Beavers head to St. Thomas to face red-hot Tommies

BSU Men’s Hockey plays Saturday-Sunday series at St. Thomas

The Bemidji State University Men’s Hockey team is back on the road for another Central Collegiate Hockey Association series and travels to Mendota Heights, Minn., for a two-game series against University of St. Thomas.

The Beavers (8-12-4, 5-8-3 CCHA) face the Tommies (9-10-5; 6-6-4 CCHA) for a rare Saturday-Sunday series in Mendota Heights. The Beavers and Tommies go to battle for game one Saturday at 6:07 p.m., with game two following Sunday at 3:07 p.m.

The Beavers return to the road for their final road trip of January and only three remain in the 2024-25 regular season.

Just 10 games remain in the 2024-25 regular season.

Bemidji State is seventh in CCHA standings with a .438 points percentage and 5-8-3 league record.

The Beavers are one point behind St. Thomas in the standings and seven points back of a home playoff seed.

The Beavers are hoping to end a four-game winless streak (0-3-1) and are looking to bounce back from a pair of losses against Northern Michigan University this past weekend at Sanford Center.

Despite the pair of losses, junior Reilly Funk and fifth-year senior Eric Martin extended their individual point streaks with Funk now at five games and Martin at four.

Funk’s five-game point streak (1g-4a) is the longest by a Beaver this season.

Both of the Beavers’ goals scored last weekend were on the power play and the team has now scored a power-play goal in five-straight games. They are 5-for-14 (.357) on the power play during the streak.

The Beavers hit the road where they are 4-6-2 this season.

The Tommies are red-hot as of late and are 5-0-1 over their last six games.

The Tommies are coming off a five-point weekend at Lake Superior State University where they earned a 4-3 overtime victory in game one and shootout victory in game two against the Lakers.

The Tommies are 5-5-2 when playing at home this season.

The two teams meet for the second time of the season after meeting earlier at Sanford Center on Nov. 22-23.

The Beavers earned five points against the Tommies in their first meeting in two closely fought games.

The Beavers have dominated play against the Tommies owning a 35-4-3 series record.

BSU is also 9-2-0 when facing the Tommies on the road.

Bemidji State is on a seven-game unbeaten streak (6-0-1) versus the Tommies that began on Feb. 25, 2023.

The Beavers have not lost on the road at UST since Feb. 24, 2023.

Eric Martin leads the Beavers with 16 career points (1g-15a) in 12 points against the Tommies. He also holds a team-high +9 rating against UST.

Martin led the Beavers recording three points (1g-2a) in their last series versus St. Thomas with freshman Isa Parekh following with two points (1g-1a).

Senior goaltender Mattias Sholl is 9-1-2 in 12 appearances versus the Tommies. He has posted a 2.28 goals against average and .897 save percentage in 12 games.

Head coach Tom Serratore is 11-1-2 coaching against the Tommies in his 24 seasons.

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

Irey is tied for seventh in the league in goals (9), t-13th in assists (10) and his .220 shooting percentage is the second highest. He has already set career highs in points (19), goals (9) and assists (10).

Eric Martin follows Irey posting 16 points off seven goals and nine assists while Jere Vaisanen (6g-8a) and Reilly Funk (6g-8a) follow with 14 points each.

Since returning from injury on Dec. 31, Funk has recorded a point in all five of the Beavers’ games tallying a goal and four assists over that span.

Jackson Jutting is tied for fifth on the team with 11 points and is tied with Martin for the team lead with three power-play goals. He leads the CCHA and is third among all skaters in Division I with 556 faceoffs taken. His 292 faceoffs won is third-most in the nation and boasts a 52.5 percent win rate.

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

Parekh quarterbacks the Beavers’ power play that is third in the CCHA converting on 13-of-60 opportunities (.217).

The Beavers have scored a power-play goal in five consecutive games and are 5-for-14 (.357) during that span.

Irey and Martin each pace the team with six power-play points while Parekh follows with five.

Bemidji State’s penalty kill is sixth in the league with a penalty-kill percentage of .764 (42-of-55).

Senior defenseman Will Magnuson leads the team and is tied for second in the CCHA and NCAA with 55 blocked shots.

Bemidji State is 11th in the nation and second in the CCHA with 315 blocked shots.

The Beavers is the least penalized team in the nation leading DI Men’s Hockey with just 148 penalty minutes.

BSU has been called for a league-low 63 penalties this season and their 55 opponent power plays is the seventh fewest in DI.

Senior goaltender Mattias Sholl has started all 24 games for the Beavers between the pipes and has played in 97-percent of the team’s minutes.

Sholl is 7-12-4 on the season with a 2.86 goals against average and .895 save percentage. He is third in the nation in minutes played (1425:17), tied for ninth in shutouts and 10th in saves (580).

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 (2,465), ninth in save percentage (.904), seventh in GAA (2.58) and fifth in shutouts (6).

Sholl’s 2,465 career saves stands as the fifth most among active goaltenders in Division I.

Fifth-year senior Eric Martin earned career points 80 and 81 this past weekend. He is the 21st Beaver in their DI era to reach 80 career points. His 57 career assist are the 11th most in BSU’s DI era.

Martin has played in 152 career games for the Beavers which is tied for the fifth most with Dan Billett in program history. He is tied for 20th among all active skaters in the NCAA in games played.

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 396-372-103 in his 24 seasons as head coach of the Beavers and boasts a .514 career winning percentage.