BEMIDJI – There’s no place like home… or so they say.
The Bemidji State men’s hockey team had its fair share of triumphant Sanford Center moments in 2024. The Beavers won their second-ever MacNaughton Cup. They also hosted the Mason Cup championship in front of a sold-out crowd to cap a historic 2023-24 season.
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BSU’s momentum carried over into this season. It beat No. 16 Minnesota State on Nov. 1, then took down No. 3 Minnesota two weeks later. On Nov. 29, Bemidji State beat 14th-ranked North Dakota, marking the first time any BSU team beat the Gophers and Fighting Hawks in the same season.
It also marked the last time Bemidji State won a home game.
The Beavers’ Sanford Center blues persisted on Friday night in a 5-1 loss against Ferris State. It’s their sixth consecutive game without a win on home ice.
“It’s not the building, we just have to play better,” head coach Tom Serratore said. “We have to play with more juice, play with more physicality. Juice is speed. Physicality? You have to (have it) because when you have juice and physicality in the game, you’re not thinking; you’re reacting, and then you’re hard to play against.”
It took a little bit for the Beavers to break in their plaid jerseys.
Jacob Badal gave Ferris State a 1-0 lead two and a half minutes into the game on a shot from the top of the faceoff circle that fooled BSU goaltender Mattias Sholl. After Sholl made a one-time save on Zach Faremouth six minutes later, Travis Shoudy put the Bulldogs ahead 2-0 on a bar-down shot from inside the blue line.
Ferris State’s second goal served as a bit of a wake-up call for BSU. Eric Martin finished off an odd-man rush to get one back 25 seconds after Shoudy scored.
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A back-and-forth battle settled into a tighter defensive game until the back half of the second period. Then Ferris State used offensive pressure to retake a two-goal lead.
Cole Burtch paid off an extended offensive-zone shift with a one-time goal to put the Bulldogs ahead 3-1 late in the middle frame.
BSU had a 21-16 edge in shots on goal through 40 minutes.
FSU stayed potent from the top of the faceoff circles midway through the third period. Jack Silich went bar-down on a one-time pass from Badal to take the largest lead of the game with 11:48 left in regulation. Shoudy added an empty-net goal with six and a half minutes left.
Ferris State was effective at using its speed to create scoring chances on odd-man rushes. Serratore diagnosed that it’s been a problem for the Beavers in recent weeks, regardless of their opponent.
“We have to recognize odd-man rushes, we have to get back a little quicker,” Serratore said. “We have to make sure we keep pucks in a little more. We have to make sure, again, that we don’t put ourselves in difficult spots and difficult positions. We talked about that a few times over the course of the last couple of weeks.”
Bemidji State has trailed by two or more goals in each of its last five home games, with opponents holding at least a three-goal lead at any point in four of those contests.
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“You know what I’d like to have? I’d like to have the same play we had when we were short-handed in the third period,” Serratore said. “I’d like to have that 5-on-5. I want that type of mentality, that type of mindset.”
BSU also hasn’t scored more than two goals in a game since Jan. 11 against Bowling Green.
“You have to create second-chance opportunities,” Serratore said. “You have to get in front of the cage, you have to win physical battles, you have to go get a loose puck. When you get a loose puck, you have to get a second chance and a third chance. There were a lot of one-and-dones tonight.”
One of the few Bemidji State positives on Friday night was the return of junior defenseman Vince Corcoran. He hadn’t played Since Dec. 13 against Michigan Tech with an upper-body injury.
Senior defenseman Will Magnuson also returned to the lineup after missing last weekend’s series against St. Thomas in Mendota Heights with a lower-body injury.
Bemidji State (9-14-4, 6-10-3 CCHA) moved into a tie for eighth place in the CCHA standings with Ferris State (10-10-5, 7-6-4 CCHA), extending its slide down from the MacNaughton Cup mountain top 11 months ago.
“The better team won, really in every aspect of the game,” Serratore said. “Their speed, their defensive play, physically – they were a good team tonight. We need to take a page out of their book.
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“(We) better have a lot of urgency. We are running out of real estate. We can’t (keep waiting) for next week.”
Ferris State 5, Bemidji State 1
FSU 2 1 2 – 5
BSU 1 0 0 – 1
First period – FSU GOAL: Badal (Faremouth) 2:48; FSU GOAL: Shoudy (Ergang, Burtch) 9:48; BSU GOAL: Martin (Irey, Funk) 10:13.
Second period – FSU GOAL: Burtch (Gault, Shoudy) 17:25.
Third period – FSU GOAL: Silich (Bada, Herioux) 8:12; FSU GOAL: Shoudy (unassisted) ENG, 13:41.
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Saves – Sholl (BSU) 16; West (FSU) 31.
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