Stuermer re-writing record books, setting the standard in stint with Falcons

Story written for January 17 game program

Fans who have shown up to a Concordia University Wisconsin Men's Hockey game over the past three seasons have probably noticed Devin Stuermer. Whether he is scoring a goal or finding an open teammate for a score, Stuermer has made his impact on the Falcons hockey program since he first stepped onto the ice during the 2012-13 season.

The Milwaukee native has already set several career records during his time at CUW. Earlier this season in a series against Finlandia University, Stuermer netted his 28th career goal, surpassing Jonathan Smith's record. Last weekend at UW-Stout, the junior standout broke another one of Smith's marks, recording his 61st career point.

"It is definitely a good indicator of how your career is going," Stuermer said of the records. "I didn't realize how close I was to setting some of those until midway through the season, but it was something I paid a little bit of attention to."

While the records books have been re-written time and time again by Stuermer and his current Falcon teammates, those players had a much more difficult task they were facing when they came to CUW in the fall of 2012. A task of taking a program that had won just 10 games over the previous five seasons on the ice and turning it into a competitive team in one of the more challenging conferences in the country.

While the results may be mixed for Stuermer and his teammates, the first recruiting class of head coach Jasen Wise, have helped turned the Falcons program all-around. In 2012-13, the Falcons won seven games before earning 10 wins last season, both program records. This season, CUW sits at six wins with 10 regular season games left on the schedule.

"The opportunity to come in here as a freshman and contribute right away was important to me," Stuermer said of why he chose to come to CUW. "One of our goals was to change the culture for our hockey program."

The Falcons certainly accomplished that feat, changing the culture. Not only in terms of wins and losses, but in terms of how they've competed night in and night out. While CUW may lack a big-time signature win, they've proven over the last few seasons they can skate with any team in the country.

That was shown last season, when the Falcons hosted this weekend's opponent, St. Norbert. The Green Knights are the program in NCAA Division III hockey everyone is chasing. They captured three national titles over the last four seasons, including winning it all last year. When CUW hosted St. Norbert exactly one year ago they battled to a 3-2 setback. Stuermer of course played a part in the game, scoring a goal in the second period.

"With our experience now, we don't look at those highly ranked teams as anything but another hockey team," Stuermer says. "As freshmen we were kind of intimidated playing them, but now we are more confident going into those games."

Confidence has certainly grown with Stuermer and his teammates over the past few seasons. Records are being set each and every night the Falcons skate on the ice, but more importantly the culture of the Concordia University Wisconsin Men's Hockey program is changing, and a new standard of excellence is being set.