BEMIDJI – Bemidji State University men’s hockey head coach Tom Serratore announced that Kyle Looft, Carter Jones, Eric Martin and Jackson Jutting will lead the 2023-24 Bemidji State Men’s Hockey team for the upcoming season. The leadership group for the Beavers will consist of three forwards and one defenseman.
Looft, a fifth-year senior, will captain the Beavers for the second consecutive season while Jones, Martin and Jutting will serve as alternates for the first time in their careers. The leadership group continues a tradition of Beaver captains dating back to the 1947-48 season and the program's first captain Ed Johnson.
Looft is the 62nd student-athlete to wear the "C" for BSU men's hockey. Team captains are selected by a vote among returning players.
“We have a strong leadership group led by returning Captain Kyle Looft, and a well-balanced cohort of alternate captains in fifth-year senior Carter Jones, senior Eric Martin and senior Jackson Jutting,” said Serratore.
“I have a lot of confidence in this leadership team. They’re experienced, high-character players who lead by example with their strong work ethic on and off the ice. They bleed green and white and all four of them have earned the privilege and responsibility that comes with that letter on their jersey. I look forward to working closely with them in the 2023-24 season.”
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Looft has played in 137 career games for BSU, including an active 133 consecutive games played streak. The Mankato native is a three-time CCHA Scholar-Athlete and CCHA All-Academic Team selection and has been one of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association’s premier shutdown defensemen. He has also contributed 25 career points offensively (9g-16a) and scored a career-high five goals last season including three game-winning goals.
A member of both the Bemidji State power play and penalty kill teams in 2022-23, Looft scored three power-play goals on a power-play unit that finished second in the CCHA and 11th nationally (.241) and a penalty-kill unit that finished fifth in the league (.804).
Jones returns for his fifth-year for Bemidji State. He has amassed 92 career games played for the Beavers, totalling 22 career points of five goals and 17 assists. After missing the first 11 games of the 2022-23 season due to injury, Jones came on to score 13 points (3g-10a) over the remaining 25 games, including ending the season with a four-game point streak (1g-3a).
A native of Hillyard, Wash., Jones is a two-time CCHA All-Academic Team selection and is coming off a 2022-23 season where he recorded a career-high 13 points off three goals and 10 assists.
Martin has played in 90 career games for the Beavers, totaling 39 career points off nine goals and 30 assists. In 2022-23, the Calgary, Alberta, native totaled 13 points (4g-9a) in 24 games for the Beavers before having his junior season cut short due to injury.
Before the season-ending injury, Martin made an appearance in the Beaver lineup over the last 90 consecutive games. He has posted seven multi-point games in his career, second among active skaters, with six being multi-assist games to lead the team.
After spending his first two years of eligibility at Colorado College, Jutting transferred to Bemidji State before the 2021-22 season and made an appearance in 33 of the team’s 36 games last season. The Savage native totaled 12 points off four goals and eight assists, a career-high, and led the team with a .493 (254-515) face-off winning percentage.
Jutting also scored two goals on the power play and one game-winning goal during the season. He finished fourth among BSU forwards with 19 blocked shots. During his time at Colorado College, Jutting played in 47 games for the Tigers totaling 12 points (4g-8a) and was recognized as a Distinguished Scholar-Athlete by the NCHC.
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Bemidji State and the CCHA will announce its 2023-24 schedule on Thursday, May 4 at 1 p.m.
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