Men’s hockey opened the season with a tie against the St. Johns Johnnies.

The single goal for the Blugolds came from Adam Parsells, a third-year defensive player, in the first period. It was assisted by Logan Von Ruden, a fourth-year defensive player, and Steen Cooper, a fourth-year forward.

Last season, men’s hockey finished the season with an overall record of 19-7-2 and 4-3-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

“Obviously, that wasn’t the result that we wanted,” Matt Loen, the head coach for the Blugolds, said. “But, I thought that we did some good things.”

Loen said he thinks the inability to score on power plays hurt them a lot. In total, the Blugolds had 8 power-play opportunities and didn’t score on any of them, although, he was happy with how the Blugolds held the offensive zone.

“I think (holding the zone) is the strength of our team,” Loen said. “Obviously, we generated quite a few shots on goal. We just got to figure out a way to get through (the Johnnies’) senior goalie.”

The Blugolds had 37 shots on goal — over double the Johnnies’ total of 18 shots on goal. Zach Dyment, a third-year goalkeeper for the Blugolds, saved 17 of those shots on goal. In his career, Dyment has saved over 90 percent of shots and has a record of  27-11-4.

“We’re just trying to get better each day,” Loen said. “We’ll focus on our power-play here in the next couple days, and hopefully get that going and score some more goals.”

On multiple occasions, the players of each team would scrum and exchange shoves after the whistle. The Blugolds had a total of 11 penalties, summing to 30 minutes, while the Johnnies had 10 penalties, summing to 20 minutes.

“I think it’s part of the game. Everyone protects the goalie,” Loen said. “I think when there (are) people around the goalie, that’s going to happen.”

There was one major penalty called in the game, which was called against the Blugolds for unsportsmanlike conduct. The 10 minute penalty was committed in the last four minutes of the second period and lasted into the third period.

The Blugolds will host  St. Olaf and Saint Mary’s this weekend at Hobbs Ice Arena at 7 p.m. on both Friday, Nov. 8 and Saturday, Nov. 9.

Seward can be reached at [email protected].