Beavers travel to Houghton eyeing league points versus Huskies

Locked in a tight battle with Michigan Technological University in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association standings, the Bemidji State University men’s hockey team travels to Houghton, Mich., this weekend to face the Huskies in a pivotal CCHA series. The Beavers (13-13-0, 11-7-0 CCHA) hold a five-point lead over the Huskies (12-8-1, 9-5-0 CCHA) in the standings with MTU having played four less league games. Game one for their series is slated for 6:07 p.m. CST Friday, Jan. 28 while game two is scheduled for 5:07 p.m. CST Saturday.

The Beavers enter the weekend’s action on a three-game losing streak after being swept this past weekend against Ferris State University at home. The Bulldogs used a late, third-period goal to defeat the Beavers 2-1 in game one and then followed by scoring five straight goals en-route to a 5-2 victory in game two.

Alex Adams was the lone skater to record multiple points in the series after totaling a goal and assist and paced the Beavers with a +2 rating on the ice. Adams, Kyle Looft and Tyler Kirkup were the lone Beavers to record a goal in the series.

After reentering the USAToday/USAHockeyMagazine top-15 national poll last weekend the Beavers failed to receive votes in this week’s poll but they received five votes in the DCU/USCHO.com Division I top-20 poll. Michigan Tech enters the weekend’s action receiving votes in the USAToday/USAHockeyMagazine top-15 poll and are ranked 18th in the DCU/USCHO.com top-20 poll.

The Beavers close their season series with Michigan Tech this weekend after previously hosting the Huskies Nov. 19-20. BSU and MTU split the series at Sanford Center with the Huskies taking game one with a 4-3 victory but the Beavers responded with a 4-3 victory in game two.

Owen Sillinger paced the Beavers with four points off of two goals and two assists in the series while his brother, Lukas Sillinger, added three points (1g-2a). Ross Armour (1g-1a), Alex Ierullo (2a) and Elias Rosén (2a) each had multiple points in the series.

Bemidji State started both netminders Gavin Enright and Mattias Sholl in the two games with Enright earning the loss in game one and Sholl earning the win in game two after stopping 24-of-27 shots.

Bemidji State leads the all-time series against the Huskies with a 19-17-6 (.524) record but the Huskies are 8-5-5 (.583) when playing the Beavers in Houghton. Bemidji State’s last win at MacInnes Ice Arena was a 2-1 victory on Feb. 20, 2021. All-time, the Beavers are being outscored 46-35 in MacInnes Ice Arena.

Ethan Somoza and Brad Johnson lead all active skaters with 16 games played against MTU while Ross Armour and Tyler Kirkup have appeared in 14 and Alex Adams and Alex Ierullo have played in 13. Alex Ierullo and Owen Sillinger each lead the Beavers with 11 career points against the Huskies with each posting four goals and seven assists. Ethan Somoza follows with 10 points and paces all skaters with seven goals.

Mattias Sholl is the lone netminder on the 2021-2 squad with a win against the Huskies after earning a 4-3 victory in their last meeting. He has a .889 save percentage and 3.01 goals against average against MTU while Gavin Enright follows with a .886 save percentage and 4.09 goals against average in his lone start.

Bemidji State is 5-1-0 in the two team’s last six games and 9-2-1 in the last 12 games.

BSU is third in the CCHA and 19th in the nation by averaging 3.19 goals per game while its defense is fourth in the conference and 38th in the nation by allowing 3.12 goals per game.

Bemidji State’s power play is second in the CCHA and fifth in the nation with a power-play percentage of .259 (21-of-81) while its penalty kill is third in the conference, 26th in the nation, with a penalty-kill percentage of .833 (80-of-96).

The Beavers’ penalty kill held Ferris State to zero goals in its six chances last weekend and are 16-of-18 (.889) in its last six games. Despite being down a skater, the Beavers have found offense while on the penalty kill and are second in the CCHA, 11th in the nation, with three short-handed goals this season.

Alex Ierullo leads the team with two short-handed goals while senior Tyler Kirkup has scored the other short-handed goal for the Beavers. Ierullo is one of three players in the nation to score multiple short-handed goals this season.

Bemidji State is led by Hobey Baker Memorial Award nominee Owen Sillinger this season. He paces the Beavers, is third in the conference and tied for third in the nation with 32 points this season. He is two points shy of a career high and his 1.23 points per game average is sixth in the CCHA and 15th in the nation. Owen is on pace to become the first Beaver Men’s Hockey player to reach 40 points in a season since Matt Read posted back-to-back 40-point seasons from 2007-2009. Only two skaters during the Division I era reached the 40-point mark in a single season (Matt Read 2x, Brendan Cook).

Owen has also dominated the face-off dot and leads the nation with 331 face-off wins. He owns a .532 face-off percentage (331-of-622). Right behind Owen is line mate Alex Ierullo who is seventh in the conference with 29 points off of 10 goals and 19 assists.

The line of O. Sillinger, Alex Ierullo and Lukas Sillinger has combined for 85 of the teams 212 points this season and 31 of the teams 83 goals (.373). Owen Sillinger paces the team with 12 goals while Ierullo and Kirkup follow with 10 and Lukas Sillinger has added nine.

Bemidji State’s blueline is led by Elias Rosén who has recorded 16 points (5g-11a) in 26 games. He has been hot as of late and has seven points (3g-4a) in the last five games.

Alex Adams leads the team with a two-game point streak (1g-1a) after being the lone Beaver to record a point in both games of last weekend’s series.

Freshman goaltender Mattias Sholl has started 10 of the last 11 games in net and leads the team with an 8-7-0 record. He has posted a .906 save percentage which is fifth in the CCHA and a 2.75 goals against average which is fourth.

Sophomore Gavin Enright follows with a 4-5-0 record in 11 games and has a .892 save percentage and 3.24 goals against average.

Bemidji State is 10-3-0 when leading after the first period this season and 11-0-0 when leading after the second period. BSU is 0-4-0 when trailing after the first and just 1-11-0 when trailing after the second.

Bemidji State is 10-7-0 when scoring the game’s first goal. When the opponent scores first the Beavers are 3-6-0.

The Beavers have scored four or more goals in 13 games this season. They are 12-1-0 when scoring four or more goals and just 1-12-0 when scoring three or less goals.