Men’s Hockey resumes CCHA play by hosting St. Thomas at Sanford Center
The Bemidji State University Men’s Hockey team begins a four-game homestand this weekend and hosts University of St. Thomas for a pair of Central Collegiate Hockey Association games at Sanford Center.
The Beavers (5-4-3, 3-1-2 CCHA)) host the Tommies (4-12-0, 3-7-0 CCHA) for their two-game CCHA series beginning Friday, Dec. 2 and ending with game two Saturday. Puck drop for game one at Sanford Center is slated for 7:07 p.m., followed by game two at 6:07 p.m.
The Bemidji State and St. Thomas series dates all they way back to 1961 despite the Tommies joining the CCHA at the beginning of the 2021-22 season.
This weekend’s series will be the 31st and 32nd meeting between the two teams with Bemidji State dominating the all-time series with a 26-3-1 record.
Bemidji State is 18-2-1 when hosting the Tommies and have won all four meetings in Division I play for an active four-game winning streak versus St. Thomas.
BSU’s four-game active winning streak against the Tommies is tied for the program’s longest active winning streak against a league opponent (Lake Superior State, 4-0-0).
Bemidji State is led by junior Eric Martin who has posted a team-high eight points (8a) in four career games versus the Tommies and holds a team-high +7 rating on the ice.
He is followed by fifth-year senior Ross Armour who has four points (3g-1a) in four career games versus St. Thomas. He is also +6 on the ice versus the Tommies. All three of his goals came in his first career hat trick in last season’s meeting on Feb. 25.
Sophomore netminder Mattias Sholl leads Bemidji State goaltenders with a 3-0-0 record against St. Thomas and has posted a 2.33 goals against average and .896 save percentage.
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 second consecutive week. St. Thomas is failing to receive votes in both polls.
BSU is currently 30th in the pairwise rankings while St. Thomas is 47th.
Bemidji State is coming off a 0-1-1 weekend in non-conference action against University of North Dakota while the Tommies are hoping to carry momentum after earning the program’s first Division I series sweep last weekend against Lake Superior State University.
The Beavers are led on offense by Canisius College fifth-year transfer Mitchell Martan who has posted 10 points off a team-high five goals and five assists. He is ninth in the CCHA by averaging 0.83 points per game. He is fourth in the league by averaging 3.42 shots per game.
Martan is followed by junior Eric Martin and sophomore Jere Vaisanen. Both have recorded eight points off three goals and five assists.
Freshman Lleyton Roed and Sophomore Alexander Lundman are both tied for second on the team with four goals. Roed is ninth among CCHA rookies with seven points (4g-3a) this season.
Seniors Elias Rosén leads the Bemidji State blueline with seven points off seven assists this season. He is coming off a three-assist weekend and earned his first CCHA Defenseman of the Week honor of the season. He is fifth among CCHA defenseman with seven helpers.
Senior Will Zmolek follows Rosén with four points off a goal and three assists and is tied for third in the CCHA with a +8 rating on the ice. He is also second on the team with 22 blocked shots and trails fellow senior Kyle Looft who has totaled 26. The two seniors rank fourth and seventh, respectively, in the CCHA.
Sophomore Mattias Sholl has started eight of the Beavers’ 12 games this season and is 3-2-3 with a 1.71 goals against average and .929 save percentage. He leads the CCHA and is fifth in Division I in goals against average and second in save percentage among CCHA netminders and tied for 10th nationally. His fellow netminder junior Gavin Enright 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 seven power-play goals in 39 opportunities for a power-play percentage of .179 this season and are fifth in the CCHA.
Bemidji State went 1-for-6 (.167) while on the power play in last weekend’s series against North Dakota but came up empty on all four power play opportunities in Saturday’s series finale versus the Fighting Hawks.
In conference play, Bemidji State has scored just one power-play goal and is 1-for-17 (.059), last in the CCHA.
The Beavers’ penalty kill has allowed eight goals in 39 opportunities for a penalty-kill percentage of .795 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.
Since allowing two power-play goals for the third time this season on Nov. 4, BSU’s penalty killing unit has killed off the last 12 opponent power plays.
The Beavers are also +1 while down a skater as fifth-year transfer Kaden Pickering scored the Beavers first short-handed goal of the season last weekend against North Dakota. While at St. Lawrence University, Pickering scored two short-handed goals for the Saints.
Bemidji State has allowed four power-play goals in 17 opportunities in conference play for a .765 percentage (7th).
Bemidji State and Ferris State University have played the least amount of conference games with each team playing just six league games at this point.
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.
Bemidji State will play 11 CCHA series and one exhibition game over the next 13 weeks left in the regular season.
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 359-332-95 career record. He is 4-0-0 all-time coaching against the Tommies.