BEMIDJI, Minn. – The 2024-25 college men's hockey season gets officially underway this weekend and the Bemidji State University Men's Hockey team makes the short trip east to face regional rival No. 18 University of Minnesota Duluth Saturday, Oct. 5.
 
The Beavers and Bulldogs start their new season with a single game hosted by the Bulldogs at AMSOIL Arena Saturday and will officially drop the puck on the new season at 5:07 p.m.
 
The game is exclusively streamed online at NCHC.tv or on your television sets at My9 Sports in Duluth. Beaver Hockey fans can also tune in to a Beaver Radio Network broadcast on the radio dial at 92.1 FM or online at www.beaverradionetwork with 20-year play-by-play announcer Brian Schultz on the call.
 
Bemidji State Notes

• The defending CCHA regular season champion Beavers are eager to drop the puck on the new season looking to repeat the success of last season.
• The Beavers won its second-ever MacNaughton Cup last season as regular season champions in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association finishing the regular season with 48 points.
• The Beavers advanced all they way to the CCHA Playoff Championship game which was held at Sanford Center but fell to Michigan Technological University, 3-1.
• The Beavers return 18 skaters from that championship team and head coach Tom Serratore has added 10 newcomers to the squad including three transfers.
• Bemidji State returns six of its top 10 scorers from last season but will need to replace the production of departures Lleyton Roed, Kyle Looft, Eric Pohlkamp and Carter Jones.
• Graduate Eric Martin returns for his fifth season with the Beavers and is BSU's top scoring returnee after he posted a career-high 26 points off eight goals and 18 assists.
• Also returning for his fifth-year, graduate Jackson Jutting eyes a big season for the Beavers after posting 22 points (10g-12) in 27 games last year.
• Jutting was voted the team's captain by his peers during the summer and will dawn the "C" while Martin, Austin Jouppi and Jere Vaisanen will each serve as alternates.
• Bemidji State's top returning goal scorer is Jutting while junior Adam Flammang and Vaisanen follow with nine.
• The Beavers return 71 goals from last year which is 61-percent of the teams goals (117).
• Carter Randklev, A.J. Macauly and Reilly Funk join the Beavers with past collegiate experience after Randklev played four seasons at Niagara, Macauly played two seasons at Alaska-Fairbanks and Funk played three seasons at Northern Michigan.
• Randklev is the most experienced of the group appearing in 110 career games and posted 68 career points (33g-35) in four seasons with the Purple Eagles.
• Martin is the most experience Beaver in terms of games played and has appeared in 128 career games totaling 65 points off 17 goals and 48 assists.
• The Beavers boast their experience this season and have four graduates, five seniors, and seven juniors on the squad.
• The Beavers were picked to finish second in the CCHA Preseason Coaches' Poll while senior goaltender Mattias Sholl was the unanimous CCHA Preseason Goaltender of the Year.
• Sholl returns for his senior campaign boasting a 38-34-7 career record with a 2.48 goals against average, .907 save percentage and four shutouts. He is seventh all-time at BSU in career goals against average and ninth in career save percentage.
• Bemidji State is 16-27-5 all-time against the Bulldogs and 7-18-2 when playing in Duluth.
• The Bulldogs swept the Beavers in both games of their home-and-home series last season with UMD earning a 4-0 shutout in game one at AMSOIL Arena. The Beavers then responded forcing overtime in game two at Sanford Center but UMD's Cole Spicer scored 27 seconds into the extra frame to hand the Bulldogs the win.
• Minnesota Duluth is on a seven-game unbeaten streak against the Beavers and are 5-0-2 over the last seven games.
• BSU's last win against UMD came on Oct. 13, 2017, a 5-2 victory at Sanford Center. Its last win on the road was Feb. 9, 2016.
• Senior Jere Vaisanen is the top returning scorer against UMD and has three points (1g-2a) in six games versus the Bulldogs.
• Mattias Sholl is 0-1-1 in his career against UMD and has posted a 2.40 GAA and .918 save percentage.
• Head coach Tom Serratore is 16-19-5 coaching against Minnesota Duluth in his 24 seasons.
• Serratore is in his 24th season at the helm of the Bemidji State Men's Hockey program. He is 388-360-99 (.517) in his coaching career.
• Since taking over the Bemidji State Men's Hockey program in 2001, Serratore's teams have achieved eight regular-season conference championships, three CHA tournament titles, five NCAA Tournament appearances, one NCAA Frozen Four appearance (2009) and he is an eight--time conference Coach of the Year including most recently in 2024.
• The 2024-25 Beaver roster consists of 28 student-athletes with four graduates, five seniors, seven juniors, five sophomores and seven freshmen.
• The team consists of 9 Minnesotans, 25 from North America including nine Canadians and three from Europe.
• By average, the Beavers are one of the smallest in Division I. They are tied for third in DI for the smallest by height averaging 5'11.6" and the smallest by weight averaging 178.9 pounds.

For more information on the Bemidji State men's hockey program, tickets or schedules, visit BSUBeavers.com, follow the Beavers on Twitter or Instagram (@BSUBeaversMHKY), or like them on Facebook (facebook.com/BSUBeavers).
 
Located on the shore of Lake Bemidji, Bemidji State University sponsors 15 varsity athletic programs with NCAA Division I men's hockey in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and women's hockey in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, while its 13 NCAA Division II programs hold membership in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).
 
--bsu—