Beavers continue homestand by hosting Lakers for CCHA series

The Bemidji State University Men’s Hockey team continues its homestand at Sanford Center this weekend and hosts Lake Superior State University for a pair of Central Collegiate Hockey Association games at Sanford Center.
 
The Beavers (6-4-4, 4-1-3 CCHA) host the Lakers (1-11-2, 0-7-1 CCHA) who are desperate for some league wins. Puck drop for game one of their two-game Central Collegiate Hockey Association series is slated for 7:07 p.m., Friday, Dec. 9 followed by game two at 6:07 p.m., Saturday.
 
The Bemidji State and Lake Superior State series dates back to 1966 with the teams first meeting in International Collegiate Hockey Association (ICHA) play.

The rivalry between the Beavers and Lakers has been a back-and-forth battle with BSU narrowly holding a 37-36-6 edge in 79 meetings all-time.

The series has been just as close with BSU holding just an 18-17-3 edge when hosting the Lakers in Bemidji.

The Beavers have been hot as of late against LSSU and have won the last four meetings between the two teams and have out-scored the Lakers 24-8 during their four-game winning streak.

Bemidji State is led by senior Elias Rosén who has posted seven points (2g-5a) in 14 games versus the Lakers and leads active skaters with 27 shots on goal versus LSSU.

Fifth-year senior Ross Armour follows with six points (2g-4a) while senior Kyle Looft (1g-4a) has added five points and senior Will Zmolek has totaled four points (1g-3a). Looft leads all Beavers with a +10 rating on the ice versus LSSU.

Junior Gavin Enright and sophomore Mattias Sholl both boast 2-0-0 records between the pipes against Lake Superior State with Sholl holding the Lakers to just two goals in 51 shots for a 1.00 goals against average and .961 save percentage. Enright follows with a 3.00 goals against average and .882 save percentage versus the Lakers.

Bemidji State is still receiving votes in the DCU/USCHO.com top-20 poll but fails to receive votes in USAToday/USAHockeyMagazine top-20 poll for the third consecutive week.

After a 1-0-1 weekend against University of St. Thomas, Bemidji State moved up seven spots to 23rd in the PairWise ranking system that mimics the NCAA selection committee’s method used to determine participants for the NCAA Division I Men’s Hockey Tournament.

Bemidji State looks to carry momentum into this weekend’s series after earning five points against St. Thomas this past weekend at Sanford Center.

Bemidji State boasts a .688 winning percentage (4-1-3) when playing at home this season.

The Beavers currently sit fourth in the CCHA standings with 16 league points (4-1-3) but lead the league by averaging 2.00 points per game. The Beavers have played just eight conference games compared to 12 games by conference leader, Bowling Green State University.

The Beavers are led offensively by Canisius College fifth-year transfer Mitchell Martan who has posted 12 points off a five goals and seven assists. He is seventh in the CCHA by averaging 0.86 points per game and fifth by averaging 3.29 shots per game.

Martan is followed by Elias Rosén, Eric Martin and Lleyton Roed who all have each recorded 10 points. Roed paces the three with five goals while Rosén leads the team with nine assists and Martin follows with three goals and seven assists.

Sophomore Alexander Lundman leads the team with six goals this season which is tied for 10th most in the CCHA. He is coming off his first career multi-goal game after scoring twice against the Tommies on Dec. 2. He is also third in the CCHA by shooting at a .290 percentage (6-21).

Rosén leads the Bemidji State blueline with 10 points and is coming off his second consecutive three-point weekend and was named the CCHA Defenseman of the Week for the second consecutive week. He is tied for second among league defensemen with nine helpers this season.

He leads Bemidji State with a four-game point streak and has totaled six points (1-5a) in the last four games.

His d-partner Will Zmolek follows and has posted five points off two goals to lead BSU defensemen in goals this season. Both Zmolek and Rosén are tied for the league lead with a +9 rating on the ice.

More of a shutdown defenseman, Zmolek is second on the team and seventh in the CCHA with 27 blocked shots and trails fellow senior Kyle Looft who has totaled 29 and is fifth in the league.

Goaltender Mattias Sholl continues to pace the league with a 1.95 goals against average and has also posted a .916 save percentage to stand fifth. He is tied for seventh in Division I in goals against average.

He has posted a 4-2-4 record (.600) in 10 games this season and is second in the CCHA in winning percentage trailing Michigan Tech’s Blake Pietila (.688).

He has shared the net with junior Gavin Enright who has appeared in four games and is 2-2-0 with a 2.96 goals against average and .888 save percentage.

Bemidji State has scored nine power-play goals in 44 opportunities for a power-play percentage of .205 and are fourth in the CCHA.

Bemidji State went 2-for-5 (.400) while on the power play in last weekend’s series against St. Thomas.

In conference play, Bemidji State is 3-for-22 (.136) with the man advantage.

The Beavers’ penalty kill has allowed nine goals in 45 opportunities for a penalty-kill percentage of .800 to stand sixth in the CCHA.

Bemidji State has not allowed a power-play goal since Nov. 4 and allowed just two power-play goals during November.

Bemidji State allowed its first power-play goal since Nov. 4 this past weekend snapping a 13 penalty kill streak.

Bemidji State has allowed five power-play goals in 24 opportunities in conference play for a .783 percentage (6th).

Bemidji State’s schedule condenses now and the Beavers will play games every weekend from now until the end of the regular season with their only break happening over Christmas.

Fifth-year senior Ross Armour will co-captain the team with senior defenseman Kyle Looft while senior Elias Rosén and senior Will Zmolek will serve as alternates.

Tom Serratore is in his 22nd season at the helm of the Bemidji State Men’s Hockey program and owns a 360-331-96 career record.

He is 22-17-5 all-time coaching against the Lakers.