ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The puck just didn't seem to bounce in favor of the College of Saint Benedict hockey team last season. In 2017-18, CSB looks to come out on the winning side of those close games.
 
CSB kicks off its 2017-18 season with a pair of nonconference home games this Friday and Saturday, Oct. 27 and 28. The team hosts UW-Eau Claire at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the MAC in St. Cloud, then turns around to take on Concordia-Wisconsin at 3 p.m. Saturday.
 
For the first half of the season, assistant coach Shaun Meinke – in his fifth season with the team – will serve as the interim head coach. CSB's seventh-year head coach Jennifer Kranz Crary is on maternity leave after she and husband Joey welcomed their first child at the end of September, and she will return to the bench for the second half of the season.
 
CSB finished the 2016-17 season 4-18-3 overall and 1-14-3 in the MIAC, but of those 18 total losses, eight came by one goal, and three were in overtime. Two of those one-goal losses came against St. Thomas - and the second game of the series went to overtime.
 
Saint Benedict has big shoes to fill in 2017-18 after graduating forward Elli Marvin, who accounted for 14 goals and 13 assists last season. The next three top point producers for CSB all return this season, however, making the loss of Marvin a little easier.
 
Senior Brigette Miller is back for her final season after finishing second on the team with eight goals and eight assists last season. Sophomore Mollie Wise registered eight goals and two assists as a first year, and junior Maddie Dockry recorded three goals and six assists in 2016-17.
 
On the blue line, CSB will see lots of fresh faces after graduating five of its defenders in May. The team looks now to senior Alexis Klatt and junior Kylie Eklund to lead the four first-year defenders in front of the crease.
 
Between the pipes, junior Julia Carle is the lone returning goaltender for CSB. Carle handled most of the business in the crease last season, finishing with an impressive .920 save percentage while amassing a goals-against average of only 2.77.  Carle finished the season with a 2-13-3 overall record, recording 576 saves in her 1,083 minutes of action.
 
After starting the season with a pair of nonconference games, Saint Benedict gets into MIAC play Nov. 9 and 10 with a home/away series with Hamline. The team also travels to Europe again in 2017 from Dec. 27-Jan 4 where it will play three games against local teams in Finland and Sweden as well as do some sightseeing.