BEMIDJI – March is a sentimental period for a college hockey player.
Postseason play begins, and not long after, it comes to a close. With it ends the collegiate careers of several seniors on a team.
Many of those seniors sign professional contracts, furthering their prospects but severing bonds with their collegiate teammates. The mixed feelings undergirding those moments leave players like those of the Bemidji State men’s hockey team in a state of limbo.
“Right after the (season) ended, we were sitting in there, obviously you’re not happy,” sophomore goaltender Mattias Sholl said. “Pretty emotional scene in the locker room. And the days since, we’ve just been cherishing our time together. Just enjoying our time together, really, because (there’s) not much time left.”
The Beavers’ season finished after an opening-round sweep in the CCHA Quarterfinals at the hands of Northern Michigan. A year that commenced with such promise – a home win over No. 2 St. Cloud State, sweeping Minnesota State in Mankato, holding first place in the conference at the holiday break – had petered out with a disappointing conclusion.
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The denouement felt especially abrupt after last season’s exhilarating underdog run to the Mason Cup Championship.
“Of course we wanted to keep going a couple more weeks and see if we could win a championship, but that didn't happen,” senior defenseman Elias Rosén said. “Everything hit at once. It was a hard time, but you're still trying to get over it and still just trying to make memories for the last couple of days here (with the team).”
Rosén, like fellow seniors Ross Armour, Kaden Pickering and Will Zmolek, will soon depart Bemidji State to begin his own professional career. That will spell the end of Rosén and Zmolek’s tenure at BSU, which stabilized the Beavers’ blue line throughout a prolific four-year run.
“They've been a tandem since day one,” head coach Tom Serratore said. “We've had them together since their freshman year. Those guys played a lot of hockey together. They knew each other inside and out.
“And they really complemented each other well. When they ate up all these minutes this year, it was all together. It wasn't too many times we put Will out here with this guy or Rosie with the other guy. We put those guys out together because they were such a good tandem. Rosie could do certain things because he knew he had Will as a safety net as his partner.”
Moving forward, Bemidji State will pivot to a younger group of defensemen while looking to further the development of an impressive freshman class.
“The freshman class that came in was really good,” Rosén said. “And if they get another year to just develop and get stronger, they can have all the chance in the world to get a championship next year, I feel like. It's a really strong core group that they have right now.
“You’ve got good goaltending, you've got good defense. They’ve got really good players up front, they’ve got (another) good freshman class coming in. So I would see a championship in the future for sure. It's a really good team coming next year. And I feel like Beaver fans can expect a lot from them.”
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Sholl, who will be a centerpiece of next season’s squad, expressed similar optimism about BSU’s youthful contributors.
“The younger group has to step up,” Sholl said. “The freshman class coming in, they're going to have a big role to play, just like the freshman class this year, I would assume. You need all hands on deck like always. The classes moving up have to step up even more, come more into a leadership role. Just try to lock down and do the best job we can, be examples for the younger guys and create a nice team chemistry so we can have more success (next) year.
“It's going to be a good year. I'm excited for it, for sure.”
Serratore wasn’t fully convinced one way or the other, but he was encouraged by the way Bemidji State’s underclassmen stepped into new roles this year. If they can take another leap next season, those high expectations might indeed be fulfilled.
“We have a good bunch of guys,” Serratore said. “That's the biggest thing. It's a good locker room. We're losing obviously some big leadership, (so) then it’s somebody else's turn. That's what happens every year. There's a lot of times that that transition is very smooth, sometimes it can be difficult. But we also like the puzzle pieces that we have in that room, and we think that those guys have the capabilities of keeping things going
“Our seniors are gone now. And hey, they went to an Elite Eight, they would have been in an NCAA Tournament during a COVID year. We were one game away from the national tournament last year. They had a lot of success on the ice. They blazed a lot of trails for the younger guys, and they were great guys to look up to and they were great mentors. But now it's somebody else's turn, and that's the beauty of sports.”
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