Beavers mark return to league play with series at Bowling Green

BSU Men’s Hockey travels to face Bowling Green State in first series of 2025

League points are back on the line as the Bemidji State University Men’s Hockey team resumes Central Collegiate Hockey Association play and open 2025 with a road trip to Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio.

The Beavers (8-9-3, 5-5-2 CCHA) face the Falcons (10-7-2, 6-4-2 CCHA) for the first time this season for a CCHA series Jan. 10-11. Puck drop for game one is slated for Friday at 6:07 p.m. CST followed by game two Saturday also at 7:07 p.m.

Beaver Hockey fans can also tune-in to the Beaver Radio Network broadcast for both games on the radio dial at 92.1 FM or online at www.beaverradionetwork.

Bemidji State opens the 2025 calendar year with a road trip to Bowling Green, Ohio to face the Falcons.

The Beavers last played Jan. 3 after an exhibition with the University of Manitoba at Sanford Center.

Bemidji State defeated the Bisons 5-0 in the exhibition matchup with freshman Jaksen Panzer leading the Beavers with two goals.

BSU last played a regular season game on New Year’s Eve where it fell 2-4 to University of Minnesota Duluth.

The Beavers’ last CCHA series was Dec. 13-14 where they earned two points against Michigan Technological University.

Bemidji State plays its first road series since Dec. 6-7.

Bemidji State is sixth in the CCHA with a conference points percentage of .500 (5-5-2) and is 8-9-3 overall.

The Beavers hit the road where they are 4-5-1 this season.

Bowling Green is fourth in league standings with a .639 (6-4-2) points percentage and are 10-7-2 overall.

The Falcons are 5-2-1 when playing at home this season and are on a five-game winnings streak.

Bemidji State will see the Falcons again at Sanford Center for its final home games of the regular season Feb. 21-22.

The Beavers are receiving votes in both the USA Hockey/The Rink Live and USCHO.com top-20 national polls.

Bemidji State is 19-20-3 all-time against the Falcons and earned a regular season series sweep in their last meeting Dec. 15-14, 2023 at Sanford Center.

The Beavers are just 5-13-1 when playing at Slater Family Ice Arena and have not won on the road since Jan. 14, 2022.

Fifth-year senior Eric Martin paces the Beavers with seven career points (3g-4a) versus the Falcons in 15 career games. He is followed by junior Kirklan Irey with three points (1g-2a).

Senior Mattias Sholl has made 10 appearances against the Falcons and is 5-5-0 with a 2.33 GAA and .910 save percentage.

Irey paces the Beavers totaling 16 points (8g-8a) through the team’s first 20 games. He has already set career highs in points (16), assists (8) and tied his career best eight goals set last season.

Irey is tied for fifth in the CCHA in points (16), tied for sixth in goals (8) and his career-high shot percentage of .250 (8-of-32) leads the league.

Irey has seven points (3g-4a) over the last five games leading the team over that stretch.

Eric Martin follows Irey posting 12 points off five goals and seven assists this season while Jackson Jutting (6g-4a), Reilly Funk (5g-5a) and Jere Vaisanen (4g-6a) have each added 10 points.

Jutting has also been on a hot streak and has six points (3g-3a) over the last five games.

Jutting also leads Bemidji State with three power-play goals, fifth most in the CCHA.

Bemidji State’s power play stands fifth in the CCHA with a power-play percentage of .188 (9-of-48).

Bemidji State’s penalty kill is seventh in the league at .766 penalty-killing percentage (36-of-47) but the Beavers have successfully killed of its last five penalty kill attempts.

Freshman defenseman Isa Parekh quarterbacks the Beavers’ power play and leads the team with five power-play points (2g-3a).

Parekh also leads BSU blueliners with nine points (3g-6a) on the season and is tied for the league lead for points among rookie defenders (9).

Senior defenseman Will Magnuson leads the team and is second in the CCHA and NCAA with 48 blocked shots.

Bemidji State is sixth in the nation and second in the CCHA with 288 blocked shots.

Senior goaltender Mattias Sholl has started all 20 games for the Beavers between the pipes and has played in 97-percent of the team’s minutes.

Sholl is 7-9-3 on the season with a 2.73 goals against average and .902 save percentage. He ranks third in the nation in minutes played this season, tied for eighth in shutouts and 10th in saves (499).

Sholl is climbing Bemidji State’s goaltending record books and in the Beavers DI era, he ranks t-3rd in career wins (45), second in saves (2,384), eighth in save percentage (.906), seventh in GAA (2.54) and fifth in shutouts (6).

Sholl’s 2,384 career saves stands as the fifth most among active goaltenders in Division I.

Fifth-year senior Eric Martin is also climbing the Beavers’ record books and is tied for 10th in program history with 148 games played. He is 24th in the Beavers’ DI era with 77 career points and his 55 career assists are tied for the 11th most.

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 396-369-102 in his 24 seasons as head coach of the Beavers and boasts a .516 career winning percentage.