If you would have asked any member of the current Duchesne Ice Hockey team if you thought they would be unbeaten past the halfway point of the regular season, even the most optimistic of the bunch would have probably said no.  However, that is exactly where they are.  Just one game past the halfway point of the season, Duchesne Hockey has a 9-0-2 record and sit alone atop the St. Charles Division.  In fact, they are one of only two teams in all of Mid-States Hockey with an unbeaten record.  The other team is Ladue with a 10-0-2 record.  With the team's 9-3 victory over Francis Howell Central, they have now played every team in the St. Charles division at least once.

Duchesne has managed to get to this point with all three aspects of their game - offense, defense, and goal tending.

On the offensive side, Duchesne boasts four players in the Top 25 in points out of 760 registered players in Mid-States, and three of those are in the Top 10.  To have one or two players in the Top 25 would be considered an accomplishment, but having four is nearly unheard of.

At the top of that list is Senior Nick Morgan who is having the season of a lifetime with 32 points (25 goals, 7 assists) through eleven games.  He leads all of Mid-States hockey in total points and goals.  Sitting just one spot below him at #2 overall is Freshman Owen Kelsey who has 31 points (11 goals and 20 assists).  He leads all of Mid-States in assists thus far into the season.

Just a few spots down, at #8, Senior Trenton Gebben-Thompson has 23 points (14 goals, 9 assists) and Senior Carson Kuhn sits in the #25 spot with 15 points (5 goals, 10 assists).  Kuhn's ten assists put him in the Top 10 in that category as well.

On the other side, Duchesne's defense has come a long way from there they were a year ago.  Led by Senior Lucas Daleo, the defense has sometimes been stifling to their opponents.  In a recent game against Francis Howell High School, the Pioneers were completed outplayed and completely outshot by the Vikings for the entire period, yet the score at the end of the period was 0-0.  Despite their best efforts to score on Duchesne, the defense held strong and came through time after time.

Other defensemen such as Sophomore Brendan Birkenmeier, Sophomore Austin Schoene, and Junior Ryan Adkerson have been huge contributors on defense - especially in the absence of Senior Auggie Lee who has been on the injured list, but will be returning to the Pioneers in early January. 

Finally, the goalies this year have been in a class of their own.  Usually when a team has two or three goalies, there is one who stands alone as the top net minder.  However, this team has been blessed with three high quality and high performing goalies.  Seniors Dillon Kuhn (2.83 GAA, 89.2% Saves), Quinn Meyer (3.36 GAA, 91% Saves), and Freshman Braylon Douglas (1.5 GAA, 92.3% Saves) have each proven that they can be relied upon in any situation and against any opponent.  Their combined goal against average is 2.55 and combined save percentage is 90.2% - both solid numbers through eleven games.

Still, with nine games remaining, there are still some very tough matchups coming up for the Pioneers - the biggest of those coming up this Saturday, Dec. 21, against Ft. Zumwalt West who currently sit in the #2 spot of the St. Charles Division.  Duchesne beat West in the third game of the season, but not only was it a close game (final score 4-3), but it took a goal from Senior Nick Morgan with 40 seconds left to pull out the victory.  That was West's only loss in their first 7 games of the season.  They have only lost two on the season.

Regardless of how the season goes from this point forward, if you've been to a Duchesne Hockey game, you know how exciting and fun they are.  Being unbeaten at this point only adds to that excitement and this crew is going to continue to battle for every game remaining in this season.  We encourage all of Pioneer Nation to join the Ice Hockey team to watch at least one of the remaining games of the season.

Congrats thus far, and good luck for the remainder of the season, Pioneer Ice Hockey!!