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With Beavers in 1st place, mapping the path to home playoff series is still tricky

jared rubado, the bemidji pioneer, minn.
·6 min read

Jan. 10—BEMIDJI — The Bemidji State men's hockey team sits alone in first place in the CCHA standings, though it won't for very long.

The Beavers have played more league games this season than any of the other seven full-time members. With a CCHA record of 8-6-0 and 25 points, BSU holds a four-point advantage over St. Thomas, which has two games in hand. Bemidji State is six points clear of Michigan Tech, which has four games in hand.

While the other four teams in the top five spots in the league standings can take a collective and sudden nosedive in January, it's an unlikely outcome. Beaver hockey fans should brace themselves for an even more tightly contested stretch to end the 24-game league season.

BSU has a bye in two of the next three weekends, and the teams around them will surely make up ground in the race for the MacNaughton Cup. But how close are these teams? And what is the easiest path for at least one round of the CCHA Mason Cup playoffs to run through the Sanford Center?

With each of the CCHA's eight full-time teams having played various amounts of league games, the most objective way to view the standings is by points percentage.

Points percentage is calculated by dividing the number of points one team currently has by the number of points they could have earned.

Bemidji State has 25 points in 14 games. Each CCHA regulation win is worth three points, meaning the Beavers could have up to 42 points at this point in the regular season. BSU's points percentage rests at 59.5 heading into a bye weekend, which ranks second among teams in the CCHA.

Here's a look at the CCHA standings based on points percentage:

1. Michigan Tech (6-4-0, 19 points) 63.3%

2. Bemidji State (8-6-0, 25 points) 59.5%

3. St. Thomas (7-5-0, 21 points) 58.3%

4. Minnesota State (5-4-1, 17 points) 56.7%

5. Northern Michigan (5-5-0, 15 points) 50%

6. Lake Superior State (6-6-1, 18 points) 46.2%

7. Bowling Green (5-7-0, 15 points) 41.7%

8. Ferris State (4-9-0, 11 points) 28.2%

In the last two seasons, CCHA teams that earned home-ice advantage had a points percentage of at least 50%. Bemidji State and Northern Michigan both finished the 2022-23 season with 39 of 78 possible points, leading to a standings tiebreaker that bumped the Beavers into the fifth seed in the Mason Cup playoffs.

Of the 72 possible points a team could earn this season, 36 of them would likely be enough to host a first-round series. For the sake of taking away some room for error for the middle of the pack, let's set the target goal for a top-four seed at 38 points while understanding there isn't a specific number to reach for a home series.

The Beavers have 10 league games left; only four are at home. They host Ferris State Feb. 15-16 and Minnesota State March 1-2 to close the regular season.

The ideal way for BSU to ensure it plays more games at the Sanford Center is to win all of its home games. But that's easier said than done. However, picking up at least five points against the Bulldogs, the league's worst team, and at least three more against the Mavericks outlines the path to a top-four finish.

If Bemidji State can nab eight of the 12 possible points in its last four league home games, it would open the door for needing only four points in six road games against Michigan Tech (Jan. 19-20), Northern Michigan (Feb. 9-10) and St. Thomas (Feb. 23-24). Any points on top of those four could propel the Beavers into a higher seed, especially against the Huskies or Tommies.

Bemidji State's most straightforward path to the MacNaughton Cup would include sweeping Michigan Tech on the road in two weekends and taking all of its remaining points up for grabs at home. But for now, the Beavers will watch as the rest of the CCHA closes the gap this weekend.

The Bemidji State women's hockey team has played back-to-back weekends just once since the start of November.

The Beavers took a road trip to Minneapolis to play the third-ranked Gophers Dec. 1-2, then hit the road a week later for Mendota Heights to take on St. Thomas. Since then, they've played just two games in five weeks.

"Our practices are very competitive," said sophomore Mya Headrick on how they stay sharp with so much time between games. "We're always battling (in practice). It's easy to stay in (game shape) when everybody works just as hard as you are at that level."

Last weekend was the final bye weekend for BSU. Head coach Jim Scanlan believes his players enjoy a more consistent schedule, even if the off weekends were a chance to recharge.

"I think the players like getting into that routine," Scanlan continued. "We have a seven-week sprint. It's all there in front of us. I asked them yesterday how they want to look back and remember this season and what they did as individuals to help this team be successful. If you take that approach, you (realize) how important every practice is. That's where the intensity has to start. You can't flip that switch on on Fridays."

Bemidji State (3-16-1, 2-12-0 WCHA) hits the road for its first series rematch this season against No. 7 Minnesota Duluth (11-7-2, 8-6-0 WCHA). The Bulldogs swept the Beavers at the Sanford Center on Oct. 27-28.

Former BSU forward Reece Hunt

scored the game-winning goal

for UMD in the final minutes of a 2-1 win. Then Minnesota Duluth rolled to a 6-0 win to clinch a sweep a day later.

"They like to play a high-paced game, and their defense will get involved," Scanlan said. "The things that I thought we did well that weekend were we clogged the middle (of the ice) really well, and we didn't give them a lot of second-chance opportunities. That's how we have to play. It comes down to managing the puck really well and doing a good job with our (backcheck) pressure and (playing) with a purpose."

Bemidji State is coming off of a second-place finish at the Battle at the Burgh tournament in Cranberry Township, Pa., with a 3-1 win over Robert Morris and a 6-0 loss against No. 3 Colgate.

The Beavers are 2-2 in their last four games, mainly due to the efforts on the defensive end of the ice. Freshman goalie Eva Filippova has 105 saves and one shutout in her previous three games. Scanlan also complimented his defensemen's ability to limit their opponent's chances in 5-on-5 play.

"They're unbelievable," Headrick said. "Our goaltenders are amazing, and they're keeping us in games. Our defense is doing an outstanding job of blocking shots and keeping pucks out. It's really nice to have them."