BEMIDJI, Minn. – The Bemidji State University Men's Hockey five-game road trip ends this weekend as the Beavers travel east to Houghton, Mich., to face Michigan Technological University for a two-game series at John MacInnes Ice Arena.
 
The Beavers (9-13-0, 8-6-0 CCHA) face the Huskies (9-10-4, 6-6-0 CCHA) for their second series of the season and will play for six crucial Central Collegiate Hockey Association points. Game one is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 19 with game two to follow Saturday. Both games are slated for a 6:01 p.m. CT puck drop.
 
Each game will be streamed online at FloHockey.tv with play-by-play provided by MTU Athletics. Fans can also tune in to a radio broadcast by the Beaver Radio Network with Brian Schultz providing play-by-play at 92.1 FM or online at www.beaverradionetwork.com.
 
Bemidji State Notes

• Bemidji State wraps-up its five-game stretch of road games this weekend at Michigan Tech.
• The Beavers are returning to play after a bye week last weekend and last played Jan. 5-6 at Ferris State University.
• Bemidji State and Ferris State split the series in Big Rapids with BSU earning a 4-1 victory in game one and the Bulldogs winning 5-3 in game two.
• The Beavers started the month of January going 1-1-0. Historically, they are 88-69-16 (.556) in January in the Beavers' DI era.
• Bemidji State fell to second in the CCHA standings after having last weekend off from competition.
• The Beavers trail conference-leading University of St. Thomas by two points.
• Michigan Tech enters the weekend looking to make up ground in the standings and sits fifth with 19 points but have played two fewer games than the Beavers.
• Just four points separates first place and fourth place in the standings ensuring a tight race for the MacNaughton Cup.
• The Beavers and Huskies meet for the final regular season series between the two teams.
• The two teams met previously on Nov. 10-11 and split their two-game series at Sanford Center.
• Michigan Tech earned a 4-2 victor in game one but the Beavers responded with the largest comeback victory in BSU's DI era Saturday night overcoming a four-goal deficit to win 6-4.
• Fifth-year captain Kyle Looft led the Beavers in that series recording five points (3g-2a) including a career-high three-point effort in game two.
• The all-time series is split evenly between the two teams with each team earning 22 victories.
• The all-time series sits at 22-22-7 while the Beavers are 7-10-6 when playing in Houghton.
• Michigan Tech has bested the Beavers over the last five meetings holding a 3-1-1 record over BSU in the last five.
• The Beavers are 4-5-1 against the Huskies over the last 10 games, however.
• The Bemidji State-Michigan Tech rivalry series began in 2007 and the two teams have played 51 contests.
• The two teams have met just three times in the postseason and the Beavers are 3-0-0 against the Huskies in postseason play.
• Senior Eric Martin (3g-4a) and sophomore Lleyton Roed (4g-3a) lead the Beavers with seven career points when facing the Huskies.
• Junior goaltender Mattias Sholl is 3-4-1 when facing Michigan Tech and has posted a .898 save percentage and 2.64 goals against average.
• All of the Beavers' games against Michigan Tech have come during the Tom Serratore era and the head coach is 22-22-7 when coaching against the Huskies.
• Bemidji State has battled injuries throughout the season yet sit in the top two in the CCHA standings.
• The Beavers have lost 49 man-games due to injuries this season.
• The Beavers will be without stalwart defenseman and captain Kyle Looft for the second consecutive week due to an injury suffered in the St. Cloud State series.
• The Mankato, Minn., native was leading all CCHA defensemen in points before injury and was averaging nearly a point per game (0.95).
• His 0.95 point per game average is the 10th best among Division I defensemen.
• Bemidji State will see the return of two freshmen from the World Junior Championship in Eric Pohlkamp and Kasper Magnussen.
• The two return for their first series since competing for USA (Pohlkamp) and Norway (Magnussen) in Gothenburg, Sweden.
• The two are the first active members of the Beavers to leave to compete at the tournament while Pohlkamp is the first-ever Beaver to medal and first to earn gold.
• Bemidji State remains out of the USAToday/The Rink Live and USCHO.com top-20 national polls with the Huskies only receiving votes in the USCHO.com poll.
• Bemidji State is fourth in the CCHA in goals scored per game averaging 2.82 while ranking eighth in goals against (3.68).
• In conference only games, the Beavers are the second highest scoring team with 48 goals and average 3.43 goals per game.
• The Beavers are seventh in the conference in power-play percentage at .151 (14-93) while its penalty kill is seventh at .740 (54-73).
• Bemidji State has not scored a power-play goal since Dec. 15 and has come up empty on its last 18 power plays.
• BSU has scored multiple power-play goals in four games this season, tied for the most in the CCHA.
• In conference play, the Beavers convert on the man-advantage at 18.0 percentage rate (11-61), fifth best in the league.
• BSU averages just 7:46 penalty minutes per game, the lowest average in Division I.
• Bemidji State blocks the second-most shots in the league averaging 13.8 blocked shots per game and have totaled 303 on the season, third most in the CCHA.
• Bemidji State is led in scoring by sophomore Lleyton Roed who has totaled 23 points (11g-12a) in 22 games.
• Roed is third in the CCHA in scoring, t-fourth in goals, and t-10th in assists.
• His three game-winning goals are tied for the most in the league.
• He is coming off a four-point weekend (2g-2a) at Ferris State and was named the CCHA Forward of the Week on Jan. 8.
• In December and January, Roed has compiled 11 points off three goals and eight assists (8 games).
• Roed brings a two-game, point-scoring streak into the weekend.
• Looft remains the CCHA's highest scoring defensemen despite missing the last two games and his 14 assists leads all league defensemen.
• Junior Tony Follmer has filled in Looft's role as the top left defenseman and recorded a point in both games in the role.
• Follmer scored his first collegiate goal in game one at Ferris State then followed with an assist in game two.
• The O'Fallon, Mo., native went 83 games until he scored his first goal but the defensive defenseman has points in his last two games.
• 11 Beavers have tied or set career-highs for points in a season.
• 35 of the Beavers' 62 goals have been scored by underclassmen (56.5%).
• Bemidji State is 7-2-0 when scoring first this season but just 2-11-0 when the opponent scores first.
• The Beavers are 4-7-0 on Friday's and 4-5-0 on Saturday's this season.
• Bemidji State is 8-4-0 when scoring at least three goals but just 2-13-0 when allowing three or more goals.
• All 13 of the Beavers' losses this season have come when they allow three or more goals.
• 2023-24 is the 68th season of Bemidji State Men's Hockey and 25th in Division I. The Beavers are 1,180-697-150 (.620) in 67 seasons and 394-403-102 (.496) in Division I.
• Head coach Tom Serratore enters his 23rd season at the helm of the Bemidji State Men's Hockey program. He is 377-357-97 (.512) in his coaching career.
• Serratore is 12th in career victories among active head coaches in Division I.
• Since taking over the Bemidji State Men's Hockey program in 2001, Serratore's teams have achieved six regular-season conference championships, three CHA tournament titles, five NCAA Tournament appearances, one NCAA Frozen Four appearance (2009) and is a seven-time conference Coach of the Year.
• Fifth-year senior Kyle Looft made his return to the Beaver Hockey program and was voted by his teammates to lead the 2023-24 Beavers on and off the ice as the team's captain.
• He is assisted by fellow fifth-year senior Carter Jones as well as seniors Eric Martin and Jackson Jutting who will wear the "A".
• BSU returns 21 athletes from 2022-23 (11 forwards, eight defensemen, two goaltenders) and lost 8 athletes (five forwards, two defensemen, one goaltender) to graduation.
• Serratore has added seven newcomers to the squad with five forwards, one defenseman and one goaltender.
• One of those newcomers is Eric Pohlkamp who was selected in the fifth round (132nd) of the NHL's 2023 Entry Draft. He is the first Beaver NHL Draft pick since Radoslav Illo was selected in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft (139th).
• Pohlkamp is the sixth Beaver to be drafted into the NHL joining Illo, Chris Peluso (seventh round - Pittsburgh - 194th), Andrew Murray (eighth round - Columbus - 242nd), Gary Sargent (third round - Los Angeles - 48th) and Dale Smedsmo (seventh round - Toronto - 93rd).
• The 2023-24 Beaver roster consists of 28 student-athletes with two fifth-year seniors, five seniors, seven juniors, seven sophomores and seven freshmen.
• The team consists of 11 Minnesotans, 22 from North America including five Canadians and six from Europe.
• By average, the Beavers stand as one of the smallest in Division I. They are the eighth smallest by height averaging 5'11.8" and second smallest by weight averaging 180.5 pounds. 

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).
 
--bsu—