time you lose point [scorers], it’s always hard to replace those points with [the departure of] Hannah Potrykus and Julia Tylke, and the others. That’s where you hope that the juniors and seniors for this year, they step up into that role and they contribute how we think they can,” added MacDonald.  

Potrykus and Tylke combined for 43 points last season, which was good for just under 26 percent of the points that the Huskies scored last year. St. Cloud State will look to their incoming class of freshman to provide some offensive punch. 

“We’re extremely excited about our freshman coming up, our six freshmen. There’s a lot of experience in them too. It’s weird to say that about freshman, but you have a couple of national team players in their respective countries, and then you have a couple players from Canada and a couple players from the US; we have a wide level of diverse experience here and different types of experience [as well]. We’re going to have that experience up top, but we are really confident with our freshman coming in and our sophomores have a year under their belt now and will be able to contribute. I think we are going to have that depth; we are going to have some good scoring through the lineup, and I think we are going to be a very solid four-line team,” MacDonald said. 

One area that hasn’t been a concern is with the goal tending tandem of Janine Alder and Emma Polusny, with each goalie sporting a .935 and .919 save percentage in 2018-2019, respectively. 

“Obviously with two of the best goalies in the country with Janine Alder, a two time Olympian, and Emma Polusny, a US National team goalie, it’s a great problem to have with two of the best. With a defensive corps of two seniors, two juniors, two sophomores, and two freshmen, we really expect a lot out of our seniors,” said MacDonald.

Two of the mainstays on the back end that are expected to log heavy minutes are senior defensemen Abby Thiessen and Rachel Herzog. Thiessen is a native of Red Deer, Alberta who attended the University of North Dakota before her time at St. Cloud. She led all Huskies defensemen last season in shots on goal with 49. Herzog is a native of Oakdale, Minnesota and played her high school hockey at Hill-Murray. 

In true coaching style, MacDonald was very matter of fact in his expectations for the two seniors. 

 “We expect a lot out of them in terms of them leading the defensive corps and taking the reins with that…we are going to be relying a lot on that experience,” he said.  

On the offensive side, the Huskies coaching staff acknowledges its woes from the previous season. St. Cloud State averaged 1.78 goals for per game. Special teams struggled out of the gate early last year, with a power play converting only 15 percent of the time and a penalty kill hovering around 76 percent. The accountability by the players is already evident to the coaching staff, however. 

“You always want to score more goals, right?” chuckled MacDonald, “It’s something we’ve addressed, and we are already starting to work on it in practice. We are talking about it and addressed it with the players, and they know it. We believe that [the scoring] will be by committee and we have complete confidence in our group… as a coaching staff we give it a clean slate and say ‘where are we at now, how have the players matured, what do we have now?’ Then we really try to adapt based where the skillsets are and how they contribute.” 

MacDonald then clarified the perception of the team’s performance last year. 

“We weren’t displeased with our penalty kill last year, we just got off to a slow start…and then, it can get away from you. It’s all about confidence and feel. You can draw up the best X’s and O’s in the world and it will help you to a certain extent, but the power play is about that confident feel and vibe. Last year we saw some glimpses of what we can do, and it was really encouraging. Those are two areas that change our numbers drastically,” he said. 

The team dynamic certainly seems fit to be a well-oiled machine with high morale in the locker room. Seven different countries are represented: the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, and Finland. MacDonald noted that some of the North American girls attempt to go overseas with teammates to visit the families of European players and take in the culture.  

“For those girls, having that exposure and learning different ways of doing things is a very unique experience…there’s very few [college hockey] teams that are as proactive internationally. These are [international] players that can come in and they can help us. If players want to come and try and win in the toughest league in the country, then come on over,” MacDonald added. 

Internationally, not only are the European players contributing on the ice, they are just as prideful in the classroom and the community. Swiss goaltender Alder just finished writing her second book. While she excels at stopping the puck, she doesn’t stop raking in academic honors, and she’s not alone. 

“Looking at our GPA from last year, our European players were some of the top GPA-earners. I don’t think any of them were below a 3.3 GPA, including some freshmen that are learning their second or third language. They are just impressive people to be around. The work ethic and what they bring and how they treat this opportunity, combined with our Canadians, our Americans, our Minnesotans, it’s a unique mix and so much fun to be around,” said. MacDonald. 

MacDonald and company have pushed the reset button and are ready to put their new playing philosophy to the test during opening weekend against the University of Regina Cougars on Saturday, Sept. 28, with puck drop set for 2:07 pm at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. The Cougars open the season with a two-game series against the Minot State Beavers, a two-game series against the University of Manitoba Bisons, and a Friday night match-up on Sept. 27 against the Bemidji State Beavers, before their date with the Huskies. Not surprisingly, MacDonald can’t wait to get started. 

“That weekend we are allowed to dress everybody so that’s always a little different, the bench is a little crammed, a little tight. It’s a good experience for everybody, it’s a good opportunity for everybody to get those first few shifts in, get those touches on the puck, feel the game jersey, the on-ice game warmup…it’s a great way to get going on the season,” MacDonald said. “Regina will be a tough match-up, they play in the Canada-West Conference and U Sports, it’s a really competitive conference. They have a great coach there [in Sarah Hodges, a former college hockey player with impressive numbers at Dartmouth from 1992-1996]. They have good experience and they will be ready to go. It’s going to be a good, competitive game and we are really looking forward to it.” 

The Huskies open the season with Regina on Sept. 28 on home ice. The following weekend is the International Ice Hockey Federation’s (IIHF) World Girls’ Ice Hockey Weekend. The Huskies have a WCHA-conference match-up that weekend against Ohio State on Friday, Oct. 4 at 6:07 pm and Saturday, Oct. 5th at 2:07 pm at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center, before heading off to RIT on the weekend of Oct. 11 and the University of Minnesota on the weekend of Oct. 19. The Huskies finish the month of Oct. at home against Minnesota State Mankato in a game series starting Oct. 25.