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BEMIDJI – The Bemidji State men’s hockey team will make its furthest season-opening road trip in its D-I era to open the 2025-26 season.

The Beavers are heading to the Avis Alaska Sports Complex Oct. 3-4 to take on Alaska Anchorage. It’s the first time BSU will play against its former WCHA foe since Feb. 22, 2020. Bemidji State had a five-point weekend in its last trip to Anchorage, picking up a 3-1 win and a 3-3 tie with a shootout win over the Seawolves five years ago.

Bemidji State will get its first home game on Oct. 10 in the first half of a home-and-home series against St. Cloud State. The Beavers and Huskies have played a split-site series in each of the last four seasons, with SCSU holding a 7-1 record in those games.

BSU also follows suit with Minnesota Duluth and North Dakota. Bemidji State welcomes the Bulldogs on Oct. 17 before making the trip to Duluth the following day. Each of the last seven series between BSU and UMD has been split-site.

Bemidji State will once again play UND on Black Friday before heading to Grand Forks the next day.

The rest of the Beavers’ 26 games will be against CCHA teams, but there are some notable changes from a year ago.

BSU will open conference play with a home series against Augustana Oct. 24-25. The Beavers and Vikings needed three games and overtime to decide a winner in the first round of the Mason Cup Playoffs in March. Bemidji State won the series after losing the first game. Adam Flammang buried the overtime winner to pull off the upset in Game 3.

This season will be the first time Bemidji State plays four regular-season games against Augustana, which will play a full CCHA schedule for the first time in program history. Augustana was promoted to a full member of the CCHA one year early, but only played 16 CCHA games due to nonconference contracts.

Those contracts are off the books, and AU is fully immersed after starting its inaugural season in 2023-24.

Also notable is that Bemidji State will only play against Minnesota State twice in the regular season. The Beavers will make a Feb. 13-14 trek to Mankato for their lone meeting before the postseason.

Bemidji State and Minnesota State have played a regular-season finale series in each of the last two seasons. Now, MSU will be replaced with St. Thomas in its final CCHA season.

St. Thomas will be eligible for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in four years. The Tommies will be in Bemidji Feb. 27-28. BSU will also make its first trip to the Lee & Penny Anderson Arena Jan. 16-17, UST’s new multi-purpose athletics venue that will be unveiled in the early months of the 2025-26 season.

BSU will play home and road series against Bowling Green, St. Thomas, Northern Michigan, Michigan Tech and Augustana.

Bemidji State will host Ferris State and new head coach Brett Riley Feb. 6-7 before heading to Mankato to take on the reigning MacNaughton Cup and Mason Cup champions. The Beavers will also welcome back Lake Superior State for a home series Nov. 7-8.

Bemidji State does not play on New Year’s Eve this season. It does, however, host Minnesota for an exhibition on Jan. 2.

2025-26 Bemidji State men’s hockey schedule 

Oct. 3-4: at Alaska Anchorage*

Oct 10: ST. CLOUD STATE*

Oct. 12: at St. Cloud State*

Oct. 17: MINNESOTA DULUTH*

Oct. 18: at Minnesota Duluth*

Oct. 24-25v AUGUSTANA

Oct. 31-Nov. 1: at Bowling Green

Nov. 7-8: LAKE SUPERIOR STATE

Nov. 14-15: at Michigan Tech

Nov. 21-22: NORTHERN MICHIGAN

Nov. 28: NORTH DAKOTA*

Nov. 29: at North Dakota*

Dec. 5-6: at Augustana

Jan. 2: MINNESOTA (exhibition)

Jan. 9-10: MICHIGAN TECH

Jan. 16-17: at St. Thomas

Jan. 23-24: BOWLING GREEN

Jan. 30-31: at Northern Michigan

Feb. 6-7: FERRIS STATE

Feb. 13-14: at Minnesota State

Feb. 27-28: ST. THOMAS

March 6-8: CCHA quarterfinals (high seed host)

March 14: CCHA semifinals (high seed host)

March 20: CCHA championship (high seed host)

March 26-29: NCAA Regionals (Sioux Falls, S.D., Loveland, Colo., Albany, N.Y., Worcester, Mass.)

April 9-11: NCAA Frozen Four (Las Vegas)

*Denotes nonconference game