The No. 14 University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team takes on Bemidji State in the team's first home-and-home series of the season. The Beavers have not ranked among the top-20 teams nationally this season, although they did receive 6 points in the USCHO Preseason Poll. In their last four meetings, UMD has won three games, tying the other 1-1.
PREVIOUS COMPETITION BSU unofficially opened their season with an exhibition game against No. 2 Minnesota, which ended in a 5-2 loss for the Beavers. This past weekend, they hosted the 2023 Ice Breaker Tournament. They lost to Wisconsin in overtime on Friday and then triumphed over Army in overtime on Saturday. The Bulldogs have played No. 17 Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan and have yet to lose a game this season (1-0-2). UMD comes into this weekend having played an additional game and faced tougher regular season opponents.
GOALIE TANDEMS Both teams enter this series with two experienced goaltenders who have seen time between the pipes already this season. The Beavers split their two games between junior Mattias Sholl (0-1-0) and senior Gavin Enright (1-0-0). Despite being in net for BSU's loss Sholl has Enright beaten in saves (57) and save percentage (.934). At the other end of the ice, the Bulldogs have also shared the net. Senior Zach Stejskal played in both overtime ties for UMD, for a total of 129:58 and averaged 3.23 goals allowed per game. Fifth-year Matthew Thiessen was in net most recently for the Bulldogs, making 23 saves in their 8-5 win over Northern Michigan Saturday night. It would not be surprising to see both teams switch out their starting goalie between games this weekend, especially if Friday's matchup goes into extra time or has high offensive production.
STEEVES SCHEMES Sophomore Ben Steeves made his presence known after a quiet season opener from the 2022-23 team leader in points and goals. On Friday, Steeves scored two power play goals, or 40% of UMD's goals in the 5-5 tie. Steeves was only looking to improve the next game. He not only scored two goals again, including the game winner, but he added two assists, making it a six point weekend. Steeves was named NCHC Forward of the Week for his performance. He led the conference in goals, points, power play goals, shots, and multi-point games over the weekend.
POWER PLAY POWERHOUSE The Bulldogs currently lead the nation in power play goals (7), tied with Michigan. All seven of those PP goals came in the past two games, three on Friday and four Saturday. UMD is behind only NCHC rival Western Michigan (.571) in power play percentage (.500) nationally. Steeves is tied for second in individual power play goals (3). BSU has only scored once on the power play so far this season, despite having 11 power plays (.091).
BULLDOG FIRSTS Four UMD players notched career firsts last weekend. Transfers Luke Bast (UND) and Connor McMenamin (Penn State) both tallied their first goals in the Bulldog sweater. Bast took advantage of first period power play on Friday and gave the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead early. McMenamin followed suit the next night, scoring a power play goal to bring UMD up 5-2 in the second period. Two of their new teammates, defenseman Riley Bodnarchuck and freshman Matthew Perkins, recorded their first collegiate points as well this weekend.
FINDING THEIR FOOTING As a whole, the Bulldogs newcomers are already making an impact. In addition to those who had career firsts this past weekend, freshmen have been consistently contributing. Aaron Pionk has four assists in the first three games, with two Friday and one in each of the other games. He's tied for most assists on the team and third in points. Classmate Anthony Menghini has also been making himself known on the scoresheet, netting goals in the first two games of the season. He is tied for second on the team in goals. Menghini and Matthew Perkins have scored in the shootout for UMD, with Perkins closing out Friday's game in Round 6.
SCORING ON BSU Captain Luke Loheit is the only Bulldog to have scored against the Beavers in both of the past two seasons. He tallied a first period goal on Nov. 10, 2021 and an empty net goal on Jan. 7, 2023. No other current UMD player has scored multiple times on BSU in their career.
