First-place Beavers clash with second-place Tommies in Mendota Heights

BSU Men’s Hockey brings four-game unbeaten streak into St. Thomas

Just four games remain on the Central Collegiate Hockey Association regular season schedule and the Bemidji State University Men’s Hockey team enters the final two series a top the CCHA standings.

After earning five of a possible six points in their last two league series, the Beavers (13-15-2, 11-7-2 CCHA) eye more and look to hold off second-place University of St. Thomas this weekend. The Beavers travel to Mendota Heights to square-off against the Tommies (13-15-2, 11-8-1 CCHA) for a two-game series beginning Friday, Feb. 23 at 7:07 p.m. and ending Saturday.

Just two weekends remain on the 2023-24 CCHA schedule and the Beavers sit a top the league standings with 37 league points.

They hold a narrow lead however, with Minnesota State University, Mankato, St. Thomas and Bowling Green State University nipping at their heels with 35 points.

Bemidji State hopes to extend its five-game point streak this weekend as it travels to St. Thomas Ice Arena to face the Tommies for the second time this season.

The Beavers have been hot during the final full month of the regular season going 4-1-1 during February and are unbeaten in their last four games (3-0-1).

BSU has used its hot streak to propel itself to the top of the league standings and have the possibility to secure the program’s second MacNaughton Cup as the league’s regular season champion.

The Beavers can capture the regular season trophy if they sweep the Tommies and get help from Michigan Technological University and Lake Superior State University who face Bowling Green and Minnesota State, respectively.

However, the Beavers are focused on Friday’s matchup with the Tommies which is set for 7:07 p.m.

Bemidji State ends the regular season against two of the top three teams in the league standings in UST and MSU and control its own destiny in terms of capturing the program’s second MacNaughton Cup.

The Beavers hope to break a trend of struggling on the road this season where they are 3-9-2 as the visiting team.

Bemidji State sees St. Thomas for the second time this season and last met in the third week of the season on Oct. 27-28.

The Beavers earned their first league points of the season and league sweep after defeating the Tommies 3-2 in game one and 2-0 in game two at Sanford Center.

Sophomore and Hobey Baker nominee Lleyton Roed led the Beavers in that series by scoring three of the Beavers’ five goals while freshman Eric Pohlkamp earned two assists.

Roed is tied for the team lead with a scorching 11 points (6g-5a) in six career games versus the Tommies while senior Eric Martin is tied with him with 11 points (11a) in eight career games.

Three of Roed’s six career goals versus UST have been game winners while Martin holds an impressive +9 rating against the Tommies.

Bemidji State dominates the all-time series against the Tommies and have 32 wins in 38 games (32-4-2). 24 of the Beavers’ wins occurred before their Division I era but BSU is an impressive 8-1-1 against UST in DI play.

The Beavers are on a three-game win streak versus the Tommies and last lost Feb. 24, 2023 in Mendota Heights.

BSU is 7-2-0 when facing the Tommies on the road.

From 1974 to 1991, the Beavers strung together a 21-game win streak against the Tommies. Seven of the last eight meetings have been decided by two goals or less (6-1-1).

Junior goaltender Mattias Sholl is 6-1-1 against the Tommies and has posted a 2.33 goals against average and .88 save percentage.

After suffering an injury in the second period of the first game against UST on Oct. 27, Sholl was replaced by senior Gavin Enright to start the third period. Enright allowed one goal on 10 shots in the final period but posted his first career shutout in game two after stopping all 29 shots he faced.

Head coach Tom Serratore is 8-1-1 against St. Thomas in his 23 seasons as the leader of the BSU Men’s Hockey program.

Junior Jere Vaisanen helped guide the Beavers to five points against Ferris State University last weekend at Sanford Center. He factored in on three of the team’s seven goals with two goals and an assist and was a +2 skater to earn his second career weekly accolade. He has found his scoring touch as of late and has a goal in four of the last six games and has totaled six points (4g-2a) during that span. Six of his 12 points on the season have come during the month of February, tied for second most on the team during the month.

Sophomore Adam Flammang has paced the Beavers through February leading the team with seven points off five goals and two assists. Flammang carried a six-game point streak during the month but had the streak snapped last game against Ferris State.

Fifth-year senior Carter Jones now leads the team with a four-game point streak and has five points (5a) during that span.

Jones (5g-15a) is tied with fellow fifth-year senior Kyle Looft (5g-15a) and Martin (5g-15a) for the second most points on the team with 20.

The Beavers are paced by Roed who is near a point-per-game with 28 points (14g-14a) in his sophomore campaign. The White Bear Lake, Minn., native is third in the CCHA in points and t-third in goals (14). In just two seasons with the Beavers, Roed has compiled 59 career points (27g-32a) and his 0.89 point per game average is fourth among Beavers that played in the DI era (Matt Read-0.97, Luke Erickson-0.97, Andrew Murray-0.90).

The Beavers have 10 skaters who have reached double-digits in points this season, tied for second most in the CCHA.

Four Beavers have 20 or more points, third most in the CCHA.

Sholl leads the Beavers in between the pipes and is 8-7-2 with a 2.74 goals against average and .903 save percentage. Since returning from injury on Dec. 14, he has started every game and is 4-1-1 over his last six games with a 1.97 goals against average and .903 save percentage.

Bemidji State is third in the CCHA in goals scored per game averaging 2.87 per game but ranks sixth in goals against (3.27).

The Beavers’ goals against average has been trending down as of late allowing two or fewer goals in six of the last eight games (2.17).

Bemidji State is 9-1-1 this season when allowing two or fewer goals and 248-55-65 (.691) in its DI history.

Bemidji State has also found the back of the net more consistently over the last six games averaging 3.50 goals per game and has scored three or more goals in five of the last six games.

Bemidji State has battled injuries throughout the season yet sit in home-ice positioning for the CCHA playoffs. The Beavers have lost 66 man-games due to injuries this season.

The Beavers have been mostly healthy as of late with just junior Tony Follmer missing the last series due to injury.