Hockey team closes out inaugural season

Augustana’s 2023-2024 hockey team met for the first time just a few months before debuting on the ice. 

Now 36 games later, the Vikings have played games in the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center, taken down highly ranked opponents, opened the Midco Arena and attained an overall record of 12-18-4.

“I think that our group came here to grow our program, to lay a foundation, to develop a culture and identity,” head coach Garrett Raboin said. “Those are the most important things when you set out on your start and I feel like our group should be very proud that they have done a good job in achieving success.”

According to Raboin, the hockey program had a year to tackle recruiting. 

“The biggest thing was to put a premium on great students, great kids that shared a belief in Augustana and where our hockey program could go. We had a plan in terms of the type of player and person we wanted to bring into our program, and we’re proud of the group that we got.”

Freshman forward Hunter Bischoff became the Vikings’ first recruit in spring 2022. 

“It was awesome to see the team grow and come closer at the start of the year. Everyone shows up and no one knows anyone because we’re a brand new team, where other teams, they know guys and they’re just bringing in a couple kids,” Bischoff said. “We have this whole new group, and immediately everyone started getting along really well… It’s a one-of-a-kind connection.” 

The team first took the ice on Oct. 7, 2023, where they took on the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Although they fell 4-0 and 3-0 to the Badgers that weekend, freshman defenseman Jeff Hutchinson said players knew there was potential to grow. 

“It was definitely a lot stranger than some other programs. We had a lot of new guys coming into this team at once,” Hutchinson said. “We had to grow pretty quickly in a really short amount of time, and I think we did that, and eventually it led to our success.” 

The Vikings earned their first season win at their first home game, where they took down Bowling Green State University with wins of 3-2 and 4-1 at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center on Oct. 14-15. The Vikings didn’t play in the Midco Arena until Jan. 26. 

“[Midco] was really cool, especially being around campus. When you have to drive 15 to 20 minutes to go to a game, it’s a little different than being able to walk over from the dorms or from an apartment,” freshman forward Brett Meerman said. “I just feel like it allowed the support to grow a lot more, and the community of Augustana overall grew with the rink.”

For their debut at Midco Arena, the Vikings faced Ferris State University. Midco welcomed 3,183 people for its grand opening and held an average of 2,742 people for the rest of the season. 

“I think the future, we just have this wonderful opportunity to grow in this community. We sold out our first two games, which you would hope,” Josh Morton, vice president of athletics, said. “It’s something new, but then for us to sell out the [University of] Alaska Fairbanks game too at the end of the year, that was really gratifying because, to me, it says that people are telling other people that it’s a great place to be, and we have something to build on for next October when we open back up.”

The Vikings fell 5-2 and 4-3 in overtime to Ferris State. Just two weeks later, though, the Vikings secured their first win at Midco Arena against St. Thomas University with victories of 4-2 and 2-1 in overtime. 

“I think it was great once we got to Midco,” Hutchinson said. “I think the environment was the coolest for us. We loved all the fans and community that came out. All that support was really good and it helped us grow.” 

Morton said Midco Arena will also hold a Great Life Strength and Conditioning Center for athletes. Starting fall 2024, the rink will be available for intramurals and club sports, as well as for classes.  

For collective goals-shot in their inaugural season, the Vikings totaled 88-902, resulting with an average of 2.6 goals per game and 26.5 shots per game. 

Meerman ended the season with three goals and 10 attempts, notching a .081 shot percentage. He said one big highlight for the team was its match against No. 2 University of Denver on Oct. 27, when the Vikings won 6-5 via shootout. 

“We were not expecting it to really even be close, and after the first period it was 3-0 and there was a thought that this could get out of control. At the same time, we kept level heads,” Meerman said. “We kept working and ended up clawing our way back and ended up beating them in a shootout, going down in a tie. I feel like that was really big for our group to just kind of show that we could play with anyone.” 

After five missed shots by Denver and two by the Vikings, the faceoff entered the shootout at a tie of 5-5. The Vikings attempted three shots until junior Jack Jensen made the fourth. 

Jensen became the first player in program history to sign a professional contract. He committed to play with the Idaho Steelheads as a forward in February 2024. Three more Vikings followed suit this spring, with fifth-year forward Arnaud Vachon signing with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, fifth-year forward Chase Brand committing to play with the Reading Royals and fifth-year forward Ryan Naumovski committing to play with the Kalamazoo Wings. 

Fifth-year goaltender Zack Rose said he plans on signing professionally next year. 

“We competed every game,” Rose said. “We didn’t look like a first-year team. I think we definitely exceeded each of our individual expectations for what the season was going to hold.” 

Rose totaled 463 saves in his first season as an Augustana Viking. 

“We’re a good hockey team. It doesn’t matter what historic name they have on their jersey, we’re just beginning our story,” Rose said. “We want to be in the history books like Notre Dame and schools like Wisconsin and Denver, and we got to act like it. We’ve got to have that mindset.”

On March 1-2, the Vikings faced the University of Alaska Fairbanks for the end of the official season, ultimately attaining a 2-2 tie and then falling 2-0. 

With the season at a close, the team is looking forward to offseason practice and continuing to build off its inaugural season. 

“The season flies by. It always does when you play hockey and especially this year,” Bischoff said. “We had our ups and downs the whole year, and we definitely could have done more at the end against those guys, but it’s all about building this first year and continuing to move forward and get better.”