Team of the Week: Bemidji State

by Christopher Boulay/CHN Writer

Past Teams of the Week • 2016-10-11 - Bemidji State

Last season ended on a sour note for Bemidji State, dropping games two and three of the WCHA First Round to Bowling Green by a combined score of 10-3.

The Beavers began a new season and a new chapter by taking down the preseason-favorite Falcons, 2-1, on Friday night and 4-1 on Saturday. Special teams was the theme in the opening weekend sweep, as Bemidji’s stout penalty kill shut down Bowling Green’s power play to the tune of 0-for-13. This impressive performance earned Bemidji State CHN’s Team of the Week.

Last season, Bemidji finished ninth in the country in penalty killing, stopping 86 percent of opponents’ opportunities. While the defense remains young — five of the team’s six blueliners were freshmen or sophomores on Saturday — the Beavers showed flashes of what’s needed to improve upon last year’s sixth-place league finish.

“They moved the puck well, they got up in the play, offensively,” Bemidji State Coach Tom Serratore said. “They defended well. I was really proud of the guys, from that standpoint. That’s a very young defensive corps, but a lot of those sophomores, they gained experience last year. They played some big minutes for us. They have a little experience, as far as playing the game, but they’re still young on the roster, that’s for sure.”

Defending will be critical this season, not only because the Beavers lost four of their top-seven scorers from last year to graduation, but also because of the expected higher level of penalty calls across college hockey this year. In a highly competitive league like the WCHA, there’s little room for error in man-advantage situations.

“Special teams are going to be critical, especially in the early going,” Serratore said. “There’s a new standard of play. There’s a lot of penalties that are being called. You better have one or the other, if not both cooking — whether it’s your power play or your penalty kill. Our penalty kill was pretty good this weekend. Our guys executed well and we got some timely stops from [goaltender] Mike Bitzer when we needed to.”

The blueprint is there on defense. While there’s a youth movement inside the Sanford Center, six of those defensemen took part in the 19th-ranked defense in the country last season. Any team that allows just 2.46 goals per game is going to be a tough out, especially if Bitzer can improve on last year’s .915 save percentage.

One young defenseman had a weekend to remember. Freshman Zach Whitecloud recorded a power-play goal on Friday and an assist on Saturday for his first two points as a Beaver. While Serratore didn’t provide the youngster any specific words of wisdom, he was proud of what Whitecloud showed him.

“I congratulated [Whitecloud], I think we all did. He scored his first goal in his first game. He played well. Right now, he’s a big part of the team as a freshman. It’s nice to see him gain some quick experience.

Whitecloud’s performance earned him the conference’s Rookie of the Week honors. His efforts were critical in stifling the Bowling Green offense and propelling the Beavers’ special teams unit to success.

“He played some big minutes for us and he had some success,” Serratore said. “Those are the things you want from your freshmen. They are going to play a lot, and you want those guys to be confident. I think Zach gained a lot of confidence this weekend.”

Last year, Bemidji State only averaged 2.46 goals scored per game, which is certainly a concern going forward with the aforementioned scoring losses. However, even with just two games complete, putting six past Chris Nell — the conference’s preseason pick for top netminder — has to feel nice.

“Bowling Green is a very good hockey team,” Serratore said. “We’ll take two wins over anybody. It was a nice win because they were the preseason pick [to win the WCHA]. They beat us in the playoffs in three games last year. They’ve set the barometer in our league this year.”

“Obviously, it was a good first weekend, and all you want to do is build on that.”

Bemidji, picked sixth by both the media and coaches in the preseason, has a hill to climb this season. But wins cure concerns, at least temporarily. And when they come against the team widely tapped to take the MacNaughton Cup this coming March, these victories can build confidence in a team that’s looking to prove it belongs in the same conversation as the top half of the WCHA.

Despite the success of the first weekend, Serratore wasn’t getting ahead of himself. He stressed that this is one of only 17 weekends in his team’s season, but did note that the early jump to 2-0-0 is a relatively comforting prospect.

“In any league, it’s important to get a head start because it’s hard to play catch-up hockey. If you can establish yourself a little early, you can allow for things to happen midseason or at the end of the season. But you don’t want to constantly play catch-up hockey, because you just get behind the eight-ball.”

The last time Bemidji qualified for the NCAA tournament was 2010, and the team made its only Frozen Four in 2009. Bemidji got off to the right start this weekend, and sent a warning to the rest of the conference. The Beavers won’t go down easily.

“We’re in a league right now where it’s so tight, and on any given night, anybody can beat anybody,” Serratore said. “I know a lot of people say that within their leagues, but our league is going to be that tight this year.

“People can make predictions, but a lot of the predictions are probably going to be wrong this year.”