BSU Men’s Hockey closes regular season with home series against St. Thomas

The Bemidji State University men’s hockey team closes out its 2021-22 regular season this weekend by hosting University of St. Thomas for a two-game, Central Collegiate Hockey Association at Sanford Center this weekend. The Beavers (14-18-0, 12-12-0 CCHA) can clinch the third seed in the CCHA Playoffs with three points versus the Tommies (3-28-1, 3-20-1 CCHA). Game one is slated for 7:07 p.m., Friday, February 25 followed by game two at 6:07 p.m., Saturday. The Beavers will celebrate its eight seniors Saturday night in part of Senior Night at Sanford Center.

Bemidji State enters the final weekend of the regular season with a 14-18-0 record and are 12-12-0 in conference play.

The Beavers can clinch the third seed in the CCHA Playoffs and a home playoff series in the opening round with just three points in their series with St. Thomas.

Bemidji State is receiving votes in the latest DCU/USCHO.com national poll but failed to receive votes in the latest USAToday/USAHockey Magazine poll.

Bemidji State has received votes or has been ranked in the DCU/USCHO.com national poll every week this season marking 20 consecutive weeks in the poll.

The Beavers are returning to Sanford Center after being swept at No. 1 Minnesota State University, Mankato last weekend.

BSU was outscored 10-2 in the series and were downed by the top-ranked Mavericks 5-1 in each game.

Bemidji State is 1-8-0 in its last nine games.

Bemidji State will honor its eight seniors before Saturday’s game against the Tommies in part of Senior Night. Ethan Somoza, Owen Sillinger, Alex Ierullo, Tyler Jubenvill, Ross Armour, Brad Johnson, Alex Adams and Tyler Kirkup will all be honored in the ceremony.

BSU dominates the all-time series record against the Tommies with a 24-3-1 record.

The Beavers and Tommies series dates back to 1961 but took a 23-year hiatus when BSU transitioned to Division I in 1999.

After 26 games at the Division III level, BSU and UST played their first-ever Division I series earlier this season on Dec. 3-4 in Mendota Heights.

Bemidji State earned the series sweep over St. Thomas with a 5-2 victory in game one and a 6-1 victory in game two where the Beavers scored a season-high six goals.

Sophomore Eric Martin paced the Beavers with five points against the Tommies including a career-high three assists in game two.

Alex Ierullo (1g-2a) and Owen Sillinger (1g-2a) followed Martin with three points against UST while Alex Adams and Sam Solensky paced the Beavers with two goals.

Goaltender Gavin Enright and Mattias Sholl each started a game in the series with each posting victories. Enright earned the win in game one after stopping 18-of-20 shots (.900) while Sholl was victorious in game two after stopping 21-of-22 shots (.955).

Martin and junior Will Zmolek led BSU skaters with a +5 rating against the Tommies while Tyler Jubenvill, Alex Ierullo, Elias Rosén and Owen Sillinger each earned a +4 rating.

Bemidji State is 16-2-1 when playing St. Thomas at home and its last home loss against the Tommies was Nov. 29, 1998.

BSU once earned a 20-game winning streak against UST which began on Dec. 11, 1974 and ran to Nov. 10, 1991.

Thomas travels to Bemidji after splitting its series against Lake Superior State University this past weekend. The Tommies’ 2-1 victory over the Lakers in game one snapped a six-game winless streak (0-5-1) and was just their third victory of the season.

Bemidji State is fourth in the CCHA by averaging 2.97 goals per game while St. Thomas is last in the conference at 1.59 gpg.

The Beavers rank fifth in the league by allowing opponents 3.31 gpg while St. Thomas is last by allowing 4.59 gpg.

Bemidji State’s power play remains ranked in the top 10 nationally despite going 0-for-6 last weekend at Minnesota State.

The Beavers’ power play is sixth in the nation, second in the CCHA, by converting at .265 percent (27-of-102). The Beavers are tied for 13th in DI with 27 goals with the man-advantage.

Thomas’ penalty kill is last in the CCHA at .693 (95-of-137) percent and have allowed the most power-play goals in Division I this season at 42.

Thomas is seventh in the CCHA with a power-play percentage of .137 (20-of-146) and is 4-for-18 (.222) on the power play in its last four games.

Bemidji State owns the third ranked penalty kill in the CCHA at .808 (97-of-120) but allowed three power-play goals (3-for-6) at Minnesota State last weekend.

Junior Elias Rosén and sophomore Lukas Sillinger lead the Beavers with five power-play goals each and are tied for the third most in the CCHA.

Senior Alex Ierullo is tied for second in the CCHA and tied for third in the nation with two short-handed goals this season.

Bemidji State is led on offense by Hobey Baker award nominee Owen Sillinger who has totaled 37 points (13g-24a) in 32 games to tie for fourth in the CCHA and tied for seventh nationally.

Sillinger is ranked 15th in the nation with a 1.16 point per game average and is on pace to become just the third player in Bemidji State’s Division I history to record 40 or more points in a single season (Matt Read 2x, Brendan Cook).

Matt Read holds the Division I highest single season point total with 41 points with Sillinger closing in with 37 points.

After scoring his 47th career goal last weekend, Sillinger is tied for seventh in career goals during the DI era with Marty Goulet (1999-03). He surpassed Andrew Murray who scored 46 goals during 2001-05 and is one shy of tying Rob Sirianni (03-07) and Tyler Scofield (05-09) with 48 career goals.

Sillinger is seventh in program’s DI history with 105 (47g-58a) career points and also ranks in the top-10 in goal scoring (t-7th) and assists (8th).

Owen’s 24 assists this season is fifth-most in the CCHA (eighth in NCAA) and his 13 goals are ranked ninth in the conference and are tied for 36th

Owen is also one of the better two-way centers in Division I and leads the CCHA and ranks third nationally with 412 face-off wins. His face-off win percentage of .533 (412-of-773) is 15th in the nation among skaters with 300 or more face-off wins.

College Hockey fans can cast their vote once per day for Owen Sillinger to reach the top-10 finalists for the 2022 Hobey Baker Award at: https://hobeybaker.com/awards/vote-for-hobey/

Sillinger is followed Alex Ierullo who has posted 32 points (12g-20a) to rank 11th in the CCHA while Lukas Sillinger follows with 30 points (13g-17a) to tie for 13th.

The Sillinger brothers lead the Beavers in scoring with 13 goals each this season while Ierullo follows with 12 and senior Tyler Kirkup has follows with 11 to round out skaters with double digits in goals.

Lukas Sillinger paces the team with a .250 shot percentage (13-of-53) which is second highest percentage in the CCHA among skaters to play in 30 or more games.

Junior Elias Rosén paces the Beavers’ defense with 22 points (6g-16a) in 31 games and is fourth in the CCHA in defenseman scoring.

Junior Will Zmolek leads the Beavers with 55 blocked shots. He ranks fifth in the CCHA in the category. He is followed by junior Kyle Looft with 44 blocks to stand 10th.

Freshman Mattias Sholl paces the Beavers in between the pipes and has posted an 8-11-0 record in 19 games. He as totaled a 3.00 goals against average and .899 save percentage to rank seventh in the conference in each category.

Sholl is followed by sophomore Gavin Enright who is 5-6-0 this season and sports a 3.37 goals against average and .889 save percentage in 13 games.