Beavers make Sanford Center return with series against Wildcats

BSU Men’s Hockey hosts Northern Michigan at Sanford Center

The Bemidji State University Men’s Hockey team makes its return to Sanford Center and hosts Northern Michigan University for a Central Collegiate Hockey Association series.

The Beavers (8-10-4, 5-6-3 CCHA) host the Wildcats (1-12-1; 2-19-1 CCHA) for the first time since the 2022-23 season and their only meeting of the season. Puck drop for game one is slated for Friday at 7:07 p.m. CST followed by game two Saturday at 6:07 p.m.

Lueken’s Village Foods of Bemidji and Bucky’s Pantry will be at the game Friday to host a Canned Food Drive. Beaver Hockey fans are encouraged to bring canned food items to be donated.

The game will be exclusively streamed online at MidCo Sports Plus with the Beaver Radio Network providing play-by-play. Brian Schultz and Brian Bissonette will provide commentary and Beaver Hockey fans can also tune-in to the Beaver Radio Network broadcasts on the radio dial at 92.1 FM or online at www.beaverradionetwork.

The Beavers return to Sanford Center to host their first home series of 2025.

Just three home series remain for the Beavers in the 2024-25 regular season.

12 games remain in the 2024-25 regular season.

Bemidji State sits sixth in the CCHA standings with a .500 points percentage and 5-6-3 league record.

The Beavers are returning home after earning three points at Bowling Green State University last weekend.

The Beavers forced overtime with the Falcons in game one with an extra-attacker goal from junior Adam Flammang with just 44.4 seconds left but fell 2:37 into the three-on-three overtime for a point in league standings.

BSU then made another improbable comeback in game two to force overtime again by scoring two extra-attacker goals with under three minutes to play and later earned two points with a shootout victory.

Flammang led the Beavers with five points (1g-4a) in the series including a career-high three assist effort in game two.

Junior Kirklan Irey continued his scoring streak posting three points (1g-2a) in the series and leads the team with a four-game point streak (2g-4a).

Sophomore Kasper Magnussen stopped his scoreless drought posting back-to-back goals in the series for his first two goals of the season.

Senior Jere Vaisanen ended a 16-game goal drought Saturday night by scoring twice for his third career two-goal night.

The Beavers return home where they are 4-4-2 this season and 230-158-53 (.582) during their Division I era.

Northern Michigan is last in the CCHA with a .119 points percentage and 1-12-1 league record.

The Wildcats are coming off their best series of the season after defeating No. 12 Minnesota State in game one of their series for their first league points.

The Wildcats have yet to win on the road this season where they are 0-8-1.

The Beavers will face the Wildcats this weekend for their only meeting during the season.

BSU failed to receive votes in either of the USA Hockey/The Rink Live or USCHO.com top-20 national polls this week for the first time since November 25.

Bemidji State is 21-13-7 all-time against Northern Michigan and 9-8-4 when hosting the Wildcats.

The Beavers are on a two-game unbeaten streak (1-0-1) against NMU after traveling to Marquette in their last series last year.

Fifth-year senior Eric Martin and Adam Flammang lead the Beavers with four career points versus the Wildcats while Flammang’s three goals leads the team.

Senior Mattias Sholl is 5-5-1 in his career versus NMU and has posted a 2.28 goals against average and .913 save percentage in 11 appearances.

Kirklan Irey lead the Beavers and is tied for fifth in the CCHA with 19 points this season.

Irey is tied for sixth in the league in goals (9), t-11th in assists (10) and his .240 shooting percentage is the second highest. He has already set career highs in points (19), goals (9) and assists (10). He has the hottest stick as of late and has 10 points (4g-6a) over the last seven games.

Eric Martin follows Irey posting 14 points off six goals and eights assists while Jere Vaisanen (6g-7a), Reilly Funk (5g-7a), Isa Parekh (3g-8a) and Jackson Jutting (6g-5a) closely follow.

Since returning from injury on Dec. 31, Funk has recorded a point in all three of the Beavers’ games tallying three assists over that span. He sees his former team for the first time since transferring from the program in spring of 2024.

Jackson Jutting is tied for fifth on the team with 11 points and has a team-high three power-play goals. He leads the CCHA and is third among all skaters in Division I with 522 faceoffs taken. His 268 faceoffs won is fifth-most in the nation and boasts a 51.3 percent win rate.

Freshman defenseman Isa Parekh leads BSU blueliners with 11 points (3g-8a) on the season and is fourth among league defenders in points (11).

Parekh quarterbacks the Beavers’ power play that is sixth in the CCHA converting on 11 of 56 opportunities (.196).

The Beavers have scored a power-play goal in three consecutive games and are 3-for-10 (.300) during that span.

Irey paces the team with six power-play points (1g-5a) while Parekh follows with five (2g-3a).

Bemidji State’s penalty kill is sixth in the league with a penalty-kill percentage of .774 (41-of-53) and has been on the rise as of late.

The Beavers have not allowed a power-play goal since Dec. 14 (three games) and have killed off their last 11 opponent power-play opportunities.

Senior defenseman Will Magnuson leads the team and is tied for second in the CCHA and NCAA with 50 blocked shots.

Bemidji State is ninth in the nation and second in the CCHA with 300 blocked shots.

The Beavers are one of the fewest penalized teams in the CCHA and nation. BSU leads the league and is fourth in DI with just 140 penalty minutes this season.

BSU has been called for a league-low 59 penalties this season and their 53 opponent power plays are the ninth fewest in DI.

Senior goaltender Mattias Sholl has started all 22 games for the Beavers between the pipes and has played in 97-percent of the team’s minutes.

Sholl is 7-10-4 on the season with a 2.84 goals against average and .899 save percentage. He is third in the nation in minutes played (1312:09), tied for eighth in shutouts and 10th in saves (552).

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 (2,437), eighth in save percentage (.906), seventh in GAA (2.54) and fifth in shutouts (6).

Sholl’s 2,437 career saves stands as the fifth most among active goaltenders in Division I.

Fifth-year senior Eric Martin played in his 150th career game last Saturday. He is one of just 10 student-athletes in the program’s 69 seasons to reach the milestone. He is t-21st in the Beavers’ DI era with 79 career points and his 56 career assists are 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 396-370-103 in his 24 seasons as head coach of the Beavers and boasts a .515 career winning percentage.