Beavers set to renew rivalry with No. 16 Mavericks in Mankato

The Bemidji State University Men’s Hockey team wraps up Central Colleigate Conference Association play during the 2022 calendar year this weekend by traveling to No. 16 Minnesota State University, Mankato to face the Mavericks (10-7-1, 7-4-1 CCHA) for a two-game league series beginning Thursday, Dec. 15 and ending Friday.
 
The Beavers (7-5-4, 5-2-3 CCHA) travel to Mankato, Minn., to face the No. 16 Mavericks at Mayo Clinic HSEC for a rare Thursday-Friday series. Puck drop for each game is scheduled for 7:07 p.m.
 
The Beavers and Mavericks rivalry dates back to 1974 and have 139 previous meetings against each other, the most against any opponent for Bemidji State.

In the beginning of their rivalry, the Beavers got the better of the Mavericks winning 30 of the first 45 matchups before the 1990 season. However, the Mavericks have dominated the series from then on and have taken a 65-58-16 (.525) lead in the all-time series record.

Mankato has been a difficult place to play for the Beavers with the Mavericks dominating play at home and are 37-19-11.

The Mavericks have had the Beavers’ number as of late and have won the last five games in the series after defeating the Beavers in all four regular season meetings last season and then again in the CCHA Championship game where the Mavericks earned a 2-1 overtime victory.

Bemidji State is led by senior Elias Rosén who has posted six points (2g-4a) in 11 career games versus the Mavericks while fifth-year senior Ross Armour follows with three points off two goals and an assist in 18 games.

No goaltender on the BSU roster has defeated Minnesota State with sophomore Mattias Sholl and junior Gavin Enright 0-4-0 and 0-1-0, respectively.

Sholl paces the team with 224:08 played against the Mavericks and has a 3.75 goals against average and .888 save percentage while Enright has a 3.75 goals against average and .857 save percentage in 79:54.

Bemidji State failed to receive votes in both the DCU/USCHO.com top-20 poll and the USAToday/USAHockeyMagazine top-20 poll for the first time failing to receive votes in both polls this season.

Bemidji State failed to receive votes in the DCU/USCHO.com national poll for the first time since January 18, 2021.

After a 1-1-0 weekend against Lake Superior State University, the Beavers sit 24th in the PairWise ranking system that mimics the NCAA selection committee’s method used to determine participants for the NCAA Division I Men’s Hockey Tournament.

Bemidji State won its second consecutive CCHA series last weekend after earning four-of-six points versus against the Lakers at Sanford Center.

The Beavers currently sit fourth in the CCHA standings with 20 league points (5-2-3) but lead the league by averaging 2.00 points per game. The Beavers have played just 10 conference games compared to 14 and 12 by co-leaders Bowling Green State University and Minnesota State.

The Beavers are led offensively by Canisius College fifth-year transfer Mitchell Martan who has posted 13 points off six goals and seven assists. He is 10th in the CCHA by averaging 0.81 points per game and seventh with 52 shots.

Martan is followed by Elias Rosén who is second among CCHA defenseman with 12 points off one goal and 11 assists.

Freshman Lleyton Roed (6g-5a), fifth-year senior Ross Armour (6g-5a) and junior Eric Martin (3g-8a) are all tied for third on the team with 11 points.

Martan, Roed and sophomore Alexander Lundman are all tied for the team lead with six goals and the three are tied for 13th in the CCHA.

Roed is tied for sixth among CCHA rookies in points (11).

Rosén has been hot as off late and has eight points (1g-7a) in his last six games. Bemidji State is 5-1-2 when Rosén records a point.

Armour also has the hot hand and has six points including three goals in his last four games. Armour is coming off just his second career multi-goal game after scoring twice against LSSU Dec. 10.

Senior Will Zmolek leads the Beaver defensemen with two goals this season and has posted eight points. He is also tied for third in the CCAH with a +8 rating on the ice.

More of a shutdown defenseman, Zmolek is fourth in the CCHA with 32 blocked shots and is tied with teammate Kyle Looft.

Goaltender Mattias Sholl is second in the league with a 1.95 goals against average and has also posted a .918 save percentage for fourth. He is 10th in Division I in goals against average. He has posted a 5-3-4 record (.600) in 12 games this season.

He has shared the net with junior Gavin Enright who 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 12 power-play goals in 53 attempts for a power-play percentage of .226 and are fourth in the CCHA.

In conference play, Bemidji State is 6-for-31 (.194) with the man advantage.

The Beavers’ penalty kill has allowed 10 goals in 51 opportunities for a penalty-kill percentage of .804 which is sixth in the CCHA.

Bemidji State is one of the least penalized teams in Division I and is third in the nation by averaging just 7.19 penalty minutes per game.

Bemidji State has allowed six power-play goals in 29 opportunities in conference play for a .793 percentage (6th).

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.

Fifth-year senior Ross Armour co-captains the team with senior defenseman Kyle Looft while senior Elias Rosén and senior Will Zmolek serve as alternates.

Tom Serratore is in his 22nd season at the helm of the Bemidji State Men’s Hockey program and owns a 361-332-96 career record.

He is 17-43-5 all-time against the Mavericks.