COLLEGE HOCKEY

Bemidji State opts out of NCAA House settlement; keeping options open

Jared Rubado — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 15:11:30 GMT

BEMIDJI – After months of deliberation, Bemidji State has decided to opt out of the NCAA House settlement.

While schools in bigger conferences – Big Ten, SEC – are required to opt in, smaller and multi-divisional schools like Bemidji State had, and still have, their House settlement fate in their hands.

In February, schools began declaring their House settlement status. The deadline for schools to opt in was pushed back multiple times over several months, culminating in a hard deadline on June 30. As of Tuesday, July 1, opt-in schools can begin paying student-athletes Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) payments directly, while also being able to offer more athletic scholarships.

“We’re opting out for a lot of reasons,” BSU director of athletics Britt Lauritsen told the Pioneer on Tuesday.

“Being a multi-divisional institution and being a multi-conference school, we don’t really know how the House settlement is going to impact schools like us. We have a little bit of time, and I like to frame the next 12 months or so as a viewing period for how this actually looks for the schools that can’t opt out.”

For Bemidji State, one of the biggest roadblocks to opting in was roster limits. Initially, the House settlement capped each Division I sport with specific roster limits, with men’s and women’s hockey set at 26. BSU women’s hockey had 27 players, while men’s hockey had 28 to start their respective 2024-25 seasons.

The House settlement was approved by Judge Claudia Wilken on June 6 with an amendment to grandfather in previous roster limits, emphasizing opt-in schools working toward the new roster limits within five years.

“We know there’s nuance to that now, but for our programs sitting at 27, 28 student-athletes, that helps us,” Lauritsen said. “It gives us depth. Women’s hockey is a great example.”

If the 26-player limit was imposed before the 2024-25 season, BSU women’s hockey would’ve been in a tricky spot.

The Beavers had a 26-player roster, but injuries to goaltenders Eva Filippova and Josie Bothun required head coach Amber Fryklund to add freshman goaltender Lauren Mooney just weeks before the season started.

If roster limits were imposed at 26 players for men’s and women’s hockey, Fryklund would’ve had to cut a player off her team or dress only one healthy goaltender.

“When you have injuries that mount on top of each other, that stuff matters,” Lauritsen said. “If you don’t think there’s a big difference between 26 and 28 players, think about those two other players being goalies. What would we have done?”

There are also financial implications – known and unknown – that Bemidji State was wary of had it opted in. BSU is also under the implication that it can opt in next summer after a year of evaluation.

“As I understand it right now, we’d have the opportunity to explore opting in before an academic year begins,” Lauritsen said. “It’s an area that feels really grey, but that’s my understanding. There’s also the fiscal piece to it, the financial responsibility we have. Opting in, for us, looks different than it does for Minnesota because we’re not in a space to be revenue sharing like they will.”

The House settlement, a landmark deal, will also dish out $2.8 billion for damages to former athletes over the next 10 years. Eligible former student-athletes must have competed any time from 2016 through now for opt-in schools.

The House settlement, which stems from Grant House, a former Arizona State swimmer who sued the defendants (the NCAA and the five largest athletic conferences), ends three separate federal antitrust lawsuits, all of which claimed the NCAA was illegally limiting the earning power of college athletes.

Since 2021, college athletes have been able to profit from NIL deals with third parties. It’s often money that comes from a school’s NIL collective, set up by boosters and other organized groups in conjunction with the respective school.

“When you think about NIL and collectives, everybody wants one on their campus,” Lauritsen said. “There are places to explore there. Where can we expand and what’s the interest in expanding in those areas? It’s still a work in progress in some ways.”

Now, those payments will come from the schools themselves that opt in. Opt-in schools can pay up to $20.5 million to their student-athletes this academic year.

For a non-opt-in school like BSU, Lauritsen still sees beneficial changes from the settlement.

“There’s NIL Go, which is the database for all name, image, likeness deals that all Division-I athletes have to use,” Lauritsen said. “We were required to use that, and I think that’s great. We are going to reap some benefits from the House settlement in terms of structure, even as an opt-out school.”

Because the House settlement largely impacts Division I programs, Bemidji State men’s and women’s hockey is the lone variable right now. Lauritsen expects that to change.

“I foresee in the next 12, 18, 24 months – whatever that looks like – as D-I athletics gets its feet under it as a whole, D-II is going to start looking at different things, too,” Lauritsen said. “We need to figure out what it looks like for our whole department, top to bottom.

“Is D-II going to make some changes? Is there anything coming down the pike that we should have on our radar? We’re being aggressive about observing, is the best way to put it.”

Lauritsen also said there’s a chance aspects from the House settlement, such as roster limits, become mandated throughout collegiate athletics in the future, regardless of opting in or out.

“The NCAA, especially in the last five years, as lawsuits have mounted up, has done a pretty broad-ranging deep dive into the rule books,” Lauritsen said. “For now, we are kind of playing with two different rulebooks. Division I is notorious for adding things to its rulebook, then negating it shortly after if they don’t like it.

“If you think about it, D-I has been playing with multiple rulebooks for a long time. The Power Four has been playing by its own rulebook forever. There’s always going to be a piece of that. It feels like they play by their own rules, because they are.

‘It’s a fault in the system of letting that association grow into the behemoth it’s become. This is just one more thing, one more set of rules. You figure it out, ask a lot of questions and move on.”

One area of focus for opt-out schools is bridging the gap between the benefits of being an opt-in school. Currently, Bemidji State can only offer 18 scholarships for each of its hockey teams. If BSU had opted in, it could’ve offered each player a full scholarship.

While opt-out hockey schools are capped at 18 scholarships this season, schools can make up some of the difference in the form of Alston Awards, also known as Alston money.

In 2014, Shawne Alston, a former West Virginia football running back, filed a lawsuit against the NCAA to challenge the NCAA on its rules involving educational-related benefits.

Judge Wilken ruled in 2019 that the NCAA’s rules violated antitrust law under the Sherman Act. ��s began distributing Alston money in August 2020. Student-athletes can make up to $5,980 per year based on educational thresholds if they attend a school that gives out the awards.

“At the end of the day, you have to figure out what attracts athletes to your institution,” Lauritsen said. “For me, I’m looking at it like this: if you’re a school that can afford to give out 19 scholarships, that’s great. But if that’s your only purpose to opt in, you can probably do that with the 18 scholarships and Alston money.”

For now, Lauritsen and the Beavers are staying put with their operation strategy. She noted that Beaver hockey is “unique” and heavily reliant on its alumni, donors and fan base.

“We need to hold up our end of that relationship and represent them well, and make good use of their dollars and cents,” Lauritsen said. “Beaver hockey is special. The student-athletes we bring in are well-suited to the program. They fit the mold. I think knowing who we are, and I talk with Tom (Serratore) and Amber about this all the time, we have to focus on who we are and do that as well as we can, and expand it. We’re not going to opt in to be flashy.

“We know what we’re working with, we know what the next academic year will bring and how we’re going to recruit with that. We approached it like every other year, and there’s something to be said about having that kind of stability. We know what we needed; we went out and got it.”

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BSU commit Maxon Vig selected in NHL Draft; 3 Beavers headed to development camps

Jared Rubado — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 21:45:46 GMT

BEMIDJI – Only one incoming Central Collegiate Hockey Association player was selected on Saturday in the 2025 NHL Draft.

That player, Maxon Vig, is headed to Bemidji State in the fall.

In the seventh round, with the 209th pick, the Montreal Canadiens took Vig, a defenseman out of Bismarck, North Dakota.

Vig played in 65 games for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders in the United States Hockey League last season, scoring 10 goals and 22 assists as an alternate captain. The 6-foot-2, 212-pound, left-shot defenseman also played one season with the Oklahoma Warriors in the North American Hockey League, scoring eight goals and 19 assists in 61 games.

Vig is the first Bemidji State recruit to be drafted since defenseman Eric Pohlkamp in the fifth round of the 2023 NHL Draft. Pohlkamp also developed in Cedar Rapids.

Vig will be one of three Beavers to attend NHL development camps.

Rising-sophomore defenseman Isa Parekh is headed back to Calgary this week for his second development camp with the Flames. Parekh attended the Flames’ camp last summer.

Incoming freshman goaltender Max Hildebrand will attend the Los Angeles Kings camp.

Player development camps are a chance for pro teams to evaluate potential prospects – drafted or undrafted. Players skate several times during the week, often involving skill-based drills that allow coaches to evaluate and give feedback to the players.

NHL player development camps typically last one week following the NHL Draft.

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Travis Winter named video coach for Team USA’s World Junior Championship staff

Jared Rubado — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 17:58:00 GMT

BEMIDJI – Travis Winter wasn’t expecting to get the call, but he wasn’t surprised he got it either.

On Wednesday, USA Hockey announced that Bemidji State’s men’s hockey associate head coach would serve on the American bench as an assistant for the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship. Winter got the call from head coach Bob Motzko “a few weeks ago.”

Winter will officially serve as a video coach. Boston College's Greg Brown, Augustana's Garrett Raboin, USA Hockey's David Lassonde and Minnesota's Steve Miller and Jacob LeRoy are also on staff.

“I’m very grateful for the opportunity,” Winter said. “It’s very exciting. Anytime you can participate in a tournament like that and represent your country, it’s something that you don’t want to take for granted. You get excited for it; how can you not?”

The World Junior Championship begins in the Twin Cities on Dec. 26 at the Xcel Energy Center and at the University of Minnesota’s 3M Arena at Mariucci. The WJC runs through Jan. 5, 2026.

Winter will get the best of both worlds when the calendar flips to 2026. While Bemidji State typically plays a series on the second weekend in December, and on the first weekend in January (or a New Year’s Eve game), the Beavers are off from Dec. 6 to Jan. 9.

Scheduling luck allows Winter to serve on Team USA’s staff with the potential of not missing a BSU game, save for an exhibition against the Gophers on Jan. 2.

More importantly for Winter, with the WJC being in Minnesota, it’ll become a family event for the St. Cloud native.

“It’s the State of Hockey, and our state’s going to knock it out of the park with how they handle it,” Winter said. “They’re going to put on a great show. It’ll be an experience I get to share with my family, with it being in the Twin Cities. They’ll get to be a part of it, too, which is special.”

Winter will enter his 12th season on the Beavers’ staff this fall. He was an assistant head coach for eight seasons, then spent the last three seasons with the title of associate head coach under Tom Serratore.

Winter played for BSU from 2005-09, serving as a captain in his final two seasons. After he graduated, Winter was hired as an assistant for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders in the United States Hockey League for four seasons, then spent a year as the head coach for the North American Hockey League’s Aberdeen Wings in 2013-14

Winter came back to Bemidji State in 2015 for his first season as an assistant, and he hasn’t left since.

“I think this honor is a testament to the respect of our program, what people think of our program and the things we’ve been able to accomplish over the years,” Winter said.

Motzko is one of college hockey’s most revered coaches. Since being hired by Minnesota prior to the 2018-19 season, he’s posted a record of 161-82-21. Combined with his previous 13 seasons at St. Cloud State, Motzko has a career record of 437-274-70, with 13 trips to the NCAA Tournament, including three Frozen Four appearances.

Motzko replaces Denver’s David Carle as Team USA’s WJC head coach. Carle led the Americans to back-to-back WJC titles in each of the last two tournaments.

“(Motzko) asked if I’d be interested in helping out and went over the expectations for different roles,” Winter said. “He asked if I’d be comfortable doing that, and I said, ‘Yeah, of course.’

“I don’t know if you ever expect that call to come. With Bob being the head coach and being part of his circle in the hockey world, you’re kind of thinking you might get a call. But there’s a lot of other qualified guys, so you don’t spend too much time pondering that. When he called, it was awesome.”

Motzko and Bemidji State head coach Tom Serratore have a long-standing relationship. Their relationship helped Winter build rapport with Motzko over the years, ultimately leading to Winter’s selection as an assistant.

“Typically, when these coaching staffs get assembled, they’re put together with people they’re familiar with,” Winter said. “They’re familiar with their expertise and strengths as coaches. They want to make sure they cover all areas. Obviously, in working with Tommy, he’s had a big influence on that.”

A step back

Like many Bemidji residents, Winter has been hard at work on community restoration following the severe thunderstorm and 100-plus mile-per-hour winds.

On Tuesday, Winter, BSU assistant coach Joe Wegwerth and members of Bemidji Covenant Church and Bemidji Youth Hockey helped clean up Paul Bunyan Park.

“I’ve never seen anything like this; not even close,” Winter said. “Joe and I were there, along with some members of our church and Bemidji Youth Hockey. We have a pretty good group. We were just old-school raking, making piles.”

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The Reporter's Corner podcast: Bill Muckalt, Michigan Tech

Trent Singer — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 00:00:34 GMT

Welcome to the 25th episode of The Reporter's Corner. Joining us this week is Michigan Tech coach Bill Muckalt, who was announced the Huskies' new coach on May 22.

Muckalt's résumé speaks for itself. In college, he won two national championships at the University of Michigan, and after a brief six-year stint at the professional level, he began his coaching career in 2006. In 2016, Muckalt guided the Tri-City Storm to a Clark Cup championship as a rookie head coach in the USHL. He was an assistant coach at MTU from 2011-15, and last season, he got his first crack as a Division I head coach at Lindenwood.

The Reporter's Corner is a weekly podcast from Sioux Falls Live sports reporter Trent Singer and Bemidji Pioneer sports editor Jared Rubado on the CCHA's podcast network, featuring players and coaches from around the league.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2nHUkfYjRJK3ifGNgfkQEE?si=ae93b7ce75d54626

Subscribe to the CCHA Show for future episodes of The Reporter's Corner. Other links to the episode can be found below:

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Hailey Armstrong named captain; Bemidji State announces leadership group

Pioneer Staff Report — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 00:16:23 GMT

BEMIDJI — Bemidji State women's hockey head coach Amber Fryklund announced on Thursday that Hailey Armstrong, Raeley Carney and Morgan Smith will captain the Bemidji State Women’s Hockey team for the upcoming 2025-26 season.

Armstrong will wear the “C” as captain of the green and white, while Carney and Smith will don the “A” as alternates. All team captains are voted on by returning players.

Armstrong, a junior from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, and RINK Hockey Academy Kelowna alumni, wears a letter for the first time in her Beaver career. She has skated in 73 career games for the Beavers, totaling 28 points off 19 goals and nine assists.

Armstrong is a WCHA Scholar-Athlete, All-Academic Team selection and an AHCA/Krampade All-American Scholar. Last season, she totaled the second-most points and goals on the team, recording 18 points off 10 goals and eight assist,s while her three game-winning goals were the most on the team. She led the team with 97 shots on goal and recorded a program record 14 against Lindenwood on Oct. 18.

Wasilla, Alaska, native and Alaska All Stars alumni Raely Carney will serve as one of two alternates for the Beavers. She has skated in 101 career games and has totaled 14 points off of eight goals and six assists. She is a two-time WCHA Scholar-Athlete, All-Academic Team and AHCA All-American Scholar in the classroom.

Last season, Carney totaled a career-high seven points off five goals and two assists and was fourth on the team in goals. She paced the Beavers' shooters at a 20-percent efficiency, scoring five goals on just 25 shots.

Smith becomes just the fourth sophomore in BSU women's hockey history to wear a letter, serving as an alternate for the upcoming season. The Winnipeg, Manitoba, native made an immediate impact in her first season with the Beavers, playing in all 37 games and leading the team in points (20) and goals (11), becoming the first 20-point scorer at BSU since 2021-22.

Smith scored the most goals by a Beaver freshman since 2000-01 and became the first Beaver to net two hat tricks in a season since 2010-11. Smith was named the WCHA Rookie of the Week three times during the season, the league’s Rookie of the Month in December and was voted Bemidji State’s Female Newcomer of the Year.

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Player retention, culture is paramount for Fryklund; Beavers aim for tangible growth

Jared Rubado — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 17:08:43 GMT

In the ever-changing tides of collegiate athletics, player retention has become a necessary focus.

For the Bemidji State women’s hockey team, player retention is dependent on what head coach Amber Fryklund and her staff are striving to build.

The Beavers are coming off a six-win season, one year after they had four wins. They’ve had 15 wins total in their last three seasons, along with several coaching changes.

However, like several Western Collegiate Hockey Association teams, Bemidji State has kept most of its top players from a year ago. It’s also been the beneficiary of adding impact players, like Minnesota transfer Isa Goettl and Union transfer Meredith Killian in 2024.

“It comes down to how we approach our program as a staff,” Fryklund said. “It shows in our relationships with the players in our recruiting process. We’re unique in the WCHA, so we have to make sure we’re recruiting players who want to be a part of a building process and fit that culture.

“We’re very intentional about our players and helping them reach their goals and aspirations. We’re player-development focused, and we take pride in that.”

Fryklund isn’t unrealistic. She knows it’s next to impossible to keep every player from entering the transfer portal each offseason.

While BSU was able to hang on to most of its young core, it still lost rising-junior defenseman Riley Reeves to St. Lawrence, rising-sophomore defenseman Julia Zielinska to Sacred Heart and alternate captain Mya Headrick to the University of New Brunswick in U Sports.

Along with an incoming class of eight freshmen, Bemidji State is bringing in a pair of WCHA defenders and another goaltender.

Carmen Bray played all 36 games for St. Cloud State last season. She’s played in 52 games in two seasons and has one goal and eight assists. She’s expected to fill a key role for BSU, which lost Makenna Deering, Kendra Fortin, Reeves and Killian on the blue line.

“She’s played in a lot of different situations in her college career, and she brings that understanding of the WCHA and to play defense in the WCHA every weekend,” Fryklund said. “Culturally, she’s a great kid and a great fit, and she’s a great teammate.”

Bray played at RINK Hockey Academy prior to suiting up for the Huskies in 2023-24. It’s a development program out of Kelowna, British Columbia, with strong BSU ties.

“Eva (Filippova) and Hailey (Armstrong) come from that program,” Fryklund said. “It’s a program that does a good job of preparing players for college hockey, particularly the WCHA. She’s going to be a great add to our blue line. She can get pucks through traffic and can make a good breakout pass. She also plays physical.”

Fryklund added another rising-junior defenseman who will change WCHA schools. Elly Klepinger transferred to the Beavers from Minnesota. After graduating from Minnetonka, Klepinger played five games for USA Hockey’s U18 team in 2023.

Her two-year stint with the Gophers wasn’t as fruitful, playing in just 27 games. Fryklund, though, sees her as an important piece to the BSU puzzle.

“With her experience playing at Minnesota and who she is as a person, she certainly has experience on the blue line,” Fryklund said. “She has a lot of talent, and she’s going to bring that to our blue line. She’s going to fit into our team culture, and I’m excited for what she brings depth-wise.”

The third BSU transfer comes in the form of a goaltender, and it’s a matter of circumstance.

In June 2024, Bemidji State had three rostered goalies – Kaitlin Groess, Josie Bothun and Filippova. The Beavers added freshman Lauren Mooney just weeks before the season started due to Filippova and Bothun’s injuries.

Bothun graduated after medically retiring last winter, and Filippova is back on the shelf after suffering a significant lower-body injury that will keep her out until at least midway through 2025-26. Mooney is headed back to Canada to play U Sports, which left Bemidji State with just two goaltenders to open the season.

Without the ability to rely on Groess and Minnetonka freshman Ashlyn Hazlett to stay healthy until Filippova is healed, the Beavers picked up Ava Hills out of Saint Anselm.

“We can’t play with just two healthy goaltenders,” Fryklund said. “With that in mind, we had to bring one in. Ava has good size and played at two great programs coming into college. … She’s got good movement and competes. We’re really excited about that. Like Carmen and Elly, she fits in culturally as well.”

Hills is a Milford, Massachusetts, native who played four games in two years for New Hampshire before playing 22 games for Saint Anselm last season. She posted a .937 save percentage and a 2.79 goals-against average.

Eying a step or two forward

Fryklund gave an honest assessment of her first season as Bemidji State’s head coach. While she’s pleased with the Beavers’ commitment to individual and collective growth, she’s not satisfied with where they finished in the WCHA.

“We were three wins away from sixth place,” Fryklund said. “You look back at games you should’ve won, and there’s some opportunity there. We talk about that a lot with our team, how close to where we want to be. Three wins is a lot in the WCHA, but it’s not unreachable. We took some time with our team to really dive into that after the season. It comes down to the work they put in their offseason training.”

While the improvement in the win column from a year ago was marginal at best, BSU still showed significant strides in Fryklund’s first season. The Beavers scored 14 more goals than they did in 2023-24. They also scored nine more power-play goals.

In 2023-24, Bemidji State was scored on 181 times, compared to 148 goals against last season. BSU took fewer penalties, drew more power plays and saw individual statistics rise.

While that hasn’t translated into better WCHA positioning yet, the Beavers hope to make the 2024-25 season the start of a consistent trend in the right direction.

“I’m proud of how we played,” Fryklund said. “Statistics don’t tell the whole story. We made progress throughout the whole year, especially how we played defensively. Our power play was outstanding. There’s some great building points that we can continue to build on, and that’s exciting. We’ve struggled to score goals, but I think you’re starting to see more offensive opportunities. You can see growth there.”

Fryklund’s coaching career has included several high-level positions, most notably in the form of an assistant coach for Team USA at the 2025 IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Championship.

She treated her first season at the helm of Bemidji State women’s hockey like she would any other: an observant sponge.

“Throughout my career, I’ve been fortunate enough to have a variety of different experiences,” Fryklund said. “I think in that first year, you spend a lot of time listening, taking it all in. You’re trying to learn from every situation. You’re leaning on the experiences you’ve had and the philosophy and the beliefs you hold. I don’t know if there was anything unexpected, but every day was an opportunity to reflect and have growth.”

Fryklund credited her staff – Emma Sobieck, Sarah Bobrowski, Alexis Joyce, Emily Meyer, Heidi Kreuger and Connor Laschinger – for their support through a transitional season.

“As coaches, you try and create that environment by building close relationships,” Fryklund said. “Our staff has spent a lot of time doing that and has put in the work to help our players reach those individual goals in and outside of hockey. When that happens, our team gets better.”

Culture is the backbone

Collegiate athletics will continue to evolve throughout Fryklund’s tenure. The transfer portal isn’t going away. As Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) moves to the forefront of amateur sports, it’ll begin to trickle its way into women’s hockey as well, providing another obstacle for the small-town Beavers competing against Big Ten programs.

Another wrinkle in the fold is the looming House settlement. When approved by Judge Claudia Wilken, roster limits will be imposed for schools that opt in. That limit is currently at 26 players for men’s and women’s hockey, but there’s a belief that an amendment to the settlement will allow programs to grandfather in their current roster size to prevent schools from cutting depth athletes in all sports.

Bemidji State has not indicated if it's opting in or out. It has until June 27, though it’s a date that’s been pushed back multiple times.

Currently, BSU women’s hockey has 27 players, due to the goaltending injury conundrum. If the settlement is approved with the grandfathering in, and if Bemidji State opts in, Fryklund wouldn’t have to cut any players before the 2025-26 season.

“We’re in a unique situation because of our goaltending situation,” Fryklund said. “If we were capped at 26 players this year, that would hurt us. For a lot of schools, 26 players is a lot. Some carry 23 or 24. On the men’s side, they generally carry a bigger roster. We’re really young, too, so that’s part of it as well.

“Nobody wants to cut kids, but some schools are doing it. That’s the business side of college athletics. For us, we’re going to wait and see where the dust settles and see where we go from there.”

Fryklund’s notion of the impending House settlement is a product of her coaching philosophy. She values player development above all else, and it translates beyond the sheet of ice at the Sanford Center.

Ultimately, Fryklund is proud of the community impact the Beavers showed last season.

“It starts with Kendra (Fortin) and her Hockey Humanitarian (Award) nomination,” Fryklund said. “Our players crushed it in the classroom. It’s just what they do in our community with their volunteering, specifically with Bemidji girls hockey. We talked about gratitude in our program, and they have it. We coordinate some of those opportunities, but our players go out of their way to find more, stuff we don’t even know of, and I’m certainly proud of that.”

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Galen Nagle Memorial Golf Tournament swings back into action on July 18

Pioneer Staff Report — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 16:01:26 GMT

BEMIDJI — Bemidji’s biggest hockey gathering of the summer is back on July 18 with the return of the Galen Nagle Memorial Golf Tournament, and registration is now open.

The 28th annual event tees off from the Bemidji Town and Country Club in support of the Bemidji State men’s hockey program. The summer tradition brings together alumni, current student-athletes, coaches and supporters and is named after former BSU goalie Galen Nagle, who died in 1996 after a battle with cancer. Nagle was a member of the 1983-84 Beaver team that won the national title and finished 31-0-0.

This year’s scramble tournament features five-person teams, with morning tee times from 8-9:50 a.m. and afternoon tee times from 12:30-2:50 p.m. A tournament committee member will contact each team’s captain to schedule the team’s tee time.

The registration fee of $150 per individual or $750 per team includes golf, two carts per team, tee prizes, brats on the course and a meal. Meals are available before or after rounds; those with late afternoon tee times are encouraged to eat beforehand.

All proceeds from the event go to the Bemidji State men’s hockey program, as well as a scholarship fund set up in Nagle’s name.

To register now, visit bsualumni.org/events/nagle or call 218-755-2827. Registration is online only, and no on-site registration will be available.

In addition to Friday’s golf tournament, a free Thursday night social is also set for 7 p.m. on July 17 at The Tavern on South Shore. All Nagle attendees are welcome. Guests will also have the chance to purchase their own food and drinks.

As part of the fun, an online auction is coming, as well. More information is coming soon and will be available at bsualumni.org/events/nagle.

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Beavers open with the champs; breaking down 2025-26 women’s hockey schedule

Jared Rubado — Wed, 21 May 2025 18:41:02 GMT

BEMIDJI – The Bemidji State women’s hockey team is making a habit of opening its season against the reigning champions at the Sanford Center.

To kick off the 2024-25 slate, the Beavers hosted the defending national champions, Ohio State, at home. They will do it again on Sept. 26 against Wisconsin.

The Badgers beat the Buckeyes in a 4-3 overtime thriller at Ridder Arena to win their fourth title in six seasons. Wisconsin will make a trip to Bemidji to begin its title defense with a two-game WCHA series.

Bemidji State ended the 2024-25 regular season against UW. This year, the Beavers will get a crack at Ohio State Feb. 20-21 before the WCHA Quarterfinals begin on Feb. 27. Ohio State will likely be one of the nation’s top contenders to make the Frozen Four at Pegula Ice Arena March 20-21 in University Park, Pennsylvania.

Bemidji State will play each of the seven WCHA teams four times, twice at home and twice on the road. For the first time since the 2021-22 season, however, the Beavers will not play in a holiday tournament.

During the 2022-23 season, BSU went 1-1 at the Nutmeg Classic Tournament, hosted by Quinnipiac, in Hamden, Connecticut. Two years ago, it went 1-1 at the Battle of the Burgh in Pittsburgh. Last season, Bemidji State beat Brown 5-4 in comeback fashion to, again, go 1-1 at the University of Minnesota Showcase.

Holiday tournaments have accounted for 20% of the Beavers’ wins in the last three seasons.

Instead, BSU has a more robust nonconference schedule.

Robert Morris makes the trip to Bemidji Oct. 3-4. BSU lost twice to the Colonials on the road in the season’s second weekend last October. BSU holds a 9-5-1 record against RMU and is 4-2-1 dating back to Sept. 26, 2014.

Bemidji State will also play two nonconference series on the road.

The first is Nov. 28-29 in St. Charles, Missouri, against Lindenwood. BSU is 13-4-2 against the Lions, including a 6-3 win and a 3-3 tie at the Sanford Center last October.

The Beavers will also play their first-ever games against Merrimack Jan. 3-4 to kick off the new year. The Warriors have been an NCAA program since the 2015-16 season.

BSU men’s and women’s hockey will host doubleheaders at the Sanford Center Nov. 7-8 and Nov. 21-22. The women’s team welcomes St. Thomas and St. Cloud State to kick off each doubleheader, while the men’s team will play Lake Superior State and Northern Michigan.

Bemidji State has a pair of extended breaks on the schedule. After traveling to Columbus, Ohio, Oct. 10-11, the Beavers will have two open weekends before hitting the road to play Mankato Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. BSU also has a month off after hosting Minnesota Duluth Dec. 5-6 before heading to North Andover, Massachusetts, to play Merrimack.

The WCHA has yet to reveal a location for the 2026 Frozen Faceoff. The event to award the WCHA’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid will be held March 5-7.

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Beavers to return to Alaska; 2025-26 schedule unveiled

Jared Rubado — Tue, 13 May 2025 16:18:58 GMT

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

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Tom Serratore reflects on Beavers’ hot and cold year, NCAA changes and ‘knowing your mousetrap’

Jared Rubado — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 22:59:06 GMT

With its core group having come up one goal short of an NCAA Tournament bid twice before the 2024-25 season, the Bemidji State men’s hockey team felt the urgency to make one last run with its veterans.

It was a regular season packed with highs – beating ranked North Dakota, Minnesota State and Minnesota in November – and lows – a six-game home losing streak against the bottom feeders of the CCHA.

The postseason saw more of the same. After blowing a third-period lead in Game 1 of the Mason Cup Playoffs quarterfinals against Augustana, a game in which BSU didn’t have a shot on goal in the third period, Bemidji State evened the series in Game 2 before knocking off the Vikings with Adam Flammang’s overtime winner in Game 3.

With St. Thomas advancing to the Mason Cup title game while being ineligible to make the NCAA Tournament, the semifinal tilt between Minnesota State and BSU had the automatic bid on the line.

Unlike the Beavers’ previous two tries to get to the dance, their season ended unceremoniously with a 4-0 loss against the eventual conference tournament champs.

“We were inconsistent, and we never really got traction,” BSU head coach Tom Serratore said. “We had some big wins, as we all know, but we couldn’t get on a run. The year before, we got on a run, and usually, you can get on a run every year. When you get on a run – and, obviously, you’d like to be on a run at the end of the year – it creates momentum for you, and we never got that.”

Serratore pointed to multiple factors as to why Bemidji State couldn’t establish consistency.

“At times, we struggled defensively,” he continued. “Then we’d take care of that problem, and the offense would go dry. Our penalty killing never really got into a groove either, probably until the end of the year. It’s a combination of a lot of things that prevented us from getting that traction.”

Bemidji State entered the 2024-25 season with nine seniors and fifth-year players. They will have to replace all of them, along with sophomore forward Rhys Chiddenton, who entered the transfer portal and committed to Canisius.

Serratore’s roster turnover also brings him optimism in the form of underclassmen taking a leap developmentally.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean freshmen to sophomores, it could be juniors to seniors,” Serratore said. “You’re always curious about the guys and the steps they make. This time of year, you’re always in a feel-good situation because you know what you have and it’s all potential. And you have guys that can take steps collectively, then you’re in good shape.”

New recruiting strategy

When players report to campus in the fall for the start of the 2025-26 season, they will be joined by at least four Canadian Hockey League players.

On Nov. 7, 2024, the NCAA amended its rule that prevented junior hockey players in the Western Hockey League, the Ontario Hockey League and the Québec Maritimes Junior Hockey League from playing American college hockey. It was an anticipated decision for the now-63 Division I programs around the country.

With roughly 1,000 more players eligible to play college hockey, Bemidji State didn’t just dip its toes in the new recruiting waters. It went in headfirst.

“We wanted to get immersed in the pool as quick as we can,” Serratore said. “We were on top of it. We were going to games in September in anticipation of this change. We got out ahead of it the best we could, and we dove into it to the point where we probably neglected the other leagues. We put all of our efforts into the CHL.”

The Beavers inked one of the CHL’s top goalie prospects, Max Hildebrand, just days after the rule change. Hildebrand won the WHL Goaltender of the Year award for the Prince Albert Raiders.

BSU then locked up point-per-game forward Brady Birnie from the Swift Current Broncos. Both Hildebrand and Birnie are out of CHL eligibility.

As the season progressed, Bemidji State picked up two more aged-out commitments from forward Max Namestnikov out of the OHL’s Guelph Storm and defenseman Benjamin Vigneault out of the QMJHL’s Québec Remparts.

Bemidji State has three more CHL players who have committed but won’t be joining until at least the 2026-27 season: Moose Jaw defenseman Aiden Ziprick, Prince Albert forward Brayden Dube out of the WHL and Everett goaltender Raiden LeGall out of the WHL.

LeGall’s path to college hockey is one that may be unique now, but won’t be down the road.

He committed to Bemidji State in November 2023 while playing for the Niverville Nighthawks in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. After the NCAA amendment, LeGall went to the WHL to play for Everett.

Serratore believes recruits will begin taking similar paths, using other leagues as feeders. The North American Hockey League has often been used in the same way for players in the United States Hockey League.

“What’s going to happen is the teams in the Western League are going to be scouring the Alberta League,” Serratore said. “If there’s a 2008 emerging next year – granted, he’s probably going to be drafted – he’s going to be one-and-done in the other leagues. You’re going to see colleges get commitments from the North American League, the Manitoba League, the Alberta League, the Saskatchewan League and the BC League before they go play in the CHL and the USHL.”

Even though most college hockey recruits will come from the USHL or the CHL in some form, Serratore is wary of neglecting the second-tier leagues too much.

“That’s not to say that you’re not going to pluck kids out of those leagues and bring them straight to college,” Serratore said. “You’re going to do that every once and a while, but most of the time, you’re going to recruit that kid, and then he’s going to move up to the CHL or the USHL. You’ll see where he’s at playing at the next level, and make your decisions from there.”

Finding missing pieces

A year ago, the Beavers were trying to figure out how they were going to replace their three big dogs who moved on.

Fifth-year captain Kyle Looft ran out of eligibility and signed with the Texas Stars in the AHL. Forward and Hobey Baker nominee Lleyton Roed signed as an undrafted free agent with the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the Seattle Kraken’s AHL affiliate.

One of BSU’s biggest losses, though, was freshman defenseman Eric Pohlkamp, who transferred to Denver after a standout rookie season.

Pohlkamp’s departure was one of many big hits for the CCHA, a conference that had 17.4% of all points enter the transfer portal. The offensive production that entered after the 2024-25 season has been cut in half.

One cause for fewer players going in is the extinction of the fifth year of eligibility that was granted to student-athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Another cause could be the CHL infusion, with fewer spots available for players to transfer to.

Regardless, fewer kids are entering the portal. Bemidji State already replaced its only transfer with Vann Yuhas, a 6-foot forward out of Merrimack who has three years of eligibility left.

“I think you see it with kids when they go in the transfer portal, a lot of them end up going to a school that recruited them the first time around because there’s a trust factor,” Serratore said. “That was us with Vann. It’s a trust factor both ways. We like Vann, and we’ve always liked Vann’s talent. He’s a good fit here.”

Bemidji State isn’t done in the portal either. Serratore is still working on adding players to go along with a big freshman class. As for how many freshmen will be on campus in the fall, that’s still to be decided in the coming weeks.

Last season, BSU picked up its most impactful addition out of the portal in late July. Former Northern Michigan forward Reilly Funk, a redshirt junior, had two years of eligibility left before joining the Beavers after NMU head coach Grant Potulny took an AHL position with the Hartford Wolfpack.

Funk was a top-six forward for Bemidji State, scoring career highs in goals (seven), assists (16), points (23) and games played (36). However, when he entered the transfer portal, BSU wasn’t actively looking for another player.

“If you feel a person can make your team better and they’re the proper fit, along with having scholarship money and roster space, you go after them,” Serratore said. “We had all of that available with Funker. There’s a lot of teams hanging tough right now waiting for the NHL draft. There’s a lot of unknowns right now, but to hold one roster spot available isn’t stupid.

“But sometimes, you get impatient. You think if you don’t fill the roster spot, you could get left hanging high and dry. You just have to take a chance sometimes.”

Another layer to the transfer portal is the communication between players and coaches, or the lack thereof.

“Probably the biggest adjustment in the transfer portal and this new age of hockey is dealing with agents,” Serratore said. “We hardly recruit kids like we used to now, it all goes through agents. That’s hard because they have a lot of control in college sports. I never dealt with agents when I started doing this.

“Agents used to work with us when kids were in college to try and get guys when they went pro. Kids have agents in 10th grade now, and you have to do your due diligence with every player.

“There are deals being brokered behind the scenes, they’re brokering deals with your own players in some cases. There’s so much tampering going on today, and it’s uncomfortable, but it’s the reality of things. That’s our world right now.”

Playing to strengths

For Serratore, who will enter his 25th season as Bemidji State’s head coach, the tidal-waving changes are starting to feel like mere ripples. He’s survived the trajectory-altering rule changes that have come as detriments to smaller programs, and he feels like Bemidji State has a stronger, more-rooted program because of it.

Another change is looming: the House vs. NCAA settlement’s July 1 effect date. It will force Bemidji State to make a decision to opt in or out of the settlement, which will have a cap on roster sizes for all sports.

That number for men’s and women’s hockey is currently set at 26. Judge Claudia Wilken, however, has not approved the settlement as she has concerns over the roster limits and their unintended immediate consequences. While an official amendment surrounding roster limits has yet to be finalized, opt-in programs around the country are preparing for 26-player rosters before the settlement goes into effect.

Bemidji State has not decided whether it will opt in or out of the settlement yet. Regardless of its final decision, Serratore doesn’t mind a cap on how many players he can have in his locker room.

“I don’t think it’s bad at all,” Serratore said. “I think it makes you get more into the player development business. I think a lot of teams have had inflated rosters and it’s hurting player development. You’re not getting puck touches in practice, you’re not getting playing time. I think a roster limit is healthy.”

Serratore also acknowledged how challenging the roster cap could be for other programs.

“I just talked to another coach who is bummed out,” he continued. “He liked having 28, 29 guys because he felt like his last recruits were his best, because those were the kids he was most confident with. I’m not saying he’s wrong, but we also have to put the pressure on ourselves to not over-recruit. A roster limit tells you that if you’re going to recruit, you’re going to do it the right way and put a lot of thought and time into it.”

Serratore’s appreciation for effort in recruiting stems back to his earlier coaching days.

He looked back to when Bemidji State debuted its 2010 season playing in the WCHA in the newly built Sanford Center. Serratore said BSU tried recruiting above its weight class early on and quickly found out there are consequences that come with it.

“It's about knowing your mousetrap,” Serratore said. “Everybody’s got their own mousetrap – North Dakota has their mousetrap, Minnesota has their own mousetrap, we have our mousetrap. We all have to make sure we do the best we can with our mousetrap. We all recruit differently, and we have to because we’re different programs.

“When we got to the WCHA in 2010, we thought our mousetrap was different. We found out that we were the same team in the Sanford Center as we were in the John Glas Fieldhouse. Obviously, a few things change, and you change what you’re doing, but we are who we are, to a certain degree. We tried some things, and we realized we went full circle to who we were years before.”

Change has no end in sight in collegiate athletics. There’s always a landscape-altering proposal that will test the foundation of people and programs that compete.

For Serratore, adapting to change has become his status quo.

“I don’t care if you’re a guy like me or if you’re a 40-year-old head coach, you’ve had to adapt in the last few years,” Serratore said. “You can’t fight it, it’s just the way it is. You have to adapt. There’s always going to be certain rules that you have to adapt to, and they’re transitions that you have to take in stride, whether you like them or not.”

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