Beavers and Bulldogs clash for New Year’s Eve battle

BSU Men’s Hockey hosts Minnesota Duluth to ring in new year

The Bemidji State University Men’s Hockey jumps back into action after the holiday break and hosts University of Minnesota Duluth for a New Year’s Eve battle Tuesday night at Sanford Center in Bemidji, Minn.

The Beavers (8-8-3, 5-5-2 CCHA) face the Bulldogs (5-10-0, 2-6-0 NCHC) for game two of their non-conference series which began on Oct. 5. Puck drop for the final game of 2024 is scheduled for 7:07 p.m.

The Beavers return to action after the holiday break after 17 days off from their last competition.

The Beavers last played Dec. 13-14 going 0-1-1 against (RV) Michigan Technological University at Sanford Center.

BSU and UMD meet for game two of their rivalry series that began Oct. 5 in Duluth, Minn.

The Beavers defeated the then ranked No. 18 Bulldogs 4-3 in overtime to open the 2024-25 season.

Senior captain Jackson Jutting scored the game-winning, overtime goal 3:47 into the three-on-three overtime period.

The win snapped a seven-game losing streak (0-5-2) to the Bulldogs for BSU and was the Beavers first win in Duluth since Feb. 9, 2016.

Sophomore Raythan Robbins earned his first career win after coming in net in relief of Mattias Sholl midway through the third period and stopped 11-of-12 shots.

Bemidji State plays its final game of December and the calendar year. The Beavers are 1-2-1 during December and went 20-12-6 during 2024.

The Beavers are sixth in the CCHA standings with a .500 points percentage in conference play while the Bulldogs are eighth in the NCHC standings.

Bemidji State is 17-27-5 all-time against Minnesota Duluth with seven of its 17 wins at home.

The Beavers are 7-9-3 when hosting the Bulldogs.

Senior Jere Vaisanen leads the Beavers with four career points (2g-2a) in seven games versus the Bulldogs and has a point in two straight games versus UMD (1g-1a).

Four different Beavers scored in the series last game on October 5 and nine Beavers recorded a point.

Senior Mattias Sholl is 0-1-1 in three career starts versus UMD and has a .921 save percentage and 2.41 goals against average.

Head coach Tom Serratore is 17-19-5 coaching against Minnesota Duluth.

Senior captain Jackson Jutting has six points (3g-3a) over the last four games and is coming off a season-high three point game (2g-1a) against Michigan Tech.

Junior Kirklan Irey paces the team with 15 points (7g-8a), tying last seasons career high, and has six points (2g-4a) over the last four games.

Sholl leads the Beavers in net and has played 97.6 percent of the teams minutes in between the pipes. He is 7-8-3 on the season with a 2.65 goals against average and .904 save percentage.

Sholl is slotted for his 100th career start for the Beavers on Tuesday. He is tied for third among BSU goaltenders in its DI era in wins (45) and is 25 saves from surpassing Dan Bakala (2,378) for the second most saves by a Beaver goaltender in their DI era.

Sholl would be just the second Beaver to reach 100 career starts in net for the Beavers during its Division I era (Michael Bitzer).

Jutting is the Beavers’ top centerman and leads the CCHA with 227 face-offs won and is fourth in Division I.

Freshman Isa Parekh leads the Beavers’ blueliners totaling eight points (3g-5a). He is tied for second among league freshman in points and tied for first among the league’s rookie defenders.

Senior defenseman Will Magnuson leads the nation with 45 blocked shots.

Head coach Tom Serratore is approaching 400 career victories and has 396 career coaching victories. 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 396-368-102 in his 24 seasons as head coach of the Beavers and boasts a .517 career winning percentage.