Enrico Blasi will coach in Oxford again this weekend, but for the first time ever, it will be from the visiting bench.
Miami’s all-time coaching wins leader returns to Cady Arena as St. Thomas opens its inaugural NCHC slate against the RedHawks.
The Tommies officially joined the league this season, and coincidentally, Blasi’s team heads to his former campus to coach his first conference games.
VFG takes a look at the upcoming series:
WHO: St. Thomas Tommies (1-3) vs. Miami RedHawks (5-1).
WHERE: Cady Arena (3,049), Oxford, Ohio.
WHEN: Friday — 7:05 p.m.; Saturday — 7:35 p.m.
ALL-TIME SERIES: First meeting.
VIDEO STREAMING: NCHC.tv.
MIAMI RADIO: Miamiredhawks.com (Greg Waddell, PxP; Drew Davis, color).
NOTES: Four games into its season, St. Thomas has struggled to put the puck in the net.
The Tommies have scored just six goals — 1.50 per game — tied for the fourth-lowest clip the NCAA, and are 1-for-18 (5.6 percent) on the power play.
Vegas draftee Lucas Van Vliet, who recorded 35 points for St. Thomas last season, has two of the Tommies’ tallies and is averaging six shots on goal.
Up front, freshman New Jersey selection David Roszival is already 1-2-3, and Northern Michigan transfer Jakub Altrichter and Augustana product Quinn Rudrud have also scored.
Nathan Pilling is another major offensive threat, with 29 points in 2025-26 and one assist this season.
New Jersey draft pick and fourth-year Tommie Chase Cheslock leads all defensemen with three points, including a goal, and has racked up 44 career points. His TOI of 25:37 is a team high.
Seniors blueliners Cole Miller and Mason Poolman — who have also played their entire careers at St. Thomas — both have an assist apiece, as does freshman Seattle selection Luken Huff.
Cole Bauer (Edmonton) is also expected to contribute significant minutes for the Tommies on the back end.
Interestingly, St. Thomas has started three goalies in its four games.
William Ingemann was between the pipes for the Tommies’ last contest, a 2-0 loss in which he stopped 23 of 24 shots (.958). It was his first start of the season, but based on his performance (and the sub-.900 numbers by the team’s other two netminders), it’s likely he’ll play at least one game this weekend.
Ajay White has a 2.94 goals-against average and an .894 save percentage, and Carsen Musser stopped 23 of 26 shots (.885) in his lone outing.
Musser is an Arizona draft pick and posted a 2.96 GAA and .892 save percentage in 21 games for St. Thomas last season.
The Tommies, who have played just one road game, are killing penalties at just a 73.3 percent clip. Despite their record, they have outshot opponents, 162-100, averaging 40.5 SOG, so Miami goaltenders will likely see ample rubber.
Blasi was named St. Thomas’ first head coach in the spring of 2021, prior to the Tommies’ first season in Division I.
He has 468 career wins, tied for 20th-most of any Division I coach and fifth among active bench bosses.
Blasi won 398 games with the RedHawks, nine more than Miami’s other six coaches combined.
In his 20 seasons at the MU helm, the RedHawks qualified for the NCAA Tournament 10 times, including two Frozen Four appearances in 2009 and 2010, advancing to the national title game in the former.
As the head coach of St. Thomas, the Tommies have improved every season, posting consecutive winning seasons the last two and racking up 21 victories in 2025-26.
Blasi, who graduated from Miami in 1994, is also tied for 25th on the RedHawks’ all-time scoring leaderboard with 125 points. He was team captain his senior season and alternate as a junior.
Miami coach Anthony Noreen has a coaching connection to Blasi: Will Nichol, who was on Blasi’s initial RedHawks coaching staff, was named the head coach at Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Noreen’s alma mater, and after Noreen graduated, he became an assistant under Nichol there.
“I think it’s going to make for another really good rivalry within the NCHC,” Noreen said. “Obviously, (Blasi) has done a tremendous job with that program, and you look at how they’ve built it and how competitive they’ve been over the years, coming into our league. I think it makes our league stronger, I’m sure there’s a lot of emotions on both sides. It’s about what’s always been about, which is the players on the ice.”
