Beavers return home for CCHA series with Bulldogs

BSU Men’s Hockey hosts Ferris State Jan. 31-Feb.1

The Bemidji State University Men’s Hockey team returns to Sanford Center and hosts Ferris State University for a two-game, Central Collegiate Hockey Association series Friday-Saturday.

The Beavers (9-13-4, 6-9-3 CCHA) host the Bulldogs (9-10-5; 6-6-4 CCHA) for a Friday-Saturday league series beginning Friday, Jan. 31 at 7:07 p.m. Game two is slated for 6:07 p.m., Saturday.

The Beavers return home for their penultimate home series of the 2024-25 regular season.

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

Bemidji State is seventh in CCHA standings with a .444 points percentage and 6-9-3 league record.

Just two points separates the Beavers from seventh in the standings and fifth.

Bemidji State is coming off a series split at University of St. Thomas were it snapped a nine-game winless streak.

The Beavers fell in game one narrowly falling 3-2 in the series opener but responded by holding the Tommies to one goal winning 2-1 Sunday.

Fifth-year senior Jackson Jutting scored two goals in the series, both Saturday night, and was named the CCHA Forward of the Week.

One of his goals was a power-play marker extending the Beavers’ power-play goal streak to seven games.

The Beavers are 7-for-19 during their power-play goal scoring streak and converting on .368 percent of their power plays.

BSU is now second in the conference with a season power-play percentage of .231 (15-of-65) its highest power-play percentage since the 2021-22 season.

The Beavers return home where they are 4-6-2 this season.

Ferris State is 2-6-0 over its last eight games but is coming off a series split with No. 14 Minnesota State University, Mankato in Big Rapids, Mich.

The Bulldogs are 3-7-0 when playing on the road this season and 8-16-2 overall.

The two teams meet for the second time of the season after meeting at the beginning of the season Oct. 25-26.

The Beavers and Bulldogs split their series at Ferris Sate with FSU claiming a 4-2 victory in game one but BSU responding with a 3-0 shutout in game two.

The Beavers own a slight edge in the all-time series versus the Bulldogs at 24-21-6.

BSU is 11-10-3 when hosting Ferris State.

Bemidji State is 7-3-0 over the last 10 games against FSU.

The Beavers have not lost a regulation game at home against the Bulldogs since Jan. 22, 2022 going 5-0-1 during that span.

Senior Jere Vaisanen leads the Beavers with nine points (5g-4a) in 13 career games versus the Bulldogs with junior Kirklan Irey following with eight points (4g-4a) in 10 career games.

Senior Mattias Sholl has made 12 appearances against the Bulldogs and is 7-5-1 with a 2.19 goals against average, .913 save percentage and two shutouts including one in last their last meeting.

Head coach Tom Serratore is 24-21-4 coaching against the Bulldogs in his 24 seasons.

Kirklan Irey lead the Beavers and is tied for seventh in the CCHA with 20 points (9g-11a).

Irey is tied for ninth in the league in goals (9), t-12th in assists (11) and his .200 shooting percentage is tied for fifth. He has set career highs in points (20), goals (9) and assists (11).

Eric Martin follows Irey posting 17 points off eight goals and nine assists and has five points (3g-2a) over the last six games.

Junior Reilly Funk has recorded six goals and nine assists in his first season with the Beavers after transferring from Northern Michigan. The Portage, Manitoba native has six points (1g-5a) over the last seven games.

Jackson Jutting is fifth on the team with 13 points and leads the team with four power-play goals. He leads the CCHA and is third among all skaters in Division I with 605 faceoffs taken. His 316 faceoffs won is third-most in the nation and he boasts a 52.2 percent win rate.

Freshman defenseman Isa Parekh leads BSU blueliners with 12 points (3g-9a) on the season and is tied for fifth among league defenders.

Parekh quarterbacks the Beavers’ power play that is second in the CCHA while Irey leads the Beavers with seven power-play points (1g-6a).

Bemidji State’s penalty kill is seventh in the league with a penalty-kill percentage of .766 (49-of-64).

BSU has been called for a league-low 73 penalties this season and their 64 opponent power plays leads the CCHA and is the 10th fewest in Division I.

Senior defenseman Will Magnuson leads the team and is third in the CCHA with 53 blocked shots this season despite missing three games due to injury. He is tied for sixth in the nation.

Bemidji State is 10th in DI and second in the CCHA with 344 blocked shots.

Senior goaltender Mattias Sholl has started all 26 games for the Beavers between the pipes and has played in 97-percent of the team’s minutes.

Sholl is 8-13-4 on the season with a 2.80 goals against average and .897 save percentage. He is third in the nation in minutes played (1543:26) and tied for 10th with 626 saves. Sholl is climbing Bemidji State’s goaltending record books and in the Beavers DI era, he is now tied for second in BSU’s DI era with 46 career wins. He is also second in saves (2,511), ninth in save percentage (.905), seventh in GAA (2.57) and fifth in shutouts (6).

Fifth-year senior Eric Martin has 82 career points during his time with the Beavers. He is the 21st Beaver in their DI era to surpass 80 career points and his 57 career assist are the 11th most in BSU’s DI era.

Martin has played in 154 career games for the Beavers which is tied for the fourth most (Brad Johnson – 2017-22) in program history.

Head coach Tom Serratore is approaching 400 career victories and has 397 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 397-373-103 in his 24 seasons as head coach of the Beavers and boasts a .514 career winning percentage.