Lucas Punkari
This past weekend not only marked the official start of the 2012-13 regular season for the Bemidji State Beavers men’s hockey team, it also meant Fort Frances native Mitch Cain got the chance to hit the ice once again at the Sanford Center.
Cain, 21, played on the right wing during his regular-season debut Saturday night and used his 6’1”, 205-pound frame to his advantage on multiple occasions as the host Beavers earned their first win of the campaign with a 5-0 shutout over the Lake Superior State Lakers.
“It feels good to be back out there and playing in front of a crowd once again,” enthused Cain, who also suited up in a pair of pre-season games against the University of Manitoba and the United States’ under-18 team earlier this month.
“I got a little bit too excited in the game against Manitoba, but I’m taking advantage of the ice time as much as I can, and I hope to use that to help me develop as a player,” he noted.
Coming off a freshman campaign where had a goal and four assists in 12 games, which put him third among first-year players on the squad, Cain finds himself more at ease in Bemidji heading into his sophomore season.
“As I’ve come back here for my second year, I feel much more comfortable,” he explained.
“The coaching staff has been great and the new guys that have come in here have all been great, as well, so things are looking good right now.
“And I think it should be good from here on out,” Cain added.
One person who has noticed the change in Cain from his freshman season to this one has been Beavers’ head coach Tom Serratore, who is entering his 12th campaign behind the bench at Bemidji State.
“I think one of the biggest things when you come in as a freshman is that you don’t know what to expect,” Serratore noted.
“At the beginning of the season, it can be very overwhelming as you are learning a whole new system, and getting used to new coaches and teammates.
“But eventually, you find a comfort zone and now that Mitch knows what to expect, you can see that he is a lot more comfortable here,” he added.
With a team that’s a little bit under-sized, Serratore said Cain is the type of player who brings some much-needed size and grit to the lineup this year.
“We need Mitch to play big for us, and he brings a little versatility to our forwards up there,” he remarked.
“He’s a very strong player who is a good skater and has some good speed, and he can open some ice for some people by being a power forward.
“We are trying to get him in as a penalty killer, and we like what we are seeing so far,” Serratore added.
This year’s roster is a veteran-heavy one, with 10 players competing in their final season in the college hockey ranks.
“We have a mature team here this year,” Cain said.
“The way that we play here at Bemidji is by being a hard-working team that gets puck to the nets and tries to out-work the opposition.
“If you use that to your advantage, you’ll have a good result,” he reasoned.
The 2012-13 campaign also will be an interesting one in the WCHA conference, as this marks the final season of the current 12-team loop before a massive realignment in NCAA Division I hockey.
Colorado College, Denver, Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth, Nebraska-Omaha, North Dakota, St. Cloud State, and Wisconsin all will be moving to different conferences next year while Bemidji State will stay in the WCHA, along with Alaska-Anchorage, Michigan Tech, and Minnesota State-Mankato.
“It’ll be interesting to see how this last year of the league shakes out before everything changes,” said Cain, who is majoring in exercise science and physical education.
“We’re just going to try and take advantage of our games against the top teams, and also look forward to our match-ups with some of the non-conference teams that will be moving into the new WCHA,” he noted.
Alaska-Fairbanks, Bowling Green, Ferris State, Lake Superior State, and Northern Michigan all will be moving from the CCHA to form a new-look WCHA next year.
When it comes to this season, however, the WCHA is expected to be another tough battle yet again, with some of the top-ranked teams in country making their home there.
“This league is a bear game in and game out, and there is a fine line between winning and losing,” Serratore stressed.
“If you look at the polls right now, there is no question that Minnesota has the premier team in the league, and maybe the entire country, and you have North Dakota that is looking pretty good as always,” he added.
With the conference season getting in full swing this weekend with a pair of road games against Nebraska-Omaha, Cain and the rest of the Beavers already have their main goal set for the end of the season.
“Our goal, like it is every year, is to make it into the ‘Final Five,’” he said.
“Personally, I want to play in as many games as I can and contribute to the team, but the main thing is to get into the ‘Final Five,’” he stressed.
“That’s all that I care about.”
