Beavers co-host Ice Breaker to drop puck on 2023-24 season this weekend
BSU Men’s Hockey officially begins new season by hosting Wisconsin and Army at Sanford Center
The Bemidji State University Men’s Hockey team officially drops the puck on the 2023-24 season by co-hosting the 2023 Ice Breaker Tournament, the 27th edition of the annual event. The Beavers and University of North Dakota play host to University of Wisconsin and Army-West Point at Sanford Center and Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.
The Beavers (0-0-0) first host the Wisconsin Badgers (2-0-0) Friday, Oct. 13 at 7:07 p.m., followed by hosting Army (0-1-0) Saturday at 6:07 p.m.
Each game will be streamed online at FloHockey.tv with play-by-play provided by the Beaver Radio Network with Brian Schultz on play-by-play. A radio broadcast will also be available and can be found on the dial at 92.1 FM or online at www.beaverradionetwork.com.
The Ice Breaker Tournament, which began in 1997, traditionally marks the beginning of the NCAA Division I men’s hockey season. The event brings together four teams, typically from different conferences, and is administered by College Hockey Inc. on behalf of the Hockey Commissioners Association.
Bemidji State is competing in the Ice Breaker for the first time. UND previously hosted the event in 2011 and won it in 2015 at Maine.
The Beavers opened the 2023-24 season with an exhibition matchup at No. 2/3 University of Minnesota on Sunday, Oct. 8. The Beavers fell 5-2 to the 2023 NCAA runner-up Gophers.
Junior Jere Vaisanen started the scoring for the Beavers with a short-handed goal in the third period to pull BSU within one, but Minnesota responded with two consecutive goals to pull in front 4-1.
Fifth-year senior Carter Jones scored with 1:21 remaining for the Beavers’ second goal but Minnesota added an empty-net goal to cap-off the 5-2 victory.
Bemidji State dressed 27-of-28 skaters in the exhibition which NCAA rules permit no roster limits during exhibition play.
All three of the Beavers’ goaltenders played a period in the game with junior Mattias Sholl earning the start and stopping 4-of-4 shots in the first period. Senior Gavin Enright followed in the second period and stopped 19-of-21 shots while freshman Raythan Robbins closed out the third period and stopped 13-of-15 shots.
Bemidji State is one of 22 teams in NCAA Division I to open the 2023-24 season this weekend while the other 42 teams in DI opened the season last weekend.
The Beavers welcome Wisconsin and Army to Sanford Center in part of the 2023 Ice Breaker festivities.
The Badgers return to Sanford Center for the first time since 2012 while the Black Knights have never faced the Beavers in Sanford Center. BSU hosted Army in the 1999-00 and 2007-08 seasons but skated at the John S. Glas Fieldhouse before the Sanford Center debuted in 2010.
Bemidji State faces Wisconsin for the first time since the 2021 NCAA East Regional in Bridgeport, Conn. The fourth-seeded Beavers upset the top-seeded Badgers, 6-3, in the East Regional Semifinal for their first NCAA Tournament victory since 2009.
The win was the first ever for the Beavers against Wisconsin and the Badgers hold a 6-1-1 edge in the all-time series.
The Beavers have faced the Badgers just twice in Bemidji in the all-time series with Wisconsin earning a Western Collegiate Hockey Association series sweep over BSU in 2012 when the two teams were members of the same conference briefly from 2010-2013.
Bemidji State will face Army for the first time since 2007 and just the fifth time overall.
The Beavers and Black Knights were briefly members of the same conference (CHA) during the Beavers’ inaugural season of Division I in 1999-00.
Bemidji State is 4-0-0 against Army with all four meetings being played in Bemidji at the John S. Glas Fieldhouse.
Head coach Tom Serratore is 1-6-1 coaching against Wisconsin in his 22-years as head coach and 2-0-0 against Army.
2023-24 will be the 68th season of Bemidji State Men’s Hockey and 25th in Division I. The Beavers are 1,171-684-150 (.624) in 67 seasons and 385-390-102 (.501) in Division I.
Head coach Tom Serratore enters his 23rd season at the helm of the Bemidji State Men’s Hockey program. He is 368-344-97 (.515) in his coaching career.
Serratore stands 12th in career victories among active head coaches in Division I and his career winning percentage of .515 is 17th.
Since taking over the Bemidji State Men’s Hockey program in 2001, Serratore’s teams have achieved six regular-season conference championships, three CHA tournament titles, five NCAA Tournament appearances, one NCAA Frozen Four appearance (2009) and is a seven-time conference Coach of the Year.
During the off-season, Serratore announced the addition of two assistants to his coaching staff. Andrew Magera (Penn State ’21) and Brock Kautz (Minnesota ’19) will each serve as assistant coaches for the 2023-24 season.
They join Associate Head Coach Travis Winter as the four leaders of the program this season.
Fifth-year senior Kyle Looft made his return to the Beaver Hockey program and was voted by his teammates to lead the 2023-24 Beavers on and off the ice as the team’s captain.
He is assisted by fellow fifth-year senior Carter Jones as well as seniors Eric Martin and Jackson Jutting who will wear the “A”.
Bemidji State was voted to finish fourth by league coaches in this year’s CCHA Preseason Coaches’ Poll. The Beavers were voted to finish fifth by members of the league’s media.
Freshman Eric Pohlkamp (Brainerd, Minn.) was voted as the league’s Preseason Rookie of the Year in both the coaches and media polls while Looft was selected to the Preseason All-CCHA Team by the media.
BSU returns 21 athletes from 2022-23 (11 forwards, eight defensemen, two goaltenders) and lost 8 athletes (five forwards, two defensemen, one goaltender) to graduation.
Serratore has added seven newcomers to the squad with five forwards, one defensemen and one goaltender.
One of those newcomers is Eric Pohlkamp who was selected in the fifth round (132nd) of the NHL’s 2023 Entry Draft. He is the first Beaver NHL Draft pick since Radoslav Illo was selected in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft (139th).
Pohlkamp is the sixth Beaver to be drafted into the NHL joining Illo, Chris Peluso (seventh round – Pittsburgh – 194th), Andrew Murray (eighth round – Columbus – 242nd), Gary Sargent (third round – Los Angeles – 48th) and Dale Smedsmo (seventh round – Toronto – 93rd).
Bemidji State will need to replace 38 goals lost from last year (40.4 percent).
Serratore added newcomers Liam Engström, Noah Quinn, Rhys Chiddenton, Pohlkamp, Jake McLean and Kasper Magnussen in an attempt to replace those goals.
The Beavers return their leading scorer from 2022-23 in sophomore Lleyton Roed. Roed was the first BSU freshman since Matt Read (2007-08) to lead the team in scoring.
He played in all 36 games and posted 31 points off 13 goals and 18 assists, the fifth highest point total by a Beaver freshman in its DI era.
Roed was tied for seventh in the CCHA among all skaters in scoring and 11th in goals and was the leagues leading freshman point getter and finished 19th nationally.
The Beavers graduated four of its top five scorers from last year and following Roed, junior Jere Vasanen is the next top returner after posting 17 points (7g-10a) in 36 games.
Roed and Looft are the Beavers’ top returning power-play goal scorers after the pair each netted three goals on a BSU power play unit that finished third in the CCHA last year.
Bemidji State returns starting goaltender Mattias Sholl who started 30 of the team’s 36 games last year.
Sholl posted a 11-13-5 record in net and was third in the CCHA with a 2.26 goals against average and sixth in save percentage (.908).
He is joined by senior Gavin Enright as well as newcomer Raythan Robbins (Anchorage, Alaska).
The 2023-24 Beaver roster consists of 28 student-athletes with two fifth-year seniors, five seniors, seven juniors, seven sophomores and seven freshmen.
The team consists of 11 Minnesotans, 22 from North America including five Canadians and six from Europe.
By average, the Beavers stand as one of the smallest in Division I. They are the eighth smallest by height averaging 5’11.8″ and second smallest by weight averaging 180.5 pounds.
Looft returns as one the most seasoned defensemen in college hockey and has played in the second most games in DI by a defensemen at 137. He trails T.J. Lloyed of Alaska by one game.