THE MATCHUP The Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs are set for a non-conference series this weekend against Bemidji State. The series will be home-and-home, with Duluth making the trip to Bemidji for Friday's game then returning to Duluth for a home game Saturday. Going into the weekend UMD has a current season record of 8-10-0. The Bulldogs have gone 2-4 on the road and 6-6 at home. The last time UMD saw Bemidji St. was last season for their first series of the 2021-22 campaign, where they also played home-and-home. The Bulldogs swept the Beavers with a 4-2 win Friday and a 2-1 win Saturday. Dating back to 1948, UMD leads the all-time record 24-16-4. At the Sanford Center, UMD has gone 8-7-2 and 16-7-2 at AMSOIL Arena against the BSU.
LAST TIME OUT UMD is coming off a 2-1 win against St. Thomas in their New Year's Eve exhibition game. The Tommies took the lead first with a late goal in the first period.
Dominic James then responded back halfway through the second period with a one-timer to tie it up. Later in the second,
Luke Mylymok picked up the puck that was turned over by the UST in front of the crease and netted the go-ahead game winning goal. UMD took three penalties and successfully killed them all off.
ON A HOT STREAK Forward
Dominic James will head into the series against BSU on a four game point streak. His streak started during the series against Western Michigan, where he netted a goal and an assist Saturday night. James then notched an assist against Colorado College and recorded a goal both nights against Denver.
IN THE CREASE Senior
Matthew Thiessen has now seen action in 13 games. He holds a save percentage of .918 and a 2.21 goals against average. Thiessen has made a total of 280 saves this season, while only allowing 25 goals. Thiessen ranks third in the conference and 17th nationally for his goals against average.
DYNAMIC DEFENSE Back on defense,
Derek Daschke and
Owen Gallatin have not only been blocking shots but putting up points. Daschke leads the team in assists with 10 and is second on the team with 12 points. Daschke also leads in blocked shots with a total of 26 shots. Gallatin is right behind Daschke, with eight assists, 10 points, and 20 blocked shots.
NEARING A MILESTONE Defenseman
Derek Daschke is nearing his 100 career point milestone. Daschke has played in 151 games up until this point in his collegiate career where he has recorded 26 goals and 71 assists. Daschke will head into this weekend with 97 career points.
CAN'T STOP STEEVES Freshman forward
Ben Steeves has recorded 15 points over 12 goals and three assists, and leads the team in both goals and points. With 64 total shots on goal Steeves has a shot percentage of .188. Having scored six, Steeves ranks second in the NCHC and third in the nation for power play goals. He also ranks third in the country and second in the conference for goals per game, as he averages .75 per game.
BEAVERS ON THE POWER PLAY Bemidji St. has had 59 power play opportunities this season and capitalized on 14 of them. With a .237 conversion percent, BSU ranks 15th on the power play.
BEAVERS GOALTENDING Mattias Sholl has been in the crease for 14 of the 18 BSU games, where he has a record of 7-3-4. Mattias has made 332 saves, while allowing 28 goals. He averages 1.95 goals against, ranking him eighth in the country. He is also ranked 14th in the country for his .922 save percentage.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS Up until this point in the season, Bemidji St. has gone 9-5-4 overall. The Beavers recently swept #16 Minnesota State in Mankato. During Friday's game Bemidji won in overtime 4-3, then closed out the weekend with a 4-1 win Saturday. The Beavers have gone to overtime four times this season where they have won three of the four. Having gone to a shootout four times this season, BSU has gone 2-2. Bemidji ranks 12th in the nation for scoring defense as they only allow 2.39 goals per game and 43 total goals this season. Leading their team in goals is Alexander Lundman with seven. The BSU point leader is Mitchell Martan, who has recorded six goals and eight assists for 14 points.
