{"id":89110,"date":"2018-11-15T14:00:37","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T20:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=89110"},"modified":"2018-11-14T23:17:33","modified_gmt":"2018-11-15T05:17:33","slug":"bemidji-state-goaltending-situation-with-johnson-driscoll-nothing-short-of-a-pleasant-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2018\/11\/15\/bemidji-state-goaltending-situation-with-johnson-driscoll-nothing-short-of-a-pleasant-surprise\/","title":{"rendered":"Bemidji State goaltending situation with Johnson, Driscoll nothing short of ‘a pleasant surprise’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<\/a>
So far this season, Hank Johnson has played goal on Friday nights for Bemidji State… (photo: Bemidji State Athletics).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When it came to goaltending for Bemidji State during the past three and a half years, Tom Serratore had a relatively simple decision: Just write in Michael Bitzer\u2019s name and worry about everything else.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was easy,\u201d Serratore said during a media call before the season started, referring to the fact that he had an All-American playing nearly every game between the pipes for almost four years. \u201cI liked that decision, having the ability to just play Bitz. Just knowing that he was going to play and knowing that he was going to play pretty well, you slept pretty good knowing you had Bitz.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Bitzer graduated last spring, leaving the Beavers with three unproven netminders on the roster. The big, obvious question for Bemidji State at the start of the year was, “Which one of them would play?”<\/p>\n

The secondary question was, “How good would they be?”<\/p>\n

So far, both of those questions have been answered.<\/p>\n

Sophomore Hank Johnson and transfer Zach Driscoll have formed a pretty solid two-man rotation for the Beavers through eight games this season, helping the Beavers to a 5-2-1 record so far. Johnson has played in all of BSU\u2019s Friday games — including the big season-opening win over North Dakota — while Driscoll has played Saturday nights.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a guy in Mike Bitzer over the course of the last four years we leaned heavily on,\u201d Serratore said Wednesday morning. \u201cIt\u2019s a big loss, and we were wondering who was going to replace him, but these guys have done a great job. It\u2019s a pleasant surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson, from Minneapolis, has allowed five goals and recorded one shutout, while Driscoll, of Apple Valley, Minn., has allowed four goals — one in each game so far. Driscoll\u2019s save percentage leads the nation (.959, which adds up to 93 saves in four games) while Johnson\u2019s is fourth (92 saves, .948).<\/p>\n

Both are listed as 6 feet on BSU\u2019s roster.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a little smaller, but they rely on their athleticism,\u201d Serratore said, noting that they\u2019ve both been good \u201cfirst-save\u201d goalies. \u201cBoth of them, they\u2019re doing their job. They\u2019re stopping the first puck, they\u2019re allowing us to defend after the first shot, and that\u2019s all you can ask for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson played in just one game for the BSU last season, in relief of Bitzer during a lopsided game the Beavers were losing. Driscoll, meanwhile, had 14 games of collegiate experience under his belt at St. Cloud State but returned to junior hockey for the 2017-18 season and hadn\u2019t played a competitive collegiate game since Feb. 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a small sample size, we know that, but over the course of eight games, we\u2019re very happy with our goaltending tandem right now,\u201d Serratore added. \u201cThey\u2019re pushing each other, and that\u2019s good for our hockey team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"<\/a>
\u2026 while Zach Driscoll has seen the blue paint on Saturday nights for the Beavers (photo: Bemidji State Athletics).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It just makes the Beavers an even tougher team on the back end.<\/p>\n

Serratore figured BSU\u2019s experienced defensive corps would be pretty good, and it has been — evidenced by the goals they\u2019ve allowed and the penalty kill numbers (83.9 percent – decent for most teams but actually a little low for the Beavers, traditionally). Seniors Justin Baudry, Dillon Eichstadt, Dan Billett and Ian Janco and junior Tommy Muck have been able to help the new goalies keep their heads above water in the early going.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the one area of strength we have,\u201d Serratore said. \u201cWe had six new forwards and inexperience at goal. But the one area of experience we had coming in was on the back line and I think that\u2019s helped that transition for our goaltenders. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any question that\u2019s helped. Some of these guys like Baudry, Buillett, Muck, Eichstadt, they\u2019ve eaten a lot of minutes over the course of the last three, four years.<\/p>\n

“They all have good toughness to their game and they\u2019re hard to play against. That bodes well for our team defense on a young team.\u201d<\/p>\n

That young team will get arguably its toughest test yet this weekend, when the Beavers head to St. Cloud State for an instate rivalry game. The Huskies are No. 2 in the latest USCHO poll and coming off a sweep of Denver to cement their status as one of the best teams in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know what we\u2019re going into. We\u2019re playing the most talented team in the country. They\u2019re a team that doesn\u2019t have any deficiencies,\u201d Serratore said. \u201cWe can sit there and look at the numbers, but they have the best numbers in the country overall and the most offense in the country. They\u2019re playing at home. We have our work cut out for us, there\u2019s no question about that, but it\u2019s going to be a good test to see where we\u2019re at right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it came to goaltending for Bemidji State during the past three and a half years, Tom Serratore had a relatively simple decision: Just write in Michael Bitzer\u2019s name and worry about everything else (photo: Bemidji State Athletics).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":89111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[812],"coauthors":[854],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBemidji State goaltending situation with Johnson, Driscoll nothing short of 'a pleasant surprise' - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When it came to goaltending for Bemidji State during the past three and a half years, Tom Serratore had a relatively simple decision: Just write in Michael Bitzer\u2019s name and worry about everything else (photo: Bemidji State Athletics).\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89110\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bemidji State goaltending situation with Johnson, Driscoll nothing short of 'a pleasant surprise' - 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