BEMIDJI, Minn.— A season ago, Bemidji State Men’s hockey finished 20-16-2 record and a 15-7-2 Central Collegiate Hockey Conference  (CCHA)record. This year will be Tom Serratore’s 24th season as the head BSU bench boss.

Last season’s group of Beavers had their season ended in a 2-1 home loss in the CCHA Mason Cup against Michigan Tech. Bemidji State’s lone goal came from Kasper Magnussen (Fredrikstad, Norway/J20 Nationell-Leksands/International Federation) with the assists being awarded to Austin Jouppi (Duluth, Minn./Bismarck/ NAHL) and Jackson Jutting (Savage, Minn./Colorado College/NCAA).

The Beavers will lose seven seniors from last years squad including one to the transfer portal; this includes Gavin Enright (Farmington, Minn./Green Bay/USHL), Jack Powell (Alexandria, Minn./Aberdeen/NAHL), Kyle Looft (Mankato, Minn./USHL/Cedar Rapids), Carter Jones (Hillyard, Wash./Trail/BCHL), Eric Martin (Calgary, Alberta/Drumheller/AJHL), Jutting and Jouppi. Last year’s group of seniors combined for 32 goals and 77 assists in 176 games. Lleyton Roed led the team in points totaling 14 goals and 16 assists.

The goaltending tandem of Enright and Robbins played 39 games and totaled a combine record of 20-16-2. The two collected a .891 save percentage and 2.83 goals against average. Enright used his last year of eligibility in the transfer portal and will be starting the 2024-25 season at St Cloud State University in the National Collegiate Athletic Conference (NCHC).

The Beavers bring in two new goaltenders into the lineup to join sophomore Raythan Robbins (Anchorage, Alaska/Muskegon/USHL). Mattias Sholl (Hermosa Beach, Calif./Youngstown/USHL) and Trent Wiemkem (Fargo, N.D./ Austin/NAHL) will travel north to backstop the crease in front of the rowdy Sanford Center student section.

The 2024-25 Bemidji State Beaver Men’s Hockey team boasts nine Canadian born players in the town that Paul Bunyan built. This group of “Beavs” includes Isa Parekh (Nobleton, Ontario), A.J. McCaulay (Bonnyville, Alberta), Alexi Sylvestre (Sainte-Martine, Quebec), Noah Quinn (Nelson, B.C.), Rhys Chiddenton (Campbellville, Ontario), Reilly Funk (Portage, Manitoba), Jake McLean (North Vancouver, B.C.), Ryan Henderson (Lethbridge, Alberta), Eric Martin (Calgary, Alberta).

Bemidji brings in three NCAA Division I transfers courtesy of the transfer portal. These include A.J. Macaulay (Bonnyville, Alberta/Alaska Fairbanks), Carter Randklev (Moorhead, Minn./Niagara) and Reilly Funk (Portage, Manitoba/Northern Michigan)

A season ago, the line of Adam Flammang, Jackson Jutting and Eric Martin led the way for the Beavers… will veteran leadership be consistent or will the Bemidji faithful see younger guys step up to light the lamp for the Green and White. Flammang, Jutting and Martin combined for 67 points in 103 contests (does not count early season exhibition matchups).

Gavin Enright- (15 games, 3.18 GAA, .872 save percentage)

Kyle Looft- (32 games, six goals, 22 assists, zero game winning goals)

Carter Jones- (37 games, six goals, 18 assists, three game winning goals)

Eric Martin- (38 games, eight goals, 18 assists, zero game winning goals)

Jackson Jutting- (27 games, ten goals, 12 assists, three game winning goals)

Austin Jouppi- (37 games, two goals, 17 assists, zero game winning goals)

Lleyton Roed- 14 goals

Eric Pohlkamp- 11 goals

Jackson Jutting- 10 goals

Adam Flammang- 9 goals

Eric Martin- 8 goals

Kyle Looft- 6 goals

Parekh pent four seasons in the Ontario Junior Hockey League where he tallied 29 points which included five goals and 24 assists. Parekh was ranked the sixth highest defensemen in points during the 2022-23 season with 30 points, described by scouts as a smooth skating defenseman with a good skill set from the blue line. His skating ability and vision allow him to make plays on the blue line and jump in the rush to be a second set of offense for his forwards on an odd man rush.

Sylvestre played three seasons of juniors beginning in 2022. Sylvestre began his career with the Valleyfield Braves of the Quebec Junior Hockey League (QJHL) scoring four goals and tallying two assists in the playoffs. He was then shipped to the Flin Flon Bombers of the SJHL, where he ended up being a mainstay for the next two seasons. Sylvestre combined for 53 goals and 60 assists in a total of 111 games, this included 28 playoff games (14 goals, 16 assists). He is in the top North American Skaters NHL Prospects list. The 2024-25 season will be his first season of NCAA Division I Hockey in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA).

A graduate of East Grand Forks H.S., Panzer spent his senior season with the North American Hockey League’s Minot Minotauros collecting five goals and 13 assists. Panzer was then claimed by the United States Hockey League’s (USHL) Sioux Falls Stampede where he spent the past three seasons. He combined for 34 goals and 41 assists in 128 games where he was named the assistant captain during his final season of junior before committing to play college hockey.

A graduate from Sartell St-Stephen’s HS, Lund spent four seasons playing junior hockey. One season with the NA3HL’s Granite City Lumberjacks before spending three seasons in the North American Hockey League with the Minot Minotauros and El Paso Rhinos. With the Minotauros he tallied four goals and seven assists. During two seasons with El Paso, he totaled 57 points (20 goals, 37 assists).

A graduate from Holy Family Catholic, Roelofs spent four seasons with the Bismarck Bobcats where he wore both the “A” and the “C”, through his first two seasons he combined for 29 points. During his last two juniors’ seasons Roelofs tallied nine goals and 32 assists. This included nine games in the NAHL playoffs where he recorded an assist.

Henderson played three seasons of junior hockey with the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s (AJHL) Drumheller Dragons. Throughout those three seasons, Henderson tallied seven goals and 47 assists, in the Alberta Junior Hockey League Playoffs he totaled four goals and six assists in a total of 22 contests.

Wiemkem, a graduate from Fargo Davies HS, backstopped the NAHL’s Austin Bruins for two seasons and played one game with the United States Hockey League’s Fargo Force, during three seasons he started 70 games recording a combined 39-19-4 regular season record, .945 save percentage, 1.41 goals against average. In 14 playoff games, Wiemkem totaled a 8-5-1 record with a 3.78 goals against average and a .854 save percentage.