It isn’t as though we haven’t seen Bemidji State much: In fact, no team has faced the Golden Gophers more from the tail end of last season into this weekend. And since Minnesota and BSU are no longer in the same conference, they won’t definitely meet again until the 2015 North Star College Classic.
Clean sweep late last season: The Gophers travel to the Sanford Center this Friday and Saturday to play a team they met – and defeated – four times in the final five games of the 2012-13 campaign. They edged the Beavers in Bemidji 4-3 then beat them 4-1 in the final two games of the regular season. A week later, in the first round of the WCHA playoffs, the Gophers held off a determined BSU squad 2-1 and 3-2 and those games were close: the first decided on Kyle Rau’s overtime goal, the second by Ben Marshall’s unassisted tally with :52.7 seconds remaining in regulation.
Minnesota drilled 92 shots at BSU goalie Andrew Walsh over those two games.
Gophers start strong: A two-game winning streak rides the bus north this weekend following Minnesota’s championship outings in the Ice Breaker Tournament last Friday and Saturday at Mariucci Arena. The Gophers whitewashed Mercyhurst 6-0 Friday and followed it up with a 3-2 win over a talented and deep New Hampshire side Saturday.
It was a scintillating start to the season for Sam Warning, who led the way with two goals, one assist and the tournament’s MVP award. Rau, Hudson Fasching (who, along with Vinni Lettieri, Justin Kloos and Mike Brodzinski scored first college goals) and goalie Adam Wilcox were named to the all-tournament team.
Scouting the Beavers: It’s a brave new world for Bemidji State. First, the Beavers are left in a conference they only recently joined, the WCHA, after most of the teams they joined to play deserted to the new Big Ten and National Collegiate Hockey Conferences. Then, they lost nine players after reeling through a six-win season (6-22-8) that saw them ousted from the WCHA playoffs in two straight by the Gophers.
BSU is putting a brave face on things. Head coach Tom Serratore (12th season) will tell you that the schedule is what it is, even though he would obviously not choose to play nationally ranked Minnesota in the third and fourth games of the season after opening the year at nationally ranked St. Cloud State.
Team defense is the key to any success Bemidji State will achieve this season and that’s really going to be the case of all the teams, both remaining and incoming, in the new-look WCHA. The league includes several members of the now-defunct CCHA as well as Alabama-Huntsville, which had been the sole Division I independent.
Serratore (uncle of the Gophers’ Tom) is revving up a new squad that welcomes ten new players. Some stalwarts are still in the Beavers lineup, including Cory Ward who nailed three goals against Minnesota late last season, and goalie Andrew Walsh, who kept things very tight against the Gophers’ offensive onslaught last season.
Rookie playing time is very much available at the Sanford Center this season and one of the interesting angles to this weekend’s series will be how BSU’s big crop of youngsters fares against Minnesota’s nimble, sharpshooting freshmen. It’s a quality bunch on both sides.
Join former Gopher great Ben Clymer and reporter Marnie Gellner and me for the action Friday and Saturday nights from Bemidji on Fox Sports North and FSN+. Tune in early for comprehensive coverage and analysis with Jamie Hersch and former Gopher coach Doug Woog on Gophers Live from The Sanford Center.
Big Ten Awards First Stars
The first-ever Big Ten Three Stars were announced by the league on Tuesday morning with Sam Warning and Kyle Rau earning accolades from the conference after leading the Gophers to the 2013 Ice Breaker Tournament title last weekend.
Warning was named the Big Ten’s Second Star after being named most valuable player of the 2013 Ice Breaker Tournament and an all-tournament team member. The junior forward tallied three points (one goal, two assists) in Minnesota’s 6-0 win over Merychurst to open the 2013-14 campaign and added the game-tying goal in an eventual 3-2 Gophers’ win over No. 12/13 New Hampshire on Saturday in the championship game. Friday’s multi-point game was Warning’s 10th-career game with more than one point as the Gophers own a perfect record when he does so.
Rau was honored as this week’s Third Star after tallying four points (one goal, three assists) over the weekend and being named to the Ice Breaker all-tournament team. The junior captain posted the game-winning goal and a pair of assists in Minnesota’s win over Merychurst on Friday– giving the junior his 25th career multi-point game – and added an assist in the Gophers’ win over the Wildcats on Saturday.
Veteran NHL and college hockey broadcaster DOUG McLEOD is in his 18th season as voice of Golden Gopher hockey. Tune in for all the action and check back here frequently for his insider looks at UM hockey!
