It’s hard to get too excited about exhibition results, but when Augustana knocked off North Dakota in one earlier this month it certainly got the college hockey world talking.
“Wait, AUGUSTANA? The second-year team? Beat NORTH DAKOTA? In HOCKEY?”
The Vikings’ 4-1 win over the Fighting Hawks ultimately doesn’t count for either team’s record or on any players’ scoring sheets. But for Augustana it at least gave their fans–and the rest of the college hockey world–a sign of things to come.
Augustana officially opened their regular season with a home split against independent Long Island before traveling down Interstate 29 to take on Omaha. The Mavericks, who came into the series ranked No. 12 in the country, were coming off an Ice Breaker tournament win that featured a victory over Minnesota in the title game. On paper, perhaps the Mavericks looked like the stronger team, but perception is not reality: Augustana swept UNO 2-1 and 4-0.
The Vikings are now 3-1 overall as they head into another road weekend against a ranked NCHC team in St. Cloud State. All of a sudden, those exhibition results look more like the work of a team playing a regular season game in midseason form.
“I’m happy with the start, especially how our guys have played and stuck together, we’ve had great energy,” Augustana coach Garret Raboin said. “We are fairly young, which has helped, because there’s a youthful energy, there’s an excitement, appreciation for the opportunity, and that’s led us to be competitive in every game.”
The Vikings went 12-18-4 in their inaugural season – not bad considering how the roster was a combination of transfers and freshmen with no shared history of playing together. But there was a learning curve. The Vikings’ brand-new on-campus Midco Arena didn’t open until midway through the season, so the team was practicing at a rink across town and getting dressed in a trailer until mid-January.
Raboin said having access to the Midco Arena basically at all times has been a game-changer for the program, but there’s more to it than just the physical aspect of having their own rink.
“There’s also the comfortability of knowing where your classes are, knowing where your dorm or apartment is, knowing your professors. You just know what your day to day looks like a lot better,” Raboin said. “A year ago, we had a bunch of guys that arrived in the fall. We didn’t have a rink, [and] we didn’t have a weight room in a facility. We didn’t have a lot of things that we do now. And you feel like that is one step in just settling things down and helping our guys to focus on our academics and athletics.”
It’s also helped the Vikings’ on-ice chemistry, too. Offensively, they’ve already scored 12 goals through the first four games – a small sample size, to be sure, but still good enough to lead the CCHA as the conference’s teams make it through their first month of the season.
Luke Mobley, Augustana’s leading goal scorer last season with 12, leads the team currently with a goal in each of the Vikings’ four games. He’s not the only notable scoring threat, however. Sophomore Owen Bohn has scored twice, Alaska transfer Payton Matsui has a goal and three assists, as does sophomore Brett Meerman, and the Hennan brothers – sophomore Hayden and freshman Tyler – have each added two assists.
“A year ago, we had a big group of guys that scored a little bit,” Raboin said. “But with increased opportunity, with a year to train, knowing what they’re in for, as you come into year two, we need some guys to score more than just a little bit. If we’re going to take that step as the program, we have to have some guys that increase offense. Maybe some of that comes with the chemistry of it all and knowing how we want to play as a program, too. It takes time to all get on the same page, and it doesn’t happen overnight, but we’re speaking more of the same language, for sure, than we were a year ago.”
Raboin also seems to have found his go-to goaltender in sophomore Josh Kotai. As a freshman last year, Kotai split his playing time with Bowling Green transfer Zack Rose and fellow freshman Kayden Hargraves. With Rose graduated, Kotai has played every competitive minute for the Vikings this season, and he’s been excellent. Through four games, he has allowed just four goals for a save percentage of .969, a goals-against average of 1.01 and two shutouts.
“He’s certainly done a great job to start. Part of our build is we had to give three different goalies an opportunity to play [last season], which is pretty rare in college,” Raboin said. “Year two, Josh has been the guy that we decided to go with. He’s earned the right to start all four games through his preparation and body of work, but we like our goalie room. They’re young, they’re energetic, they’re trying to get better each and every day, and it’s been Josh’s turn in the early going, and hopefully he continues to take advantage of it.”
The Vikings now have an even tougher test than their series against Omaha when they travel to Minnesota this weekend for a series in St. Cloud. It will be a homecoming for Raboin, who played for the Huskies and was behind the bench at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center for six seasons. Raboin was one of Huskies’ head coach Brett Larson’s assistants at the 2023 World Junior Championship and played under assistant coach Eric Rud at St. Cloud.
In other words, St. Cloud is a special place for Raboin, but he’s looking at this series as a challenge, both personally and for his team.
“I’m not here without all that came with my opportunity at St. Cloud,” he said. “I couldn’t have more respect for that staff, and they’re certainly fortunate to have them. It’s just our next challenge. We had a good weekend at Omaha. Now, as a young program, you’re trying to find that even keel. That’s what the best teams are: an even keel, week in, week out, a standard of how they prepare, how they play on the weekend. We’re in a race to try to obtain some of that. And why not? St Cloud State’s not very far. They’ve had just an outstanding track record of success, and we’ll learn a lot more about our group through the weekend.”
