Northern Michigan broadcaster Dave Danis is a traveling man. He has driven all the highways and byways of college and minor league hockey—he knows the truck stops and the long stretches without any. As the CCHA’s regular season was counting down to its completion Saturday night, Danis was the first to sort out the reshuffled deck of the CCHA standings from his broadcast position at the Berry Events Center. That’s when it struck him that Bowling Green, ensconced in a home ice position all season long, had just fallen to sixth place, which made them a road club in the quarterfinal round. They would be facing Bemidji, which got the veteran road warrior doing some mental math.

“Hey, that’s about 850 miles,” said Danis into his microphone. “That’s over 13 hours in the bus, two days of travel.” He then went back to calling the conclusion of the Ferris State-Northern game to cap the regular season. 

Danis was spot on: 865 miles, a 13.5 hour ride, on clear roads. Two long days on the bus, a major challenge for the lower seeded Bowling Green. For a series that would be a tough pick on neutral ice, Bemidji hosting a log-legged Falcon squad after two days on a bus would have a distinct advantage. For a new league in its first postseason, this scenario could be problematic in terms of competitive integrity.

The nickname of the old CCHA was “The Bus League,” a circuit known for its lengthy bus rides around the Great Lakes. On Monday, that all changed. The new CCHA chose to foot the bill, and fly Bowling Green from Detroit to Minneapolis, lightening the Falcons travel load by a day and a half. BGSU is being treated the same way NCAA tournament teams are, no long bus rides to compromise the competition. Now we can eliminate loggy legs as a factor when breaking down this quarterfinal series.

Bowling Green has lost four games in a row to tumble out of its home ice perch, but they have remained extremely competitive, downright feisty if you happened to see last weekend’s Battle Royale with Lake State up in the Soo. It was a series marred by major penalties, high sticks and wars of words. It will be a testy bunch of Falcons flying into Minnesota this weekend. BGSU’s ability to upset a higher seed was in full view back on February 12, when they manhandled Michigan Tech up in Houghton to put a damper on the Huskies Winter Carnival. Their style is personified by veteran Sam Craggs, a warrior who always extracts a price in one-on-one battles in hockey’s dirty areas.

Bemidji, entering this season as the consensus choice to be the No. 2 team in the CCHA, has underachieved, falling out of contention for the second spot a month ago. It is not for lack of talent. Tom Serratore has a half dozen players that would get maximum minutes for any team in the country. But the philosophy of the Beavers has changed, almost imperceptibly, but noticeable in the fine print of their team statistics. 

The bracket is set for the #MasonCup Playoffs. Who's your favorite to win? #CCHA

🏆 Tourney: https://t.co/Y4yMAOSZHR pic.twitter.com/o5HfMKt3a7

— CCHA (@CCHAHockey) February 27, 2022

BSU’s power play clicks at over 25 percent, among the national leaders, better than rival Minnesota State for the first time in memory. That should be cause to celebrate on the frozen shores of Lake Bemidji. But there’s a flip side to the coin. The Beavers are killing penalties at a respectable rate of 81 percent, but not the shutdown 90 percent-plus that has defined Bemidji the past several years. Opponents no longer require a special ops team to navigate multiple layers of defenders to penetrate the Bemidji zone. The truth is, Bemidji is no longer a defense-first team, a statement that northern Minnesotans never thought they would hear. 

Serratore has more marquee players than ever, beginning with the high-profile Sillinger brothers, Alex Ierullo, and projected all-conference defender Elias Rosen. But the Beavers are now leaning towards the offensive side of the puck during 50-50 battles, and it goes against their identity. The cliche about defense winning championships is based on fact, not fiction, and the Beavers defensive schemes are no longer the pride of Minnesota.

How does this translate in a best-of-three elimination series against a volatile Falcon club, walking taller after getting star treatment from the CCHA? Like so many other series, this one will come down to goaltending. BSU newbie Matthias Sholl should win the day over Bowling Green’s Christian Stover.

Prediction: Bemidji in two see-saw games, a series with more goals scored and allowed than one would ever expect from a Tom Serratore club.