BSU Men’s Hockey to Battle Bowling Green in Final Home Series of Regular Season

BSU men’s hockey returns to the Sanford Center this weekend for their final home series of the regular season. It had been tough sledding in the back half of the year for the Beavers, who currently sit in eighth place in the CCHA standings partly due to a lack of offensive productivity on the scoreboard.

But the Beavs had a big five-point weekend at Michigan Tech two weeks ago. It was a series in which they scored 11 goals after scoring only eight in the six games prior. Now, Bemidji State will come out of their bye to take on Bowling Green, a team they scored seven goals against in their first meeting.

Both games at Bowling Green went to overtime, resulting in a point split for the series. BSU hopes they can claim more this time around.

“You better dance close with them,” head coach Tom Serratore said of the Falcons. “That’s the one thing we did. We danced close to them in Bowling Green. They’re physical, but you got to counter that. But again, that was three weeks ago? A month ago? I don’t know when it was, but different weekend, different time.”

“We’re at home right now, so we’ll see how these games play out,” he continued. “Sometimes these games play out the way you think they might play out. Sometimes, again, they’re the total opposite, so you just never know. We’ll just worry about Friday night, the opening puck drop, and we’ll just play it from there.”

“It’s a special feeling,” said senior goaltender Mattias Sholl of Senior Night on Saturday. “You have a culmination of four years all coming to a close this weekend at home. I’m super, super thrilled to share it with the people that mean the most to me and people that’ve made the most sacrifices for me to get to this point. I’m just hoping I can put on a heck of a performance for them and get a couple of wins.”

Friday night is the annual Teddy Bear Toss, where fans can donate new and unused teddy bears to the Family Advocacy Center of Northern Minnesota by tossing them onto the ice after the Beavers score their first goal. If they don’t score, then the toss will take place after the final horn sounds.