The Bemidji State University men’s ice hockey team (5-7-2; 5-4-1 WCHA) wraps up a six-game homestand this weekend as it hosts Miami University (7-6-1; 2-4-0 NCHC) for a two-game nonconference series at Sanford Center.

The Beavers open the series after splitting a Western Collegiate Hockey Association series with Lake Superior State University Nov. 15-16. Bemidji State saw a one-goal, third period lead slip away before dropping the series opener, 3-2. Saturday, sophomore Cory Ward netted his eighth goal the season one minute into overtime to snatch a 2-1 victory for the Beavers. Seven different BSU players logged at least one point in the series, led by Ward, who collected two goals.

Fourteen games into the 2013-14 season, sophomore forward Markus Gerbrandt and junior forward Danny Mattson are tied atop BSU’s scoring list with 11 points. While Gerbrandt is tied with Ward for BSU’s top goal scoring honors (8), Mattson’s nine assists match junior blueliner Matt Prapavessis for the team’s assist lead. Andrew Walsh continues to shoulder the bulk of the Beavers’ goaltending duties. He has started every contest this season and is 5-7-2 with a 2.82 goals against average and a .907 save percentage.

The No. 12 team in the nation, Miami opens the nonconference series after dropping three straight and four of its last five games. Last weekend, the RedHawks were swept by the University of Nebraska-Omaha in Omaha, Neb. MU lost game one 6-3 before suffering a 3-1 loss in the series finale.

Riley Barber and Austin Czarnik currently lead the team in scoring as each has 19 points in 14 games. Barber holds the team’s goal scoring lead with nine, while Czarnik is MU’s leading assist man with 12. Sophomore Ryan McKay has played in 10 of the RedHawks’ 14 games this season and has taken the decision in MU’s last six consecutively. He possesses a 5-4-1 record with a 2.17 goals against average and .934 save percentage.

The Rivalry
The Beavers and RedHawks enter the weekend with a very short history. The teams have logged just six previous head-to-head contests with Miami holding a 4-2-0 lead in a series that got its start in 2000. The teams’ most memorable meeting came in April of 2009 when the Beavers and RedHawks met in the semifinal of the Frozen Four in Washington, D.C. Miami got the best of the Beavers, 4-1, in that game, but the Beavers knocked off then-No.1 RedHawks, 3-2, in their next meeting Nov. 27, 2009. BSU and MU last met Oct. 7-8, 2011. BSU again beat then-No. 1 Miami, 5-3, in the opener before dropping the series finale, 3-2 in Oxford, Ohio.

The Coaches
Tom Serratore (Bemidji State ‘86) is in his 13th season as BSU’s head coach and has an overall record of 206-193-51 (.514). Serratore’s teams have won CHA regular-season championships five times since 2003-04 and made trips to the NCAA Tournament in 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010, with a 2009 appearance in the Frozen Four. He is a five-time CHA Coach of the Year recipient and was Spencer Penrose National Coach of the Year Runner-up in 2009.
In 14 seasons at the helm of the Miami RedHawks men’s hockey program, Enrico Blasi has posted a 318-202-54 (.601) overall record. A 1994 graduate of MU, Blasi has led the RedHawks to the forefront of collegiate hockey. MU has won at least 20 games in each of the last eight seasons and have earned trips to the 2009 and 2010 NCAA Frozen Four. Blasi won the 2006 won the Spencer Penrose Award for ACHA National Coach of the Year.

Bemidji State Notables:
• The Beavers host Miami University in a nonconference series that got its start in 2000. Miami currently holds a 4-2-0 mark in the series, which includes a 4-1 victory in the 2009 Frozen Four semifinal. BSU has gotten the best of the RedHawks in two of the last three meetings and split a road series with MU (W, 5-3 and L, 3-2) Oct. 7-8, 2011—the last time the teams met.

• BSU is 3-4-1 at home this season, which includes a 0-2-0 mark in non conference play.

• Bemidji State has been outscored 16-8 in nonconference splay the season and carries a 0-3-1 nonconference record into its series with Miami.

• The Bemidji State men’s hockey team split a WCHA series with Lake Superior State in Bemidji, Minn. Nov. 22-23. The Beavers dropped the series opener 3-2, but rebounded with a 2-1 overtime victory Saturday.

• Friday night marked the first time this season the Beavers have lost when opening the third period with a lead. BSU is now 4-1-2 in seven games when leading after 40 minutes.

• More than 51 percent of BSU’s goal scoring (21 of 41 goals) this season has come in the second period. BSU has outscored its opponents’ 21-12 in the frame, while its opponents have a 28-19 advantage in the first and their periods combined.

• BSU has been out scored 10-3 in the third period of games it has lost this season, while it has out scored opponents 7-3 in wins or ties.

• Matt Prapavessis posted BSU’s first short-handed goal of the season Friday night marking BSU’s first shorty since Jan. 19, 2013–a streak spanning 29 games.

• Ruslan Pedan continues to be a catalyst for BSU’s power-play. The freshman has scored all seven of his points this season (3g-4a) on the man advantage He leads al BSU players in power-play scoring.

• The Beavers’ penalty-kill unit surrendered two power-play goals for the first time this season last Friday. The last time a BSU opponent netted two power-play goals was March 8, 2013 versus Minnesota (2/4)–a streak spanning 15 games.

• Bemidji State has snuffed out 36 of 42 (.857) to rank fourth in league play. On the season BSU is 53-of-62 (.855).

• While Bemidji State ranks second in the WCHA averaging 3.30 goals per game, the Beavers rank fifth at 2.50 goals allowed per league contest.

• With six points (3g-3a) in WCHA play this season, including an assist Friday, Ruslan Pedan is fourth among all league freshman and fifth among WCHA blueliners in scoring.

• Graeme McCormack has scored seven (1g-6a) of his eight points (1g-7a) in league play to tie for second on the WCHA blueliner scoring list.

• BSU was 1-for-10 on the man advantage in the series versus Lake Superior State bringing it to .222 (9-of-41) in league play to rank second. The Beavers are 11-of-56 on the season (.196).

• Despite being held without a point for the third consecutive game Saturday, Markus Gerbrandt (8g-3a) shares the BSU scoring with Danny Mattson (2g-9a) with 11 points. Gerbrandt paces the WCHA in scoring (7g-2a) and goals scored in league play (7), while Mattson’s seven helpers place him atop the WCHA assists list.

• Saturday’s victory was the Beavers first home win on a Saturday since a 5-1 victory over Denver Dec. 15, 2012. BSU is 1-2-1 on Saturday at home this season.

• Saturday’s overtime victory also served as the Beavers first win in overtime since Nov. 4, 2011, ironically versus the same Lake Superior State team. The win snapped a string of 19 consecutive overtime games without a victory (0-5-14).

• This season no two players have had more success at home than Matt Prapavessis. He has logged eight (1g-7a) of his nine (1g-8a) points on home ice in 2013-14. The junior has a goal and six assists in BSU’s last six home games.

• Six BSU newcomers to have found the back of the net though the Beavers’ first 13 games. Defenders D.J. Jones, who will appear in the line up tonight, and Carter Struthers remain as the only new skaters without a goal.

• This season, BSU’s five-play sophomore class has accounted for a team-best 41 points, which includes 20 of the Beavers 41 total goals. Markus Gerbrandt is BSU’s top-scoring sophomore with 11 points (8g-3a), while Cory Ward and Gerbrandt have recorded a team-best eight goals.

• This season BSU has been out scored 20-14 in Saturday contests. BSU is 1-3-2 in those games.

• BSU out shot LSSU in both games of the series, including Friday night when the Beavers out shot the Lakers 32-26 and lost 3-2. It marked just the fourth time this season BSU has out shot its opponent. BSU is now 4-1-0 in those games.

• BSU has compiled an all-time record of 1,011-535-105 (.643) in 1,654 games.