Beavers wrap-up play in November with home-and-home series with No. 15/14 North Dakota

BSU Men’s Hockey renews rivalry with Fighting Hawks following Thanksgiving

The Bemidji State University Men’s Hockey team continues its arduous month of November with another top-20 matchup this weekend this time for a home-and-home series with No. 15/14 University of North Dakota.

The Beavers (6-6-1, 4-3-1 CCHA) battle the Fighting Hawks (7-6-0, 2-2-0 NCHC) to renew their regional rivalry beginning Friday, Nov. 29 at Sanford Center. Both teams will then travel west to Grand Forks, N.D., Saturday for game two at Ralph Engelstad Arena. Puck drop for each game is slated for 7:07/6:07 p.m.

This weekend’s series with the Fighting Hawks marks the third series this month where the Beavers have faced a top-20 ranked opponent.

The Beavers have contended well against tough competition going 4-3-1 during the month of November including wins over No. 16 Minnesota State and No. 3 Minnesota.

Most recently, the Beavers are coming off a five-point weekend against St. Thomas this past weekend at Sanford Center.

Bemidji State and St. Thomas skated to a 2-2 tie Friday night with senior Jere Vaisanen the lone Beaver to score and senior Mattias Sholl denied all three Tommie shootout attempts to earn the Beavers the extra point in leauge standings.

BSU then rallied from a one-goal deficit after 40 minutes to defeat St. Thomas 2-1 Saturday night.

The Beavers defied historical data just the program’s 25th win when trailing after two periods. The Beavers are now 25-295-33 in their DI era when trailing after the second period.

Fifth-year senior Eric Martin posted three points (1g-2a) in the series while freshman defenseman Isa Parekh posted a goal and assist.

Parekh led all CCHA rookies with two points over the weekend and was named the CCHA Rookie of the Week for the first time in his career.

Mattias Sholl stopped 41-of-44 shots during the series for a .932 save percentage and 1.44 goals against average in the series.

Junior Reilly Funk scored the game-winning goal Saturday night and has scored four goals over the last six games.

Martin’s three-point weekend continued a hot streak for the Calgary, Alberta native. He has seven points (2g-5a) over the last seven games after starting the season with just two points (1g-1a) over the first five games.

Martin has recorded a point in eight of the team’s 13 games to start the season and is tied for the team lead with nine points (3g-6a). He is tied with junior Kirklan Irey who has also recorded nine points (5g-4a) and leads the team with five goals.

Irey has also found his scoring touch as of late and has points in seven of the last 10 games (5g-4a).

Irey has scored four goals over the last four games and held a three-game goal scoring streak from Nov. 14-22.

Martin and Irey are tied for 10th in the CCHA in points while Irey is tied for seventh in the league in goals.

Senior netminder Mattias Sholl has been outstanding between the pipes for the Beavers during the month of November.

Sholl has posted a 4-3-1 record in November with a 2.12 goals against average and .924 save percentage. He has played all but five minutes (480:31) in the crease for the Beavers during the month.

Sholl is 5-6-1 on the season with a 2.36 goals against average, .915 save percentage and two shutouts.

The Beavers enter the weekend’s action only receiving votes in the USCHO.com national poll and will face-off with the No. 15/14 ranked Fighting Hawks.

The Fighting Hawks are 7-6-0 and 2-2-0 in NCHC play and are coming off a series sweep of Robert Morris University at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Since beginning its Division I era in 1999, the Beavers and Fighting Hawks have faced-off against one another every season except for three establishing a regional rivalry between the two teams.

Just two hours separates the two teams and their series originally began in 1970.

The teams have met 49 times in the all-time series with North Dakota dominating play with a 37-5-7 record.

The Beavers have battle the Fighting Hawks tough over the last six seasons. The teams have played overtime in at least one game over the last six season.

Last season both games were played at Ralph Engelstad Arena with the Beavers falling in both games including a 3-2 overtime loss in game one of the series with then ranked No. 1 team in the nation.

Three of the Beavers’ five wins against the Fighting Hawks have been on the road.

BSU is 3-26-4 at Ralph Engelstad arena and 2-11-3 when at home.

24-year head coach Tom Serratore is 4-30-7 when facing the Fighting Hawks with his last victory on Oct. 16, 2021 in Grand Forks.

The Beavers will need to get off to a quick start against UND. BSU is 5-0-1 this season when scoring the first goal but just 1-6-0 when the opponent scores first.

Bemidji State’s power play ranks among the league leaders this season and has scored in seven of the team’s 13 games including three of the last four games.

The Beavers are second in the CCHA with a power-play percentage of .226 (7-of-31).

Martin, Parekh and Jackson Jutting lead the team with two power-play goals each.

Bemidji State’s penalty kill is fifth in the CCHA with a penalty-kill percentage of .800 (24-of-30).

The Beavers are one of the least penalized teams and are 10th in the nation with 30 penalty-kill attempts.

Bemidji State is one of the top shot blocking teams in Division I ranking eighth in the country with 189 blocked shots.

Senior defenseman Will Magnuson leads the team and is second in the nation with 36 blocked shots.

Fifth-year senior Jackson Jutting is one of the top face-off centers in the nation. He paces the CCHA with 289 draws taken and is second in the league with 148 wins. His face-off winning percentage of .512 leads the team and is 10th in the conference despite a slow start to the season.

The Beavers’ crease is owned by CCHA Preseason Goaltender of the Year senior Mattias Sholl.

Sholl has played 97-percent of the team’s minutes in between the pipes and has started all 13 games.

Sholl’s 5,415 minutes in the crease is the seventh most in program history while his 2,209 saves are ninth.

Sholl’s 43 career wins are tied for the sixth most among active goaltenders in Division I.

Head coach Tom Serratore is approaching 400 career victories after collecting his 394th career victory last Saturday. 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 394-366-100 in his 24 seasons as head coach of the Beavers and boasts a .516 career winning percentage.