{"id":126478,"date":"2021-02-24T06:00:50","date_gmt":"2021-02-24T12:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/?p=126478"},"modified":"2021-02-23T20:17:02","modified_gmt":"2021-02-24T02:17:02","slug":"this-week-in-wcha-hockey-bemidji-state-expecting-upcoming-minnesota-state-series-to-probably-be-a-bloodbath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2021\/02\/24\/this-week-in-wcha-hockey-bemidji-state-expecting-upcoming-minnesota-state-series-to-probably-be-a-bloodbath\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in WCHA Hockey: Bemidji State expecting upcoming Minnesota State series to ‘probably be a bloodbath’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bemidji State and Minnesota State meet this week Thursday and Saturday (photo: BSU Photo Services).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The WCHA schedule has done nobody any favors this season.<\/p>\n

Or maybe, the better way to put it: The COVID-19 pandemic has done the WCHA schedule absolutely no favors this season.<\/p>\n

From games on Tuesdays (we now feel your pain, East Coast hockey fans!) to contests which count as \u201chome games\u201d for the away team, the philosophy across college hockey teams this season has been to play the games whenever you can, no matter where or when you play them.<\/p>\n

No team has been immune. And coaches aren\u2019t complaining. But it\u2019s going to be a special challenge for Bemidji State in the final weeks of the season. The Beavers are scheduled to play six games in 11 days, a stretch run that will determine who gets home-ice advantage for this season\u2019s WCHA tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never coached six games in (11) days before, ever. So it\u2019s going to be trial by error a bit,\u201d BSU head coach Tom Serratore said of the situation his team finds itself in starting this Thursday.<\/p>\n

The Beavers (9-6-3 overall) head to Mankato to play instate rivals Minnesota State on Thursday, the first of a two-game home-and-home series. They\u2019ll return to Bemidji on Saturday to complete the series.<\/p>\n

Then the Beavers are scheduled to host Lake Superior State on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 2-3, before closing out the season with a pair of games against Alabama Huntsville on March 6-7.<\/p>\n

Bemidji State goaltender Zach Driscoll compared it to a Stanley Cup playoff-type schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a little odd\u2026 Kind of like an NHL schedule here with a lot of games in not a lot of days,\u201d Driscoll said.<\/p>\n

Serratore said the goal will be to make sure his players don\u2019t use up too much of their energy among the six games. That\u2019s going to mean slightly less practiced time in an effort to conserve.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have minimal practice, but the biggest thing is you want to make sure the guys have as much gas in the tank as possible,\u201d he said. \u201cThe one thing we can control is practice. We\u2019re going to have to be on the ice, there\u2019s certain things we want to do on the ice, but it\u2019s that time of year where it\u2019s not about what you\u2019re doing in practice, it\u2019s about what you\u2019re doing in games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not that the Beavers will complain.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome playing more games. We don\u2019t want to practice, we want to play,\u201d forward Brendan Harris joked. \u201cThe mentality is playoff mentality. It\u2019s that time of year. But we also know we need to take it one day at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Beavers, due to COVID-related postponements, have played two games less than every other team in the conference. The goal is to have each team in the league play 14 conference games, so the games need to be played.<\/p>\n

As it stands, the Beavers have 13 points through 8 games. That\u2019s currently good enough for fifth place and out of home ice contention. But if they can make a clean sweep of all six games these next two weeks, they\u2019ll move all the way up to second place. That\u2019s how volatile the WCHA currently is.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just have to get those games in, and with COVID, you already don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on, so everything down the stretch we\u2019re treating like a playoff game,\u201d Driscoll said. \u201cAll wins matter here at this point for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

It certainly didn\u2019t hurt to sweep Michigan Tech last weekend in Houghton. Driscoll stopped 80 of 82 Tech shots as the Beavers swept the Huskies in the U.P. for the first time. It was a nice confidence-booster for BSU, after they were themselves swept at home by Northern Michigan the week before.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that weekend against Northern, getting swept at home was not what we wanted to do, but we\u2019re glad as a team with how we bounced back,\u201d Driscoll said. \u201cWe took some lessons that we learned at Northern and brought them to Tech. You can\u2019t change what happened two weeks ago or whatever, so just moving forward and sticking with the process and coming out with a few wins was huge for our group.\u201d<\/p>\n

First up is Minnesota State, a team that the Beavers know well. BSU is one of just two teams to defeat the Mavericks this season (but unfortunately for the Beavers, it didn\u2019t count as a conference game).<\/p>\n

Harris is expecting a fast-paced, heavy game, as is usual when the teams meet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will probably be a bloodbath\u2026. It\u2019s going to be fast-paced, a lot of hitting. I mean, it\u2019s a rivalry week. It\u2019s going to be a lot of fun but it\u2019s probably one of the hardest games down the stretch for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fox Motors beats Northern Michigan<\/h4>\n

As if this season couldn’t get strange enough, what happened last week in Marquette almost defies belief.<\/p>\n

Alabama Huntsville had some games to make up in the Upper Peninsula last week. The plan was to make the drive from Alabama to Marquette, Mich., play their two-game series with the Wildcats on Tuesday and Wednesday, then drive from Marquette to Sault Ste. Marie to take on Lake Superior State on Friday and Saturday. They were then going to take on Bowling Green in Ohio on the drive back to Huntsville.<\/p>\n

There was just one problem: They didn\u2019t have their jerseys.<\/p>\n

Due to the winter storms that were ravaging the south and Midwest last week, Alabama Huntsville\u2019s jerseys did not arrive in Marquette on Tuesday like they were supposed to. So instead of playing in their normal white-and-blue sweaters, the Chargers had to borrow a set of jerseys.<\/p>\n

According to Ryan Steig of the Daily Mining Journal<\/em>, UAH had the choice between the black jerseys of Marquette High School and those of local car dealership Fox Motors, who sponsors youth hockey teams in the UP and Upper Michigan.<\/p>\n

\n

Apparently, Huntsville had the choice of wearing Fox Motors jerseys or the Marquette High School hockey team\u2019s black jerseys last night. Interesting decision by the Chargers<\/p>\n

— Ryan Stieg (@RyanStieg) February 18, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n