St. Thomas to Join NCAA Division I, CCHA and WCHA

The NCAA Division I men’s and women’s ice hockey ranks will increase by one team apiece when the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) moves up from the Division III level in the next two years.

A founding member of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, St. Thomas will depart that conference following the 2020-21 season to join the new Central Collegiate Hockey Association for men’s hockey in 2021-22, and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association on the women’s side at the same time.

The St. Thomas men’s team has played annually since 1920-21, save for five seasons around World War II. They boast an all-time record of 1,163-665-116 (.628), according to USCHO.com, all while in the MIAC. Since the 1983-84 campaign, the Tommies’ ledger includes 21 MIAC regular-season championships, 13 MIAC postseason titles, and 16 NCAA tournament berths, including national championship game appearances in 2000 and 2005. The program also last finished under .500 in a season in 1981-82.

The St. Thomas women's program began play with the 2001-02 season, and since then the Tommies have fashioned an overall mark of 323-140-50 (.678). They have also claimed six MIAC regular-season crowns and six MIAC postseason titles to go along with six national tournament berths, including NCAA Frozen Four appearances in both 2014 and 2019.

St. Thomas will swell the new CCHA, which is slated to begin play as a whole in the fall of 2021, to eight teams, while the Tommies women’s team will also boost the women’s WCHA to eight schools.

Harvard's Kerfoot Scores Twice for Toronto in NHL's Return

Alexander Kerfoot (Harvard) scored twice for the victorious Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday evening as the NHL returned to action for the first time in four months. The Leafs defeated their traditional rival, the Montreal Canadiens, 4-2, in an exhibition game at Scotiabank Arena as the NHL re-emerged from a hiatus that began in March due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), which also canceled the remainder of the 2019-20 NHL regular season.

Kerfoot scored Toronto's second and third goals, both in the second period, against Montreal as the Leafs built leads of 2-0 and 3-1. Toronto is one of two NHL hubs, along with Rogers Place in Edmonton, that will be used during an abbreviated postseason with extra contending teams to award this year’s Stanley Cup. Eastern Conference teams will play in Ontario, while Western Conference squads will skate in Alberta, with the final round to be contested in Toronto. The St. Louis Blues are the defending champion.

The Maple Leafs will face off with the Columbus Blue Jackets in a best-of-five qualifying series that will begin on Saturday at Scotiabank Place, while the Canadiens will meet the Pittsburgh Penguins in another Eastern Conference series match-up, also in Toronto. Also on Tuesday in exhibition play, the Philadelphia Flyers edged Pittsburgh, 3-2, in overtime in Toronto, while in Edmonton the host Oilers upended the rival Calgary Flames, 4-1.

A 5-foot-10 native of Vancouver, Kerfoot, 25, played his first two NHL campaigns with the Colorado Avalanche, with whom he posted 34 goals and 51 assists for 85 points over 157 regular-season outings after signing with them as a free agent. He was traded to Toronto last July, and proceeded to tally 9-19—28 points in 65 games with the Leafs this season before it was suspended by COVID-19. 

Originally drafted 150th overall by the New Jersey Devils in 2012 in the midst of his Junior A career with Coquitlam (BCHL), Kerfoot played at Harvard from 2013 to 2017. In four NCAA seasons, he notched 36-87—123 points in 121 career outings, and also captained the Crimson to the 2017 ECAC Hockey regular-season and postseason championships, plus the 2017 NCAA Frozen Four in Chicago.

Harvard's Rathbone Signs with Canucks

Rising junior defenseman Jack Rathbone (Harvard) has left college hockey to sign an entry-level contract with the Vancouver Canucks, according to The Hockey News.

Rathbone, a 5-11, 190-pound blueliner from West Roxbury, Mass., finished fourth in team scoring this season for the Crimson with seven goals and 24 assists for 31 points in 28 games. In two seasons and 60 career NCAA contests played with Harvard, he collected 14 goals and 38 assists for 52 points to go with 22 penalty minutes. As a freshman, he helped Harvard to the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

The son of former Boston College forward Jason Rathbone (BC'92), Jack Rathbone prepped with both the Cape Cod Whalers and the Dexter School prior to skating for Harvard. A two-time captain at Dexter, he was drafted in the fourth round (95th overall) by the Canucks in the 2017 NHL Draft.