Men’s Hockey opens 2021-22 among the nationally-ranked

Bemidji State University will open the 2021-22 season among the top 20 NCAA Division I men’s hockey teams in the country according to the USCHO Division I Men’s Hockey Poll. The organization placed BSU in the No. 14 spot on its top-20 preseason poll.

The Beavers garnered 293 points to finish 14th, 16 votes behind Denver in the No. 13 spot and 616 points behind defending national champion University of Massachusetts (909) in the top spot. The Minutemen pulled in 19 of a possible 50 first-place votes to hold a seven-point edge over St. Cloud State University (902) in the No. 2 spot. This weekend’s exhibition partner University of North Dakota reeled in two first-place votes and 652 points to sit in the No. 8 spot.

Last season BSU appeared in the USCHO top-20 on 12 different occasions, which included a run of six straight to cap 2020-21. BSU climbed as high as No. 10 in the final poll of the season.

In addition to the Beavers, the Central Collegiate Hockey Association was represented by Minnesota State University with 779 points and a first-place vote in the No. 5 spot, while Michigan Technological University (54), Lake Superior State University (40), Bowling Green State University (34) and Northern Michigan University (5) were listed among “others receiving votes.

The Beavers are coming off of a 2020-21 campaign during which they posted a 16-10-3 overall record after going 8-5-1 in Western Collegiate Hockey Association play to finish fourth in the final season of the league. BSU earned a No. 4 seed in the WCHA Playoffs and swept Michigan Tech in the opening round. After bowing out to eventual champion Lake Superior State in the WCHA semifinal, the Beavers earned their second at-large bit into the NCAA Tournament in program history and netted a 6-3 win over No. 4 University of Wisconsin in the semifinal before its bid for the Frozen Four fell one game short with a loss to eventual national champion UMass in the regional final.

BSU gets its 2021-22 season underway this weekend when it travels to Grand Forks, N.D. for an exhibition contest versus North Dakota. Opening faceoff is set for 6:07 p.m. at Ralph Engestad Arena. BSU returns to Sanford Center Oct. 8 to officially kick off its non-conference season by hosting University of Minnesota Duluth for a 7:07 p.m. puck drop.