Beavers open CCHA play on the road at Ferris State
BSU Men’s Hockey begins defense of MacNaughton Cup at Ferris State
Central Collegiate Hockey Association play gets underway this weekend and the (RV) Bemidji State University Men’s Hockey team hits the road for a long road trip to Big Rapids, Mich. The Beavers open CCHA play on the road at Ferris State University with a two-game series beginning Friday, Oct. 24.
The Beavers (1-2-0) clash with the Bulldogs (1-3-2) a week after their bye week allowing time for the team to rest and recover. Puck drop for the first game between the Beavers and Bulldogs is slated for 6:07 p.m. CT with game two following Saturday at 5:07 p.m.
Bemidji State begins CCHA play this week after earning a league-high 48 points last season and claiming the program’s second-ever MacNaughton Cup as the league’s regular season champion.
The Beavers return to action after its first bye week of the season last weekend.
Bemidji State last played Oct. 11-12 and were swept by No. 15 St. Cloud State University in a non-conference home-and-home series with the Huskies.
The Beavers fell in two one-goal games against the ranked Huskies nearly upsetting their second ranked opponent of the season.
BSU opened the season with an upset overtime victory over then ranked No. 18 University of Minnesota Duluth on the road at AMSOIL Arena on Oct. 5.
Bemidji State is unranked in the latest USA Hockey/The Rink Live top-20 national poll but is still receiving votes in the USCHO.com top-20 poll for the fourth consecutive week.
The Beavers see Ferris State for the first time since their meeting in the first round of the CCHA Playoffs last year.
Bemidji State swept the Bulldogs in the best-of-three series at Sanford Center after a 5-4 overtime victory in game one and then a 4-0 shutout victory in game two.
The Beavers have won their last four meetings with the Bulldogs and six of the last seven.
The Beavers current four game win streak is the longest ever in the series.
Bemidji State holds a narrow margin in the all-time series record at 23-20-6 and are 11-10-3 when playing in Ewigleben Arena.
The Beavers/Bulldogs series dates back to their first meeting on Nov. 12, 1999 and have faced-off for 49 meetings.
Last season, the Beavers went 5-1-0 against the Bulldogs and out-scored FSU 23-13 in six games.
Graduate Eric Martin and senior Jere Vaisanen lead all Beaver returners with six career points each against Ferris State.
Martin has posted two goals and four assists in 12 career games versus FSU while Vaisanen has totaled two goals and four assists in 11 career games.
Bemidji State begins week two of the Division I men’s hockey season riding the high of a season-opening overtime victory at No. 18 Minnesota Duluth.
Of the Beavers’ 18 returning skaters this season, 16 have recorded at least one point against the Bulldogs.
Senior netminder Mattias Sholl is the lone Beavers goaltender to face FSU and had made 10 career starts. He has posted a 6-4-1 record, one shutout, a 2.22 goals against and a .911 save percentage versus the Bulldogs.
Head coach Tom Serratore is 23-20-4 coaching against the Bulldogs in his 24 seasons as bench boss of the Beavers.
Serratore is approaching 400 career victories and enters the weekend with 389 career wins.
He seeks to become the 31st head coach in Division I Men’s Hockey to reach the 400-win milestone and the 12th active head coach.
Serratore is 389-362-99 in his 24 seasons as head coach of the Beavers and boasts a .516 career winning percentage.
The Beavers have had a hot start to the season in terms of scoring and are tied for the CCHA lead averaging 3.00 goals per game.
Graduate transfer Carter Randklev (Niagara) needed little time to adjust to the demanding CCHA schedule. He leads the Beavers in scoring with four points and three goals through the Beavers first three games of the season. He is one of three skaters to average a goal per game in the CCHA and one of 20 in Division I Men’s Hockey.
Fifth-year senior Austin Jouppi leads the team with three assists which is tied for the second most in the CCHA.
The line of Randklev, Jouppi and junior transfer Reilly Funk (Northern Michigan) has been the most productive line for head coach Tom Serratore and has scored three of the Beavers’ nine goals.
Senior Mattias Sholl has seen action in the crease in all but 14 minutes for the Beavers this season. He is 1-2-0 to start the season with a 3.26 goals against average, .882 save percentage and was named the CCHA Preseason Goaltender of the Year. His 4,816:35 career time in net for the Beavers is the ninth most in program history ranks ninth in program history in career GAA (2.52) and save percentage (.906).
On special teams, the Beavers are third in the CCHA with a power-play percentage of .143 after scoring one power-play goal (Jutting) in seven attempts.
They are eighth in the league with a .750 penalty-kill percentage (6-of-8).
Bemidji State features one of the most experienced teams in the CCHA and its roster boasts over 1,300 games played between its 27 skaters.
Fifth-year senior Eric Martin leads the team with 131 games played at the Division I level with fifth-year senior Jackson Jutting follows with 117. Five skaters on BSU’s roster have appeared in more than 100 games in Division I hockey.
Senior Mattias Sholl is one of the most experienced goaltenders in all of college hockey and ranks eighth nationally with 83 career games played between the pipes. He is sixth in college hockey with 38 career wins and is 10th with a career goals against average of 2.48.
Serratore boasts that the Beavers are one of the deepest teams in the league with all four lines and three defensive pairings contributing to the success of the team.
The Beavers are defending their second-ever MacNaughton Cup championship from last season finishing as regular season champions in the CCHA.
The Beavers return 18 skaters from that championship team and head coach Tom Serratore has added 10 newcomers to the squad including three transfers.
Bemidji State returns six of its top 10 scorers from last season but will need to replace the production of departures Lleyton Roed, Kyle Looft, Eric Pohlkamp and Carter Jones.
Graduate Eric Martin returns for his fifth season with the Beavers and is BSU’s top scoring returnee after he posted a career-high 26 points off eight goals and 18 assists.
Also returning for his fifth-year, graduate Jackson Jutting eyes a big season for the Beavers after posting 22 points (10g-12) in 27 games last year.
Jutting was voted the team’s captain by his peers during the summer and will dawn the “C” while Martin, Austin Jouppi and Jere Vaisanen will each serve as alternates.
Bemidji State’s top returning goal scorer is Jutting while junior Adam Flammang and Vaisanen follow with nine.
The Beavers return 71 goals from last year which is 61-percent of the teams goals (117).
Carter Randklev, A.J. Macauly and Reilly Funk join the Beavers with past collegiate experience after Randklev played four seasons at Niagara, Macauly played two seasons at Alaska-Fairbanks and Funk played three seasons at Northern Michigan.
Randklev is the most experienced of the group appearing in 110 career games and posted 68 career points (33g-35) in four seasons with the Purple Eagles.
Martin is the most experience Beaver in terms of games played and has appeared in 128 career games totaling 65 points off 17 goals and 48 assists.
The Beavers boast their experience this season and have four graduates, five seniors, and seven juniors on the squad.
The Beavers were picked to finish second in the CCHA Preseason Coaches’ Poll while senior goaltender Mattias Sholl was the unanimous CCHA Preseason Goaltender of the Year.
Sholl returns for his senior campaign boasting a 38-34-7 career record with a 2.48 goals against average, .907 save percentage and four shutouts. He is seventh all-time at BSU in career goals against average and ninth in career save percentage.
Serratore is in his 24th season at the helm of the Bemidji State Men’s Hockey program. He is 389-362-99 (.516) in his coaching career.
Since taking over the Bemidji State Men’s Hockey program in 2001, Serratore’s teams have achieved eight regular-season conference championships, three CHA tournament titles, five NCAA Tournament appearances, one NCAA Frozen Four appearance (2009) and he is an eight-time conference Coach of the Year including most recently in 2024.
The 2024-25 Beaver roster consists of 28 student-athletes with four graduates, five seniors, seven juniors, five sophomores and seven freshmen.
The team consists of 9 Minnesotans, 25 from North America including nine Canadians and three from Europe.
By average, the Beavers are one of the smallest in Division I. They are tied for third in DI for the smallest by height averaging 5’11.6″ and the smallest by weight averaging 178.9 pounds.