Beavers gear up for rematch against Lakers at Sanford Center

Bemidji State returns from bye to host Lake Superior State at Sanford Center

The Bemidji State University Men’s Hockey team returns off its bye week and resumes Central Collegiate Hockey Association play by hosting Lake Superior State University for their second series of the season.

The Beavers (5-9-0, 4-4-0 CCHA) host the Lakers (7-7-0, 4-4-0 CCHA) at Sanford Center for their final regular season meeting set to begin Friday, Dec. 8 at 7:07 p.m. Game two will follow Saturday at 6:07 p.m.

Bemidji State will be looking to regain some lost league points from earlier this season after LSSU earned five-of-six points in their first series on Nov. 3-4 in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

The Beavers earned their lone point in the series Friday night after forcing overtime with the Lakers but fell 4-3 in the three-on-three period.

BSU was out-scored 9-4 in that series with four Beavers all scoring goals and fifth-year senior Kyle Looft the lone skater to record two points after earning two assists.

Bemidji State out-shot the Lakers 61-46 in the series including 41-22 in the first two periods. However, the Beavers were out-scored 6-3 in the first two periods.

The Bemidji State-Lake Superior State historic rivalry dates back to 1966 with the two teams battle for NAIA National Championships in the late 60’s and early 70’s.

The all-time series is split evenly throughout their histories with Lake Superior State taking the series lead after last series and are 40-39-6 against BSU.

The Beavers are currently on a three-game losing streak against the Lakers with their last win on Jan. 27, 2023 in Sault Ste. Marie.

Bemidji State is 4-6-0 against the Lakers in its last 10 meetings.

The Beavers have benefited the most when hosting the Lakers and are 19-17-3 when playing LSSU in Bemidji. BSU Has won three of the last four games played against the Lakers at Sanford Center.

BSU and LSSU have met 10 times in postseason play including three times in the NAIA Championship. Each team has five wins when facing one another in postseason play.

When playing for league points, the Beavers hold a slight edge over the Lakers with a 28-26-4 record in conference play.

Bemidji State head coach Tom Serratore is 24-21-5 when coaching against the Lakers in his 23 seasons at the helm of the BSU Men’s Hockey program.

Looft leads active skaters playing in 20 career games against the Lakers and has recorded eight points off two goals and six assists and a +9 rating on the ice.

He is followed by fellow fifth-year senior Carter Jones with five assists in 16 games while Eric Martin (1g-3a), Jere Vaisanen (3g-1a) and Lleyton Roed (3g-1a) each totaled four points.

Senior Gavin Enright started both games in last month’s series in net for the Beavers and in six career appearances, he is 3-3-0 with a 3.20 goals against average and .857 save percentage against the Lakers.

In five appearances, junior Mattias Sholl is 3-1-0 with a 1.85 goals against average and .932 save percentage.

Bemidji State remains out of the USAToday/The Rink Live and USCHO.com top-20 national polls with the Lakers also unranked in the polls.

Bemidji State now sits fourth in the Central Collegiate Conference standings with 13 league points following its bye week.

The Beavers are just one point in front of the Lakers who are tied with Northern Michigan University for fifth with 12 points.

Just six points separates first place University of St. Thomas and sixth place Lake Superior State in the tight CCHA standings.

Bemidji State last played Nov. 24-25 falling to No. 1 University of North Dakota in two games at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

The Beavers begin a five-game homestand this weekend after having played their last two series on the road.

Bemidji State is sixth in the CCHA in goals for per game averaging 2.64 while it ranks eighth in goals against at 3.79.

The Beavers stand sixth in the conference in power-play percentage at .153 (9-59) while its penalty kill is eighth at .682 (30-44).

Bemidji State blocks the second-most shots in the league averaging 14.7 blocked shots per game and have totaled 206 on the season.

BSU went 2-6-0 during November. It is 54-62-21 (.471) in its DI era during December.

Bemidji State is one of the least penalized teams in the country and sit fourth in Division I with just 99 team penalty minutes. Its average of 7.04 penalty minutes per game leads the nation.

Bemidji State is led by one of top scoring defenseman in the country in Kyle Looft. Looft has had a scorching start to his fifth season and through 14 games, he has posted 16 points off five goals and 11 assists. He leads all league defensemen in points, goals and assists ranks in the top 10 nationally among defensemen in points (t-6th), goals (t-5th) and points per game (1.14, 5th). Looft ranks fifth nationally among The Mankato, Minn., native has collected a point in nine-of-14 games this season including three career-high, three-point nights. He has eclipsed his previous career high for points in season by eight points in just 14 games this season. He has compiled 41 points (14g-27a) in his career and recently became the program record holder for career games played by a defenseman with 151.

Looft is followed by sophomore Lleyton Roed who has posted 12 points off a team-high eight goals. Roed is tied for fifth in the league in goals and his three game-winners is tied for the sixth most in DI.

Bemidji State will be without one of its top forwards this weekend in Jackson Jutting. Jutting scored in the Beavers’ 3-2 overtime loss at North Dakota for his third goal in two games but missed the series finale against the Fighting Hawks with an injury.

After slow start recording just one point over the first four games, freshman Eric Pohlkamp has found his stride at the Beaver blueline and has seven points (3g-4a) over the last 10 games.

18 different Beavers have recorded a point and have seen 12 different goal scorers.

23 of the Beavers’ 37 goals this season have been scored by underclassmen (62.2 percent).

Bemidji State has surrendered the first goal in nine-of-14 games this season and are being out-scored 12-23 in the first period.

Two Beavers were announced to the preliminary rosters for their respective countries earlier this week to compete at the World Junior Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden Dec. 26-Jan. 6. Kasper Magnussen (Norway) and Eric Pohlkamp (United States) will compete for a roster spot at their respective team’s training camps Dec. 13-16. The two are vying for one of 25 roster spots and seek to become the first two active members of the BSU Men’s Hockey team to compete at the World Junior Championship. Radoslav Illo, Sam Solensky, Annsi Tierenta, Miika Lindholm and Jakub Lewandowski (B Pool) competed for their respective countries as recruits.