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With Bemidji's upset win over Augie, BG will travel to St. Thomas on Saturday for one of the two single-elimination CCHA semifinals. Puck drop is at 5:07 eastern time.

Personally, I like this matchup as BG has played well against the Tommies. The season series was split, but the Falcons carried play for the majority of those games and got goalied in the final matchup at The Slate.

Willy's style of hockey lends itself well to playoff hockey, and I think BG comes away in a very tight game.

On Saturday, March 15, our Falcons (18-13-4) will head to Minnesota to take on the St. Thomas Tommies (18-13-5) for the 5th time this season. We have a tie/shootout win, 2 losses, and a win outright against them this season. And the last series we had against them was last month in our building, where we won 4-1 and then lost 2-1 in a game where we heavily outshot them but their goalie stood on their head. I’ll tell you right now - if we can dominate the game against them like we did the last time we got together, we have a great shot to win and play for the Mason Cup.

St. Thomas presents a unique challenge for us, as they have all 3 of the top 3 goal scorers in the CCHA in Cooper Gay (18), Liam Malmquist (17), and Lucas Wahlin (17) so we’re going to have to keep those guys in check to have a chance. Their offense comes in hot, having scored 11 goals last weekend against Ferris. They are also riding a 7-game win streak, so it’s going to take a tremendous effort to get the job done in this one.

NOTABLE STATS:

Goals Per Game: BG 2.54 (6th), St. Thomas 2.94 (1st)
Goals Allowed Per Game: BG 2.34 (3rd), St. Thomas 2.67 (4th)
Shots on Goal Per Game: BG 33.83 (1st), St. Thomas 29.39 (4th)
Power Play Percentage: BG .207 (4th), St. Thomas .248 (2nd)
Penalty Kill Percentage: BG .798 (5th), St. Thomas .808 (3rd)
Face-off Percentage: BG .524 (1st), St. Thomas .459 (9th)
Blocked Shots Per Game: BG 9.34 (9th), St. Thomas 11.92 (4th)

St. Thomas also has 8 shorthanded goals this year, which is 5 more than anyone else in the league. Something they are sneaky good at - so we’ll need to be ready for that.


GOALIE STATS:

St. Thomas
Jake SIbell (Sr.) - 18 GP, 2.51 GAA, .921 SV%
Aaron Trotter (Jr.) - 21 GP, 2.63 GAA, .909 SV%

BGSU
Christian Stoever (Sr.) - 17 GP, 1.74 GAA, .942 SV%
Cole Moore (So.) - 20 GP, 2.80 GAA, .906 SV%

Go Falcons! Beat the Tommies!

I'm just going to remind everybody that St Thomas still isn't eligible for the NCAA Tournament until the 25-26 season.....

pdt1081 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 10, 2025 5:57 pm I'm just going to remind everybody that St Thomas still isn't eligible for the NCAA Tournament until the 25-26 season.....

So here's the question. If Bemidji beats Mankato AND, God forbid, we lose to the Tommies, AND, in the championship game (held at a fu**ing high school rink -- thanks Lucia), AND the Tommies win, does Bemidji as the runner up go to the NCAAs or does Mankato as the MacNaughton Cup champ with the higher PWR go?

TalonsUpPuckDown wrote: ↑Mon Mar 10, 2025 6:43 pm

pdt1081 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 10, 2025 5:57 pm I'm just going to remind everybody that St Thomas still isn't eligible for the NCAA Tournament until the 25-26 season.....

So here's the question. If Bemidji beats Mankato AND, God forbid, we lose to the Tommies, AND, in the championship game (held at a fu**ing high school rink -- thanks Lucia), AND the Tommies win, does Bemidji as the runner up go to the NCAAs or does Mankato as the MacNaughton Cup champ with the higher PWR go?

I believe it would be Minnesota State.

TalonsUpPuckDown wrote: ↑Mon Mar 10, 2025 6:43 pm

pdt1081 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 10, 2025 5:57 pm I'm just going to remind everybody that St Thomas still isn't eligible for the NCAA Tournament until the 25-26 season.....

So here's the question. If Bemidji beats Mankato AND, God forbid, we lose to the Tommies, AND, in the championship game (held at a fu**ing high school rink -- thanks Lucia), AND the Tommies win, does Bemidji as the runner up go to the NCAAs or does Mankato as the MacNaughton Cup champ with the higher PWR go?

If it's done the same way as college basketball it should be Bemidji

Example, in the ASUN basketball tournament Queens University (which isn't eligible for the NCAA Tournament) made the semifinals. Had they made the final (beating the #1 seed in their semifinal) their opponent in the championship game was going to receive the automatic bid

Yes, it’s the tournament runner-up then. Just did some more digging and that was the result.

Was coming here to confirm what everyone else posted. Per the prognosticators on the Tech Hockey Guide podcast, Bemidji is in no matter what.

TalonsUpPuckDown wrote: ↑Tue Mar 11, 2025 1:43 pm Was coming here to confirm what everyone else posted. Per the prognosticators on the Tech Hockey Guide podcast, Bemidji is in no matter what.

The winner of the other semifinal is in no matter what if St. Thomas wins, you mean? Mankato would be in the same position, should the Tommies win.

mbenecke wrote: ↑Tue Mar 11, 2025 2:06 pm

TalonsUpPuckDown wrote: ↑Tue Mar 11, 2025 1:43 pm Was coming here to confirm what everyone else posted. Per the prognosticators on the Tech Hockey Guide podcast, Bemidji is in no matter what.

The winner of the other semifinal is in no matter what if St. Thomas wins, you mean? Mankato would be in the same position, should the Tommies win.

Ah. Yes, that is also true.

The usual collection of CCHA prognosticators has released their predictions for the upcoming semifinal games. tl;dr version is as you'd expect. Tommies and Mavs by a VERY wide margin. No one is giving us much of a chance.

https://www.siouxfallslive.com/sports/c ... semifinals

TalonsUpPuckDown wrote: ↑Wed Mar 12, 2025 3:38 pm The usual collection of CCHA prognosticators has released their predictions for the upcoming semifinal games. tl;dr version is as you'd expect. Tommies and Mavs by a VERY wide margin. No one is giving us much of a chance.

https://www.siouxfallslive.com/sports/c ... semifinals

And let’s break down those CCHA prognosticators:

A Tech grad, an Augustana play by play guy, the Minnesota State play by play guy, an NCHC reporter based in Nebraska, a Bemidji writer, a North Dakota writer, an Augustana writer, and a St. Thomas writer.

Great, non-biased group of guys making their picks here.

mbenecke wrote: ↑Wed Mar 12, 2025 3:45 pm

TalonsUpPuckDown wrote: ↑Wed Mar 12, 2025 3:38 pm The usual collection of CCHA prognosticators has released their predictions for the upcoming semifinal games. tl;dr version is as you'd expect. Tommies and Mavs by a VERY wide margin. No one is giving us much of a chance.

https://www.siouxfallslive.com/sports/c ... semifinals

And let’s break down those CCHA prognosticators:

A Tech grad, an Augustana play by play guy, the Minnesota State play by play guy, an NCHC reporter based in Nebraska, a Bemidji writer, a North Dakota writer, an Augustana writer, and a St. Thomas writer.

Great, non-biased group of guys making their picks here.

As I said, the usual collection

TalonsUpPuckDown wrote: ↑Wed Mar 12, 2025 3:52 pm

mbenecke wrote: ↑Wed Mar 12, 2025 3:45 pm

TalonsUpPuckDown wrote: ↑Wed Mar 12, 2025 3:38 pm The usual collection of CCHA prognosticators has released their predictions for the upcoming semifinal games. tl;dr version is as you'd expect. Tommies and Mavs by a VERY wide margin. No one is giving us much of a chance.

https://www.siouxfallslive.com/sports/c ... semifinals

And let’s break down those CCHA prognosticators:

A Tech grad, an Augustana play by play guy, the Minnesota State play by play guy, an NCHC reporter based in Nebraska, a Bemidji writer, a North Dakota writer, an Augustana writer, and a St. Thomas writer.

Great, non-biased group of guys making their picks here.

As I said, the usual collection

There's a reason the games are played on the ice. Bulletin board material right there.

pdt1081 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 12, 2025 4:31 pm

TalonsUpPuckDown wrote: ↑Wed Mar 12, 2025 3:52 pm

mbenecke wrote: ↑Wed Mar 12, 2025 3:45 pm

TalonsUpPuckDown wrote: ↑Wed Mar 12, 2025 3:38 pm The usual collection of CCHA prognosticators has released their predictions for the upcoming semifinal games. tl;dr version is as you'd expect. Tommies and Mavs by a VERY wide margin. No one is giving us much of a chance.

https://www.siouxfallslive.com/sports/c ... semifinals

And let’s break down those CCHA prognosticators:

A Tech grad, an Augustana play by play guy, the Minnesota State play by play guy, an NCHC reporter based in Nebraska, a Bemidji writer, a North Dakota writer, an Augustana writer, and a St. Thomas writer.

Great, non-biased group of guys making their picks here.

As I said, the usual collection

There's a reason the games are played on the ice. Bulletin board material right there.

Absolutely. Willy should print that out and tape it to every guy’s locker. It’s straight up disrespect.