Photo of Lindenwood Hockey team is credited to Lindenwood University

One look at #3 Lindenwood’s’ (16-6-0), (10-2-0 CSCHL) complete stat sheet and something immediately caught my eye. Alex Kalau (more on him later) may be T-1 in goals, but Aapo Nurminen -- the Espoo, FIN native – is leading the team with 25 points in 21 games. This is good for a ~35.0 some-odd point pace. Nurminen also plays physically on the blueline as he has 24 more PIMS than the 2nd-place player with 77.

Brendan Murphy and Alex Kalau both have 10 goals in just over 20 games each. Murphy is on pace to surpass his 18-19 campaign of 14 goals (in 28GP). Last regular season, Kalau played to exactly his numbers right now: 18 points in 21 games, so he’ll surely surpass that very soon.

Their Jake Townsend recorded 44 in 28 in the 18-19 reg. season, good for 1.57 points/game. He is a major loss – no doubt – but not only is Nurminen stepping up, Zach Mitchell and Ryan Finnegan are always dangerous.

This strikes me as a Lions team who isn’t as wickedly dangerous as their 2(!!) loss team last season, but one that is still extremely well coached, can score and obviously, play some defense (see next paragraph).

Cooper Seedott continues to be a rock for the Lions as he took them all the way to the Frosty Four. The Lions fell 1-0 in the semifinal to the eventual champion #6 seed Minot State. He carried them past the #8 seed Liberty Flames 4-3 to help them advance into the Beavers game. Per the ACHA website, Seedott played 3 playoff games (RMU, Liberty, MSU) and recorded 68 saves total; he came out of it with a .932 SV%. This season, Seedott is rocking a .943SV% and a 13-6-0 record. (Seedott finished the entire campaign 26-1-0).

All of these stats are impressive considering Lindenwood has played 16 games against currently ranked teams. They are 10-2-0 in the CSCHL (which features the likes of Illinois, Ohio and Iowa State). [As a quick aside, no team has a better record against the Lions so far than UCO with 3-1-0.]

Oklahoma will face the Maryville Saints on Groundhog Day just once after facing off in Maryland Heights twice. The Sooners brushed the Saints aside 5-0 and 7-2 back in September. However, the Sooners shan’t overlook the Saints as [they] seem to be a different team from that one that visited the BIC. The Saints – from Nov. 9 to Dec. 13, this spanning four games – outscored opponents 28-7. Two of those games were in Missouri State’s Jordan Valley Ice Park.

This is the start of 7 straight games for #13 Oklahoma (17-4-0), (11-4-0 WCHL) against teams stationed in the state of Missouri. The next preview will be for the Ice Bears series.

The cover photo is credited to Lindenwood University Hockey.

Stick taps to Lindenwood’s Matt Kenyon for assisting in this column.

Thanks for reading.