By Shane Frederick
Free Press Staff Writer
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Eric Means’ office is decorated with framed jerseys representing many of the different designs worn by the Minnesota State women’s hockey team since its first season in 1998.
Of those uniforms, only one was worn by a Mavericks team with a winning record.
Means, who is entering his third season as MSU’s coach, would love nothing more than to hang up the jersey of another winner. But the task of turning around a losing program has not been as easy as he initially thought.
“Yeah, I think I was naive,” Means said on Tuesday afternoon. “I thought we could turn this around in one or two years. ...
“It’s difficult. We’re trying to change a long history.”
The Mavericks went 7-22-5 in Means’ first season and 8-25-3 last year. Last season, opponents more than doubled Minnesota State in goal scoring (122-53) and shut out the Mavericks 13 times. Of MSU’s 53 goals, 12 (nearly 23 percent) were scored by freshman forward Kathleen Rogan, who also led the team with 21 points.
Slowly but surely, the program is finally starting to look like Means’ team.
Including Rogan, this year’s team has 14 sophomores and freshman, all of whom were recruited by Means and his staff. One other player, junior forward Lauren Smith, was brought in by Means, so 15 of the team’s 25 players are his recruits.
“And our upperclassmen, without a doubt, were in the best shape they’ve been in when they showed up in the fall,” Means said. “I was excited the first time I looked at them. They looked different.”
Means said the Mavericks had “great days” in their preseason workouts as well as a “really good” first official day of practice Monday. The team’s first games are Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 at home against Lindenwood, a new Division I program from St. Charles, Mo., so there’s a chance to get the season started on a good note.
The schedule gets considerably tougher after that with eighth-ranked Mercyhurst coming to town, and, of course, there’s always the tough Western Collegiate Hockey Association grind that includes four of the nation’s top 10 teams: No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 4 Minnesota, No. 6 Minnesota Duluth and No. 7 North Dakota. Those first three teams have won all 11 national titles since the NCAA made women’s hockey a championship sport in 2000-01.
The WCHA preseason coaches poll was released Tuesday, and the Mavericks were picked to finish seventh in the eight-team league, with only St. Cloud State behind them.
While the league expectations aren’t very high, Means said it’s time his team starts showing some real progress and setting up some stability for the future.
“We have to try to get back to believing we can win and should expect to win, no matter who we’re playing,” he said. “That’s been our focus early on. We’ve gotta believe we can win.”
Shane Frederick is a Free Press staff writer. Read his blog at mankatofreepresshockey.blogspot.com or follow him at twitter.com/puckato.
