St. Francis boys' hockey coach Tyler Schaff helped his team endure its 0-16 start this season by maintaining an even disposition. He has kept recent success in similar perspective.
The Saints posted two consecutive victories last week, one blowout and one comeback. Schaff called the long-awaited victories byproducts of doing the right things.
"It's not easy going 0-16," Schaff said. "But every game, I had a feeling that if we had success in all areas, we could win."
Injury (a senior captain broke his femur) and inexperience (the team returned players who combined for just 26 goals last season) hurt the cause, but Schaff said players have lost games without losing each other. Nobody has quit the team.
"It's not a negative environment," Schaff said.
St. Francis rolled to a 10-0 victory on Jan. 22 at home against North Branch to finally get into the win column. Jordan Olson notched a hat trick and added three assists. Kyle Swanson added two goals and goaltender Logan Garaghty earned a shutout.
"The kids celebrated in the locker room," Schaff said. "We cut practice short on Friday and told the guys they could hang around if they wanted to. About 90 percent stayed to work on things."
The extra effort paid off Jan. 24 at Princeton. Trailing 3-1 less than five minutes into the second period, the Saints received goals from Ryan Aldrich and Austin Schuhmacher to draw even. Tough to the end, St. Francis got the winning goal from Nathan Chinander with less than two minutes remaining in the game.
