BEMIDJI, Minn. -- Sixteen regular-season home games, a potential of eight games versus 2019 NCAA Tournament participants, and non-conference contests with the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, N.D. and St. Cloud State University at Sanford Center for the first time since 2014 highlight Bemidji State University’s 34-game 2019-20 men’s ice hockey schedule. The announcement came in conjunction with the release of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association’s upcoming 140-game regular-season schedule.

In addition to the Beavers’ 28-game WCHA slate, BSU has six non-conference contests, which include a home series versus a St. Cloud State team that held down the top spot in the national polls for a good chunk of 2018-19 to open the season and a two-game series at North Dakota. In addition, the Beavers return to the Mariucci Classic for the first time since the 2010-11 season.

The Beavers break the seal on their 64th season of play Oct. 11-12, when they welcome St. Cloud State. After a week off, BSU continues non-conference play with a trip west on Highway 2 to face North Dakota at Ralph Engelstad Arena, Oct. 25-26, before it opens its WCHA slate with a trip to Fairbanks, Alaska (Nov. 1-2) to face the University of Alaska.

Bemidji State returns to Sanford Center Nov. 8-9 as the Beavers host Lake Superior State University to open a four-game season series with the Lakers. After a road trip to Ferris State University (Nov. 15-16), BSU hosts long-time rival the University of Alabama-Huntsville (Nov. 22-23) at home before wrapping up the month of November with a trip back to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to battle Lake Superior State in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. (Nov. 29-30).

The Beavers only home series in December comes Dec. 6-7 when BSU hosts Alaska to complete the regular-season series with the Nanooks. After a two-week break for the holidays, Bemidji State will return to action Dec. 28-29 when it travels to Minneapolis for two games as a part of the Mariucci Classic. Hosted by the University of Minnesota, the all-Minnesota field includes the Golden Gophers, St. Cloud State, Minnesota State University in addition to the Beavers. The Classic not only closes out the 2019 calendar year for the Beavers, it also begins six consecutive weeks of competition—their longest stretch of the 2019-20 season.

Head Coach Tom Serratore and the Beavers will return to Bemidji, Minn., Jan. 3-4 to open a series with Ferris State. Following a Jan. 10-11 trip to a warmer climate to face Alabama-Huntsville, BSU returns home for its lone regular-season series with Michigan Technological University, Jan. 17-18. A trip to Mankato, Minn. then opens a four-game regular-season series with Minnesota State before the Beavers close out the month of January and ring in February with a series versus Bowling Green State University at home, Jan. 31-Feb. 1.

After a weekend free of competition (Feb. 7-8), Bemidji State hits the road for its longest road trip of the 2019-20 campaign. The trip will take the Beavers from Marquette, Mich. for its lone series match up with Northern Michigan University (Feb. 14-15) to Anchorage, Alaska to face the University of Alaska-Anchorage the following weekend (Feb. 21-22). Over the course of the 10-day span, the Beavers will play four games and cover 6,800 miles.

After nearly a month without a home contest, BSU returns to Sanford Center for a two-game series to wrap up the WCHA regular season versus Minnesota State, Feb. 28-29.

The 2019 postseason and the battle for the Jeff Sauer WCHA Championship Trophy begins March 6-8 with the top eight teams playing best-of-three quarterfinal series at the home sites of the top four seeds. The semifinal round, March 13-15, will again feature a best-of-three series on the campuses of the top two remaining seeds with the winners advancing to a one-game conference title contest for the Jeff Sauer WCHA Championship Trophy and an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. The championship game will take place on the home ice of the highest remaining seed March 21.

The NCAA Tournament opens March 27-29. Advancing teams will be seeded in any of the four regional sites, which include Albany, N.Y., Worcester, Mass., Allentown, Pa., and Loveland, Colo.

After a weekend off the ice, the four regional championship teams will participate in the Frozen Four, which will take place April 9-11 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

The Beavers finished the 2018-19 season with an overall record of 15-17-6 overall and placed fifth in the WCHA with a 13-11-4-2 mark and made its ninth consecutive appearance in the WCHA postseason. Senior defender Justin Baudry earned a spot as a member of the All-WCHA Second Team, Owen Sillinger was selected to the league’s all-rookie team and 15 BSU student-athletes were recognized with 2018-19 WCHA All-Academic awards. Following the season, Baudry and fellow senior Jay Dickman earned professional hockey deals. Baudry landed a spot with the Ontario Reign of the American Hockey League, while Dickman played out the season with the Florida Everblades of the East Coach Hockey League.

The 2019-20 men’s hockey season ticket renewal/purchase process is already underway with season tickets beginning at $275. For more information, to renew your current season ticket package or for questions regarding season ticket options, call (218) 755-2827.

For more information on the Bemidji State men’s hockey program, follow the Beavers on Twitter (@BSUBeavers or @BSUMHockey), like them on Facebook (facebook.com/BSUBeavers) or sign up for the TXTUpdates from BSUBeavers.com text-messaging system through the "Multimedia" pull down menu on the main page of BSUBeavers.com.

Nestled in Northern Minnesota’s wooded region and located on the shore of Lake Bemidji, Bemidji State University sponsors 15 varsity athletic programs with NCAA Division I men’s and women’s hockey membership in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, while its 13 NCAA Division II programs hold membership in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).

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