When playing No. 20 Bemidji State and their superstar goaltender Michael Bitzer, a tight, defensive game is a par for the course. After falling to St. Cloud State 2-1 on a Friday, the Beavers’ stout defensive effort again came up short, this time against No. 6 Minnesota in the third-place game of the North Star College Cup, 4-0.<\/p>\n
The Beavers, who have struggled to score goals for most of the season, were unable to find the net against the Gophers and sophomore goaltender Eric Schierhorn.<\/p>\n
“I felt good tonight,” said Schierhorn. “My positioning was strong and I was able to see the puck.”<\/p>\n
Bitzer, the backbone of Bemidj’s early-season success, was up to the test against the Gophers, while receiving support from his defensive core and defensive-minded forwards.<\/p>\n
“We have to manage the puck,” said Bemidji senior Nate Arentz. “With our speed and strength, we should be scoring more goals.”<\/p>\n
Freshman defenseman Tommy Muck saved a goal in the second period after clearing a puck that loitered in the crease behind a sprawling Bitzer.<\/p>\n
After a scoreless first period, Minnesota’s Leon Bristedt cashed in on a rebound opportunity off of a Vinni Lettieri shot to get on the board with his eighth goal of the season. Bristedt had a point blank, short-handed opportunity in the third period that sailed wide of Bitzer.<\/p>\n
Bemidji coach Tom Serratore felt the Beavers pushed hard offensively on Saturday as they tried to break out of their scoring drought, registering 21 shots on goal through two periods.<\/p>\n
“The first 40, I couldn’t ask anymore of our guys,” said Serratore. “There’s not much we could’ve done differently.”<\/p>\n
The Beavers have managed more than two goals just once in their last 10 games.<\/p>\n
Muck later committed a freshman mistake, wrapping the puck around the boards to a vacated wing. Gophers defenseman Ryan Lindgren tapped the puck behind the net to Darian Romanko, who found Ryan Norman in front to give Minnesota two-goal lead.<\/p>\n
The Beavers had their share of power-play opportunities, two of which were cut short by their own penalties committed by forwards Charlie O’Connor and Gerry Fitzgerald, both in the final frame.<\/p>\n
“You can’t do that,” said Serratore. “Those things happen but we stubbed our toe there.”<\/p>\n
Senior Taylor Cammarata’s power-play goal put the Gophers ahead 3-0 in the third period. Captain Justin Kloos added an empty-net goal.<\/p>\n
“Our scoring depth will help us win games,” said Cammarata.<\/p>\n
Schierhorn made 25 saves, completing his fourth shutout of the season and received the game’s third star, while the Gophers limited Bemidji State to just four third-period shots on goal.<\/p>\n
“We can’t sit here and dwell on it,” said Serratore. “Forget about it and on Monday we’ve got business to take care of.”<\/p>\n
WCHA roundup<\/strong><\/p>\n Ferris State 5, Bowling Green 0<\/strong> Lake Superior State 2, at Minnesota State 2<\/strong> Michigan Tech 4, at Alabama Huntsville 4<\/strong> When playing No. 20 Bemidji State and their superstar goaltender Michael Bitzer, a tight, defensive game is a par for the course. After falling to St. Cloud State 2-1 on a Friday, the Beavers’ stout defensive effort again came up short, this time against No. 6 Minnesota in the third-place game of the North Star […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":22374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23075"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23075"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=23075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nFerris State earned a series split with a 5-0 victory over Bowling Green in Big Rapids, Michigan. Mitch Maloney and Gerald Mayhew had a goal and an assist for the Bulldogs, while Justin Kapelmaster stopped 19 shots to earn the shutout.<\/p>\n
\nLake Superior State skated to a 2-2 tie with Minnesota State in Mankato, Minnesota. Gage Torrel and Mitch Hults scored for the Lakers, while defensemen Daniel Brickley and Ian Scheid each had a goal and an assist for the Mavericks.<\/p>\n
\nMichigan Tech skated to a 4-4 tie with the Chargers in Huntsville. Defenseman Matt Roy scored twice for the Huskies, while Kurt Gosselin had a goal and an assist for the Chargers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"