The 2023–24 Bemidji State Beavers men's ice hockey season was the 68th season of play for the program, the 24th at the Division I level and 3rd in the CCHA. The Beavers represented Bemidji State University, played their home games at Sanford Center and were coached by Tom Serratore in his 23rd season.
Season Bemidji State's primary concern entering the season was how to replace four of their top five scorers from 2023. Though the leading scorer, Lleyton Roed, was back for his sophomore season, the Beavers would need the rest of the team to step up as well. With the offense still a work in progress, the team had trouble winning early in the season. The team was competitive in most of their games, playing three overtime matches in the first two weeks, but they were only able to win once. Once the team began its conference schedule, Bemidji's hopes were diminished when starting goaltender, Matias Scholl, suffered a lower body injury and was forced to miss several weeks. Though Gavin Enright stepped up against St. Thomas, he wasn't able to sustain that level of play and the team's goals against ballooned.
During that time the offense began to figure itself out. Though they also lost Jackson Jutting for over 2 months due to injury, Bemidji State started seeing major contributions from new quarters. Several returning players posted new career highs and the Beavers were buoyed by the addition of Eric Pohlkamp. When Scholl returned The team was treading water but remained in the hunt for the conference title. He helped the team post a weekend sweep but because of the winter break, the Beavers weren't able to build on that momentum. Instead, Bemidji State lost four of five to kick off the second half of their season.
At the beginning of February, the team was 4 games under .500, however, because many of their losses were in non-conference games, the Beavers still had a good chance to get home ice in the first round of the conference tournament. However, over the final four weeks of the regular season, Bemidji State tore through its opposition. Scholl finally looked to have recovered from his injury while the offense found a consistency that had eluded them all season. The Beavers won eight games in a row (one in a shootout) and missed only two points in the standings. The streak sent BSU rocketing up the rankings and after they shutout Minnesota State in back-to-back games, the Beavers found themselves 9 points ahead of second place.
Bemidji State entered the postseason with much notoriety. Even though Ferris State defeated them in the first game, the Beavers swept their quarterfinal contest and then dispatched Lake Superior State in the semifinals. With a conference championship their only path to the NCAA tournament, Bemidji State had even more to play for against Michigan Tech. Kasper Magnussen gave the team the lead in the first but after that the offense was unable to find the net. Despite firing 28 shots in the final two periods, no more scoring came from the Beavers. Tech was able to summon just enough scoring to take the lead and then hold it in large part due to the performance of their goaltender.
Departures Ross Armour Forward Graduation (signed with Savannah Ghost Pirates) Brad Belisle Forward Graduation (signed with Éléphants de Chambéry) Mike Carr Goaltender Graduation (retired) Mitchell Martan Forward Graduation (signed with Manchester Storm) Aaron Myers Forward Left Program (retired) Kaden Pickering Forward Graduation (signed with Iowa Heartlanders) Elias Rosén Defenseman Graduation (signed with Kansas City Mavericks) Will Zmolek Defenseman Graduation (signed with Philadelphia Flyers)
Recruiting Rhys Chiddenton Forward 20 Campbellville, ON Liam Engström Forward 19 Surahammar, SWE Kasper Magnussen Forward 19 Fredrikstad, NOR Jake McLean Forward 21 North Vancouver, BC Eric Pohlkamp Defenseman 19 Brainerd, MN; selected 132nd overall in 2023 Noah Quinn Forward 20 Nelson, BC Raythan Robbins Goaltender 21 Anchorage, AK
Roster As of September 15, 2023.
Standings
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=";" | Exhibition
!colspan=12 style=";" |
!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season
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Scoring statistics LW 38 14 16 30 16 D 32 6 22 28 14 F 38 8 18 26 6 D 32 11 13 24 18 F 37 6 18 24 12 F 27 10 12 22 2 RW 38 9 10 19 24 F 37 2 17 19 16 F 37 9 8 17 4 F 37 8 7 15 22 D 38 1 12 13 14 LW 29 7 4 11 6 D 34 2 9 11 14 F 38 6 4 10 2 LW/RW 20 3 5 8 4 LW 23 2 6 8 4 F 17 4 3 7 0 D 31 1 5 6 8 F 17 3 2 5 4 D 28 1 4 5 4 D 32 0 5 5 16 D 28 2 2 4 4 F 9 1 1 2 4 F 18 1 0 1 10 G 3 0 0 0 0 D 4 0 0 0 0 G 15 0 0 0 0 G 24 0 0 0 0 Total 117 203 320 257
Goaltending statistics 24 1428:42 14 8 2 59 595 3 .910 2.48 15 792:03 6 8 0 42 285 2 .872 3.18 3 66:55 0 0 0 6 24 0 .800 5.38 Empty Net - 15:40 - - - 4 - - - - Total 38 2303:20 20 16 2 111 904 5 .891 2.89
Rankings
PollWeekPre 1 234567891011121314151617181920212223242526 (Final) USCHO.comNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR–NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR20т20NR–NR USA HockeyNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR–NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR20NRNRNR Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 11 and 25.Note: USA Hockey did not release a poll in week 12.
Awards and honors Kyle Looft CCHA Defenseman of the Year Mattias Sholl CCHA Goaltender of the Year Kyle Looft CCHA Best Defensive Defenseman Jackson Jutting CCHA Best Defensive Forward Tom Serratore CCHA Coach of the Year Mattias Sholl CCHA First Team Kyle Looft Eric Pohlkamp Lleyton Roed Eric Pohlkamp CCHA Rookie Team
References