MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. – The Bemidji State University Men's Hockey team scored a season-high seven goals Saturday night to cap-off the 2022-23 regular season with a 7-2 victory at University of St. Thomas in Mendota Heights, Minn. It is the most goals for the Beavers since the 2020-21 season where the Beavers defeated Ferris State University 7-2 on Feb. 6, 2021.
The Beavers end the regular season with a 14-15-5 record and went 12-11-3 in league play to earn 39 points. Bemidji State tied with Northern Michigan University for fourth in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association standings but the Wildcats earn the fourth seed in the CCHA Playoffs and home-ice in the first round with the tiebreaker of more regulation wins (11-9).
Bemidji State will now travel to Marquette, Mich., to face the Wildcats in the quarterfinal round of the CCHA Playoffs to be played Mar. 3-5 in a best-of-three series.
Back in Mendota Heights, St. Thomas had the better start than the Beavers and while on a power play, Mack Byers scored the first goal of the game 12:17 into the first period. The Beavers answered before the period's end five minutes later when
Will Zmolek found space while short-handed and beat goaltender Aaron Trotter for the game-tying goal at 17:45 of the period.
The short-handed goal was just the second of the season for the Beavers and the first for Zmolek in his four-year career.
The first period ended locked at one but just 54 seconds into the middle frame, freshman
Lleyton Roed fired the puck while entering the zone and beat Trotter for his 12
th goal of the season and put the Beavers in front at 2-1.
Roed wasn't finished there and while on a BSU power play, he corralled a loose puck in front of the net after an Elias Rosén shot to score his second goal of the game and 13
th of the season just 1:46 after his first goal.
The goal tied Roed with Jordan George and Daryl Bat for most goals by a BSU freshman in its Division I era and his second career game scoring multiple goals.
The Tommies (11-21-2, 10-14-2 CCHA) responded however, and halfway through the period Ethan Gauer put St. Thomas within one with an even-strength goal.
The Beavers weren't fazed and right before the period's end, Rosén blasted the puck past Trotter to put the Beavers back up by two with 2:37 remaining.
Just 1:42 later, Zmolek scored his second of the game while on a Beaver power play to extend BSU's lead to 5-2 right before the second intermission for his first career multi-goal game.
Bemidji State would add goals from
Jere Vaisanen and
Kaden Pickering in the third period to seal the regular season finale victory at 5:20 and 13:24 of the period.
Rosén finished the game with a goal and three assists to lead the Beavers in scoring and tie a career-high for the Mora, Sweden native. He now has 28 points (4g-24a) on the season and is the highest scoring defenseman at BSU since Justin Baudry recorded 31 points (9g-22a) in 2019-20.
Zmolek and Roed each recorded two goals and an assist with Zmolek setting a new career high and Roed tying his previous career mark set back on Oct. 21.
A total of 10 Beavers recorded a point in the game including five, Rosén, Zmolek, Roed, Vaisanen and
Jakub Lewandowski, who each recorded two or more points. The Beavers recorded 19 points as a team, the most this season.
Bemidji State out-shot St. Thomas 36-17 in the game for its highest shot total since Feb. 4. Sophomore goaltender
Mattias Sholl stopped 15-of-17 shots for the Beavers and earned his 11
th win of the season to improve to 11-11-5 on the season.
BSU finished the game 2-for-5 while on the power play while UST went 1-for-3 and surrendered a short-handed goal to the Beavers.
For more information on the Bemidji State men's hockey program, tickets or schedules, visit BSUBeavers.com, follow the Beavers on Twitter or Instagram (@BSUBeaversMHKY), or like them on Facebook (facebook.com/BSUBeavers).
Located on the shore of Lake Bemidji, Bemidji State University sponsors 15 varsity athletic programs with NCAA Division I men's hockey in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and women's hockey in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, while its 13 NCAA Division II programs hold membership in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).
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