BEMIDJI – Tom Serratore is tired of talking about the losses against Northern Michigan and Ferris State at the Sanford Center.
The 24-year Bemidji State men’s hockey head coach would prefer not to go on the road for the first round of the Mason Cup playoffs, but he doesn’t have much of a choice. Barring a minor miracle, the Beavers will finish anywhere between fifth and eighth place in the CCHA standings, forcing them to get on a bus to play in their best-of-three quarterfinal series next weekend.
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“We want to finish as high in the standings as possible,” Serratore said. “We know what we did against Ferris State and Northern Michigan, which I don’t want to talk about anymore but I’ll bring up again because it’s part of the narrative, but we’re trying to dig ourselves out of the hole we dug for ourselves. Have we dug ourselves out yet? Well, no, but we feel a little better about ourselves. We’re not out of the hole, but at least we’re up to our neck now.”
Despite claiming five of the six points up for grabs in back-to-back series – which helped vault BSU into sixth place – junior Adam Flammang was equally as honest about Bemidji State’s standings predicament after a 2-1 overtime win over Bowling Green on Saturday.
“After we lost those games to Ferris, we decided that it’s time to just start building,” Flammang said on Saturday. “The scoreboard doesn't matter; we just have to start doing the little things right. … Our fans definitely deserved better than what they got the last couple of months. It’s nice to get them a sweep this weekend.”
Jutting didn’t shy away from the elephant in the room after Friday night’s 3-2 win over the Falcons. Instead, he looked at the forgettable second half at home in the eye.
“That’s the story of our season – ups and downs,” Jutting said on Friday. “We know we hadn’t won in this building in a while, and that was the message going into today’s game. It’s a playoff scenario, these games are playoff games for us. We knew (we) wanted to get a win in this building for the fans because they hadn’t seen one in a while.”
Mattias Sholl echoed Jutting’s sentiment. The senior goaltender has been in playoff mode for weeks.
“We’ve already had to flip the switch,” Sholl said on Saturday. “Prior to the (Michigan) Tech series, we were in danger of maybe even missing the playoffs. We had to flip the switch a month ago. If we continue to play like this … if we continue to play physical and do the right things, who knows what we do.”
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For Bemidji State to finish any higher than sixth place, it will need to pick up points over the newly crowned MacNaughton Cup champions. Bemidji State heads to Minnesota State this weekend for a 7:07 p.m. puck drop on Friday and a 6:07 p.m. start on Saturday.
“They’ve been the best team in our league from the beginning of the year,” Serratore said. “We know how difficult it’s going to be, but it’s a great rivalry. … We’re playing good hockey as of late, and it’s going to be one of those typical weekends in the CCHA where every game is just a battle. We’re all pretty much the same with a few different varieties to each team. (MSU) just has the most juice this year.”
For senior Donte Lawson, absorbing the rivalry between the Mavericks and the Beavers – and watching it grow – has been one of his most thrilling parts of his four years in Bemidji.
“For me, (my view of the rivalry) has definitely grown,” Lawson said. “Before I got here, I didn’t know too much about Mankato. I knew they were really good, but just the rivalry that’s built with them has been special, and I’m really excited for this weekend. … It’ll be the same as when we always play them. It’ll be a fast game that’s really fun to be a part of, especially going down to their barn.”
On Saturday, Flammang said that the Beavers’ four-game winning streak comes from their recent commitment to the details. He liked that BSU has taken a step up in physicality and simplicity, and Lawson agrees.
“What the coaches have been going over in practice and stuff, I feel like we’ve been sticking with that,” Lawson said. “Our special teams and power play has been really good lately, and that’s helped us as well. … It’s just sticking together through it all no matter what. All of the adversity we face, we just have to stay positive and know that we have our systems to rely on while we get back to the simple things.”
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