Oct. 12—BEMIDJI — When the NCAA opened its doors to major junior recruits, some speculated there might be an extended adjustment period to the speed, strength and style of college hockey.
While that’s certainly true for some, for others, like Bemidji State junior Oliver Peer, it’s not.
Peer played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League for the Windsor Spitfires and the Flint Firebirds. He totaled 210 games with 71 goals and 97 assists before playing one season with the University of New Brunswick last year.
Peer is an atypical Canadian Hockey League recruit in college hockey. He transferred into BSU from U Sports — Canada’s collegiate athletics.
Still, he’s shown no signs of falling behind in his first four collegiate games in the United States, scoring three goals and three assists.
“When somebody steps up to the plate and scores some goals, it’s huge,” BSU head coach Tom Serratore said of Peer after Friday’s 3-2 loss against St. Cloud State. “He had two nice, heavy shots today. I’m glad Peersy stepped up, and it’s good to see him have success. He’s going to gain more confidence.”
Peer scored both Bemidji State goals on Friday. While he was left off the scoresheet in Saturday’s finale, his impact through four games is noticeable.
“It’s good hockey,” Peer said on Friday. “It’s got a lot of pace. There’s a lot of good players, top to bottom, on every team. You don’t really have any holes in anybody’s game. … It’s tight, it’s a lot tighter than what I’ve been used to the last couple of seasons. It’s good, it’s really good hockey. We have a good team. Obviously, we didn’t win tonight, but it was a good game, and we were right in it.”
Peer is one of the Bemidji State recruits who addresses the program’s offseason approach of adding more speed.
“We’re a fast team,” Peer said. “That’s kind of our identity right now. I think we’re still figuring out our identity; it’s very early.”
Friday night was also Peer’s first experience playing in front of a home crowd at the Sanford Center.
“It was great,” Peer said. “Playing in Alaska was fun, but coming back home was nice. Playing in front of the fans and the atmosphere here was really awesome. It’s a great building with a great fanbase. I know we didn’t win, but I wanted to be in the moment and take it all in for my first game here.”
* No further update on Adam Flammang has been given after he suffered a scary injury in the third period against St. Cloud State on Saturday.
* Bemidji State’s (2-2-0) losing streak against St. Cloud State has extended to seven games.
* In those seven games, Bemidji State has been outscored 12-3 in first periods.
* After Saturday’s 4-2 loss at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center, Serratore noted that BSU has to be better at closing out periods. In the seven-game skid against the Huskies, BSU is being outscored 7-3 in the final five minutes of periods. Three of those SCSU goals came in the final minute of a period.
* Senior defenseman Mitch Wolfe was credited with seven blocked shots against SCSU, the most of any player on either team in the series.
* Kasper Magnussen, Patrik Satosaari, Ben Vigneault and Luke Roelofs were each a plus-1 in on-ice rating to lead BSU against SCSU.
* Sophomore defenseman Hudson Thornton led BSU in time on ice with 49:48 minutes played over two games against SCSU. Mitch Wolfe, his defensive partner, logged 44:24, according to College Hockey News.
* Forwards Reilly Funk (20:50), Oliver Peer (20:44), Kirklan Irey (20:23) and Connor McClennon (20:33) all logged at least 20 minutes of TOI, according to College Hockey News.
* Bemidji State is currently serving 10 penalty minutes per game through four contests this season. It’s currently the highest mark for the program over the last four seasons — 7.3 in 2024-25, 6.8 in 2023-24, 7.4 in 2022-23.
* The only BSU player who has played without recording a point this season is freshman defenseman Max Vig. However, Vig, a seventh-round draft pick by the Montreal Canadians, is tied for second on the team in on-ice rating at plus-4. Reilly Funk and Kirlan Irey are also plus-4. Kasper Magnussen is plus-6.
* Both Bemidji State goaltenders are sporting promising numbers this season. Junior Raythan Robbins holds a 2.54 goals-against average with a .917 save percentage. Freshman Max Hildebrand has a 2.06 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage.
* Reilly Funk has four goals in his first four games this season, which only trails Penn State’s JJ Wiebush (six), Michigan’s Will Horcoff (five) and Boston’s Cole Eiserman (five). Seven players are tied for fourth with four goals.
* Everett Silvertips goaltender Riaden LeGall has decommitted from Bemidji State.
* Ferris State upset top-ranked Western Michigan 3-2 on Thursday at Lawson Ice Arena. Long Island transfer forward Carter Rapalje scored his first two goals. North Dakota transfer goaltender Hobie Hedquist stopped 48 of 50 shots in the win.
* CCHA teams went 0-8-0 on Friday. All games were nonconference contests.
* In Ferris State’s (1-3-0) 6-4 loss against Western Michigan at home, sophomore goaltender Martin Lundberg stopped all 15 shots in relief of Long Island transfer Noah Rupprecht.
* Augustana’s (1-1-0) Josh Kotai stopped all 40 shots on Saturday to earn a road split with Minnesota Duluth. Augustana was outshot 40-14 in a 4-0 win.
* Augustana’s Hunter Bischoff scored two goals in the 4-0 win on Saturday.
* Northern Michigan (0-4-0) has been outshot 206-97 in four games against UMass and Ohio State.
* Bowling Green (0-2-0) was swept by Niagara in a road series. Niagara’s Maxim Muranov scored three goals in the series.
* Bowling Green outshot Niagara 60-43. Niagara goaltender Deivs Rolovs stopped 58 of 60 shots in 2-0 and 5-2 wins.
* Lindenwood staged a third-period comeback against Lake Superior State (2-2-0) on Friday night to pick up a 5-4 win. Lindenwood freshman Charles Savoie had two goals and three assists in the series, including two goals in the third-period comeback.
* Lake Superior State’s Brenden Piku had two goals and three assists in the two losses against Lindenwood.
* Alex Tracy’s extended streak of giving up three goals or fewer was snapped on Friday night in Minnesota State’s (1-1-0) 6-2 road loss against Omaha.
* Wisconsin transfer Sawyer Scholl and Omaha transfer Liam Watkins scored for Minnesota State in their MSU debuts.
* Alex Tracy stopped 29 of 30 shots to earn a split in Minnesota State’s 4-1 win over Omaha on Saturday.
* St. Thomas (1-1-0) surrendered the first five goals in its series opener against North Dakota on Friday on the road.
* Harvard transfer Alex Gaffney scored his first goal for St. Thomas in the 6-2 loss.
* St. Thomas completes its home-and-home series against North Dakota at 5:07 p.m. on Sunday at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul.
