BEMIDJI – Mattias Sholl hasn’t had the entirety of his immediate family in Bemidji at one time before this weekend.
The Bemidji State men’s hockey senior goaltender is a native of Hermosa Beach, California. He’s started in most of the games for the Beavers in goal over the last four seasons. This weekend, he will be one of five players honored during BSU’s Senior Night.
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“It’s a special feeling,” Sholl said. “It’s the culmination of four years here at home. It’s a weird feeling witnessing the Senior Nights over the last three years. You know you’re going to be in that situation one day, and it’s finally here. I’m super thrilled to share it with the people who mean the most to me, the people who made the most sacrifices to get me to this point. I just want to put on a show for them.”
Despite the long travel, Sholl has had family make the trip to Bemidji a few times throughout his career. However, they’ve never all been in the Sanford Center at one time.
The family will walk out on a carpeted section of the ice and receive flowers from Sholl before puck drop at 6:07 p.m. on Saturday against Bowling Green.
“When you’re watching it, you just appreciate what the seniors have given to the program,” Sholl said. “You’re enjoying it on their behalf. Then, in a snap of a finger, it’s your turn to do it. I’m just going to take it all in and enjoy the moment. Realistically, it might be the last weekend I get to play here. It’s just how things are looking right now, so I need to enjoy the moment.”
Bemidji State sits in eighth place in the CCHA standings and has been eliminated from home-ice contention in the first round of the Mason Cup Playoffs.
Sholl’s brother, Tomas, is currently in a player/coach role for the Idaho Steelheads in the ECHL. He graduated from Bowling Green in 2017 after four seasons in goal for the Falcons.
“I would hope he’s going to wear forest green for us,” Sholl quipped. “If he shows up in orange and brown we won’t be on talking terms.”
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Serratore is ushering out his 24th senior class as the head coach of the men’s hockey team. When asked what these Senior Night moments bring to him, he gave a long-winded but thoughtful response.
“You get close to all of your guys,” Serratore said. “They always accomplish a lot, whether it’s collectively or individually, and all I care about is collectively. At the end of the day, we’re a team sport and everybody judges you about your team. These guys have accomplished a lot and played in a lot of big games.
“Some of them played against Wisconsin in the NCAA Tournament to go to the Elite Eight. Some of these guys won a conference championship last year. Some of these guys played in that wild game in Mankato three years ago. They’ve played in a lot of big games and they’ve grown a lot.”
Serratore went on to quote legendary BSU head coach Bob Peters, who said that playing hockey at Bemidji State “is the best class you could ever take.”
“I think these guys learned a lot because that's what you get with sports and hockey,” Serratore continued. “When you’re sick, you go to the doctor. When your car breaks down, you go to the mechanic. When you have a massive toothache, you go to the dentist. But the one thing about sports is if you lose four games at home, nobody can bail you out. You have to bail yourself out, and that’s the beauty of sports. Nobody is going to help you, it’s the coaches and players together trying to figure things out.
“At the end of the day, that’s what these guys learned. They learned that it’s on them, and that carries over into the real world. You can’t go to the mechanic, the doctor or the dentist for advice for stuff like this. You have to figure it out yourself. Inevitably, it’s you, and that’s this class and every class, for that manner.”
Sholl will be honored with four other players on Saturday night. He joins Will Magnuson, Jere Vaisanen, Tony Follmer and Donte Lawson.
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Fifth-year seniors Eric Martin, Austin Jouppi and Jackson Jutting were honored last year. Jouppi also has one more year of eligibility, due to the COVID-19 waiver and a medical redshirt.
“They’re my buddies for life,” Sholl said. “I got a chance to form close bonds, close relationships with these guys. Obviously, some of them had to transfer out, but we’re still so tight with them as well. With the environment you’re in while you’re in Bemidji, we were able to come together really quickly and get close. I have incredible bonds with these guys.”
4 Nations, 1 watch party
Bemidji State’s bye week came at an opportune time to watch what the hockey world is talking about. With the 4 Nations Face-Off taking center stage – an international hockey tournament featuring NHL players from Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States representing their home countries - the Beavers took their weekend away from competition to tune in.
“It’s been awesome,” Serratore said. “I bet I’ve watched 70% of it. I think the beauty of it is these are the greatest players in the world and think about how they had to pick this team. There’s no doubt they pick the 12 best players. But the rest of them? They have to fit a role, they have to kill penalties, they have to win faceoffs. There’s a lot of pieces that play into it.”
Sholl and his roommates hosted a watch party last Saturday to watch the United States take on Canada. BSU has 16 American-born players and nine Canadians.
“It was friendly banter here and there,” Sholl said. “They were pretty excited when Canada got that first goal. We were even more fired up when we got the win. It’s going to be anybody’s game on Thursday.”
Serratore commended each of the four teams for how they were assembled.
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“Picking that team can’t be easy because there’s a lot of things that go into winning,” Serratore said. “Certain guys have to accept roles. There might be better players that aren’t playing because you might need a faceoff guy or a guy who’s good on the wall and can get a puck out. They have to peel back the layers and figure out what’s best for their team.”
“It’s unbelievable speed, unbelievable skill,” Sholl said. “It’s best-on-best, but when you see those guys doing the little things like blocking shots and sacrificing, it’s really cool. It’s something our players can take and pull in. The best in the world are doing those things, so we can too.”
As for Jere Vaisanen and Patrik Satosaari – the Beavers’ two Finish players – Sholl offered his lighthearted condolences after Team Finland missed the championship.
“I think it stung them a little bit,” Sholl with a laugh.
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