Beavers return to Sanford Center for critical Thursday-Friday series against Bulldogs
BSU Men’s Hockey returns home to host Ferris State, Feb. 15-16
It’s crunch time for the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and the Bemidji State University Men’s Hockey team as just six games remain on the league schedule for the Beavers.
The Beavers (11-15-2, 9-7-2 CCHA) hold third in the league standings heading into the weekend and eye key points when hosting eighth-place Ferris State University at Sanford Center. The Beavers battle the Bulldogs (10-18-1, 6-13-0 CCHA) for another rare Thursday-Friday (Feb. 15-16) series at Sanford Center. Both games of the series begin at 7:07 p.m.
Each game will be streamed online at FloHockey.tv with play-by-play provided by the Beaver Radio Network with Brian Schultz providing play-by-play commentary and Brian Bissonette providing color. Fans can also tune in to the Beaver Radio Network broadcast at 92.1 FM or online at www.beaverradionetwork.com.
Just 18 points remain for the Beavers to secure home-ice advantage in the first round of the CCHA Playoffs and capture their second MacNaughton Cup in program history.
The third-place Beavers sit three points out of the top spot in the CCHA standings and two points behind second place.
The Beavers have two games in hand against first-place Minnesota State University, Mankato who are on bye this weekend.
Bemidji State trails second-place University of St. Thomas by two points and have the same amount of league games remaining (6).
However, the Beavers have teams nipping at their heels with Bowling Green State University and Michigan Technological University each trailing by two points.
Just seven points separates first from sixth in the CCHA standings ensuring an entertaining finish for the 2023-24 CCHA regular season championship and MacNaughton Cup.
Bemidji State is returning to Sanford Center with a confidence boost after taking five-of-six league points away from Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Mich.
It was the first time the Beavers stole five or more points on the road since Dec. 15-16, 2022 at Minnesota State.
Bemidji State has earned two or more league points in its last three games going 1-0-2 in its last three league games.
The Beavers will face Ferris State this weekend at Sanford Center, a place where they are 8-6-0 this season.
Bemidji State sees the Bulldogs for the second time this season and split their first series in Big Rapids, Mich., just over a month ago.
BSU opened that road series with a crucial 4-1 victory on Friday night led by three Beavers who scored their first collegiate goal (Rhys Chiddenton, Donte Lawson, Tony Follmer).
Junior netminder Mattias Sholl was dominant in between the pipes and stopped 25-of-26 shots to lead the Beavers to victory.
However, the Bulldogs responded Saturday with a 5-3 victory using a 2-0 leading within the first six minutes to overcome a Beaver comeback led by Lleyton Roed who scored twice in the game.
The all-time series between the Beavers and Bulldogs stands pretty even but Ferris State holds a slight edge with a 20-19-6 record against the Beavers.
The teams have faced-off against one another since the 1999-00 season and have totaled 45 all-time meetings.
The Beavers have been slightly better against FSU as of late and have won three of the last five matchups including two in Big Rapids.
Ferris State has gotten the best of BSU in Bemidji however, and is 10-7-3 against the Beavers when on the road.
Five of the last eight meetings have been decided by two goals or less.
Sophomore Lleyton Roed leads active skaters with six career points (3g-3a) against the Bulldogs and is averaging a point per game versus FSU.
He is followed by sophomore Kirklan Irey who has four points (2g-2a) in five career games versus the Bulldogs.
16 of the 25 skaters on the team have recorded a point versus Ferris State including eight who have two or more points.
Sholl leads BSU goaltenders with seven career games against the Bulldogs and is 2-4-1 with a 2.53 goals against average and .905 save percentage. He stopped 58-of-64 shots in the last series at Ferris State.
The Beavers were led by sophomore Adam Flammang and freshman Eric Pohlkamp at Northern Michigan as the two were named CCHA Players of the Week on Monday.
Flammang earned his first career CCHA Forward of the Week honor after leading BSU with four points and three goals.
Pohlkamp was named the leagues Defenseman and Rookie of the Week after scoring two goals and an assist for his first defenseman honor and second rookie weekly accolade.
Bemidji State is third in the CCHA in goals scored per game averaging 2.82 per game while ranking seventh in goals against (3.39).
The Beavers’ goals against average has been trending down as of late with BSU allowing two or fewer goals in four of the last six games.
Bemidji State is 7-1-1 this season when allowing two or fewer goals and 246-55-65 (.691) in its DI history.
Bemidji State has also found the back of the net more consistently over the last four games averaging 3.50 goals per game and scored three or more goals in three of the last four games.
The Beavers still need to find the back of the net while on the power play more consistently however and are 1-for-10 (.100) on the power play over the last three games.
Bemidji State is seventh in the CCHA with a power-play percentage of .156 (17-109).
BSU’s penalty kill has also struggle and has allowed three power-play goals over the last eight attempts. (.625).
Bemidji State is seventh in the league with a penalty-kill percentage of .753 (70-93).
Bemidji State has battled injuries throughout the season yet sit in home-ice positioning for the CCHA playoffs. The Beavers have lost 64 man-games due to injuries this season.
The Beavers seem to be on the mend as they saw the return of fifth-year senior captain Kyle Looft who missed six games due to injury.
Head coach Tom Serratore has had to juggle his lines throughout the season because of injuries and has totaled 62 different line combinations and 15 different defensive pairings.
BSU continues to pace the CCHA averaging just 7:49 penalty minutes per game. That average is second lowest in Division I.
Bemidji State blocks the second-most shots in the league totaling 422 on the season led by Follmer and Will Magnuson who each have 54 to tie for second in the league.
Follmer has missed the last four games due to injury while Magnuson has stepped up and is coming off a weekend where he blocked 13 shots.
Bemidji State is led by Lleyton Roed who has totaled 26 points (13g-13a) in 28 games. The Hobey Baker Memorial Award nominee is t-fourth in the CCHA in points and fifth in goals.
However, it was the Beavers’ second line of Carter Jones, Jere Vaisanen and Adam Flammang that led BSU to victory at Northern Michigan.
The line factored in on five-of-seven Beaver goals last weekend including three from Adam Flammang.
Flammang has been hot as of late and brings a five-game point streak into the weekend (4g-3a).
Senior Eric Martin extended his point streak to six games Friday night at NMU but it came to end Saturday.
Pohlkamp brings a two-game points streak into the weekend and has recorded a point in four of the last five games.
Since returning from Gothenburg, Sweden, Pohlkamp has five points (2g-3a) in six games.
Fifth-year senior Carter Jones has three points (3a) over the last two games and four points (1g-3a) over the last four.
The Beavers have nine skaters who have reached double-digits in scoring this season, tied for the third most in the CCHA.
Martin is third on the team with 18 points (4g-14a) in 26 games and is t-sixth in the CCHA in assists.
46 of the Beavers’ 79 goals have been scored by underclassmen (58.2%) this season including five-of-seven last weekend.
Bemidji State is 9-3-1 when scoring first this season but just 2-12-1 when the opponent scores first.
The Beavers are 6-8-0 on Friday’s and 4-6-2 on Saturday’s this season.
2023-24 is the 68th season of Bemidji State Men’s Hockey and 25th in Division I. The Beavers are 1,182-699-152 (.620) in 67 seasons and 396-405-104 (.496) in Division I.