The Bemidji State University men’s ice hockey team (2-3-1; 2-0-0 WCHA) looks to protect is perfect league mark this weekend as it returns to Sanford Center to host preseason Western Collegiate Hockey Association favorite Minnesota State University, Mankato (2-2-0; 0-0-0 WCHA) for a two-game league series.
Bemidji State opened conference play last weekend with a series sweep of WCHA newcomer University of Alabama-Huntsville. The Beavers used a hat trick by Markus Gerbrandt to spark a 6-1 victory Friday and rode a 13-save shutout by Andrew Walsh to gain a rare 1-0 victory in the series finale Saturday.
Just six games into the 2013-14 season, junior Danny Mattson and Gerbrandt, a sophomore, pace the team offensively. Mattson leads BSU with six points (1g-5a) and is the team’s top assist man with five. Gerbrandt has five points (4g-1a) and his four goals match Cory Ward for a team high. Andrew Walsh has shouldered the bulk of BSU’s goaltending duties. He is 2-3-1 with a 2.64 goals against average and a .910 save percentage. Walsh is coming off a weekend at UAH during which he posted a .050 goals against average and stopped 35 of 36 shots faced for a .972 save percentage.
Minnesota State rolls into Bemidji with a 2-2-0 record and is coming off a bye week. Friday will serve as the Mavericks’ league opener.
Minnesota State is led in scoring by three players with three points apiece. Sophomore Bryce Gervais (2g-1a) is the team’s early goal-scoring leader with two, while Johnny McInnis and Matt Leitner each have three assists. Sophomore goaltender Stephon Williams has appeared in all four of MSU’s games, making saves on 89 of 99 shots faced for a .899 save percentage and a 2.63 goals against average.
The Rivalry
This weekend’s series marks an extension to one of BSU’s most often revisited rivalries. The series got its start Nov. 25, 1974 and has included 98 meetings, which is second to only Wisconsin-Superior (129 games) as BSU’s most familiar opponent of all time. The Beavers enter the weekend toting a 46-39-13 advantage in the all-time series and are 30-14-5 when hosting the Mavericks, however, MSU has been victorious in 10 of the last 12 meetings between the teams.
The Coaches
Tom Serratore (Bemidji State ‘86) is in his 13th season as BSU’s head coach and has an overall record of 201-187-50 (.522). In addition to directing the Beavers to records of at least .500 in seven of the last 10 seasons, Serratore’s teams have won CHA regular-season championships five times since 2003-04 and made trips to the NCAA Tournament in 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010, with a 2009 appearance in the Frozen Four. He is a five-time CHA Coach of the Year recipient and was Spencer Penrose National Coach of the Year Runner-up in 2009.
In his second season at MSU, Crookston, Minn. native Mike Hastings is no stranger to the WCHA. Prior to taking the reigns of the Mavericks’ men’s hockey program, Hastings spent three seasons has associate head coach at Nebraska-Omaha and served as an assistant coach for one season at Minnesota and one season at his alma mater St. Cloud State. Hastings cut his coaching teeth as the head coach of the Omaha Lancers of the USHL where he piled up a 529-210-56 record in 14 years and left the team as the league’s all-time winningest coach.