BEMIDJI, Minn. – 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.
 
Each game will be streamed online at FloHockey.tv with play-by-play provided UST Athletics. Fans can also tune in to a Beaver Radio Network broadcast at 92.1 FM or online at www.beaverradionetwork.com with Brian Schultz providing play-by-play.
 
Bemidji State Notes

• 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.
• Head coach Tom Serratore has had to juggle his lines throughout the season because of the frequent injuries and has totaled 62 different line combinations and 15 different defensive pairings.
• BSU continues to pace the CCHA averaging just 7:30 penalty minutes per game. That average is second lowest in Division I and just one second behind national leader Northeastern.
• Bemidji State has blocked the second-most shots in the league totaling 448 and are ninth in DI.
• Junior Will Magnuson leads the team and is second in the conference with 58 blocked shots.
• He is followed by Follmer who is third with 54 despite missing the last six games.
• The two sit second and third in the league behind NMU's Aiden Gallacher who has four more games played than the pair.
• 50 of the Beavers' 86 goals have been scored by underclassmen (58.1%) this season including four-of-seven last weekend.
• Bemidji State is 10-3-1 when scoring first this season but just 3-12-1 when the opponent scores first.
• The Beavers are 7-8-0 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 1,184-699-152 (.620) in 67 seasons and 398-405-104 (.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 381-359-99 (.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).
 
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