Beavers benefit from goaltender Max Hildebrand raising his floor
· Yahoo Sports
Nov. 5—BEMIDJI — Max Hildebrand admitted he wanted one back against Ferris State on Saturday.
Following Max Namestnikov's tying goal to open the third period, the Bemidji State men's hockey team's sophomore starting goalie was fooled by Justin Stupka's shot from just inside the blue line. It gave the Bulldogs a 4-3 lead with just over nine minutes left in regulation.
Visit asg-reflektory.pl for more information.
"Obviously, it's a goal I want back," Hildebrand said on Tuesday during BSU's weekly press conference. "Especially at that time of the game, with how that game went. ... It's a quick moment, and it's part of being a goalie. I'm going to learn from that, but thankfully (Maxon) Vig had my back there in the third."
Vig scored the Beavers' third tying goal of the game. It came with 2:05 left in regulation and forced overtime.
During the 3-on-3 session, it was Hildebrand's turn for a bail-out moment. He made a sliding save on Colton Jamieson's one-time shot, leading to a 4-4 tie and a shootout win to complete a five-point weekend for Bemidji State.
"It's the ups and downs of being a goalie," Hildebrand said. "You can never give up on the game. Always stay in it, because you never know when you're going to need to make a save for your team. Thankfully, I was able to get that one for us."
Through six games, Hildebrand has been the "backbone" of the Beavers, according to head coach Tom Serratore. He's posted a .909 save percentage and a 2.63 goals-against average in starts against St. Cloud State, North Dakota, Minnesota Duluth and Ferris State.
"For every goalie on every team in the world, if they're on their game, you have a good chance of winning the game," Serratore said. "It might be the most important position in sports — I think it is. Some people might argue for the quarterback, but I think it's the goaltender. They're out there for the entire 60 minutes. You win and die with those guys, and there's a lot of pressure on those guys. (Hildebrand) is standing tall right now."
The 6-foot-2, 195-pound goalie out of Martensville, Saskatchewan, came to Bemidji State as a highly touted recruit. He was fresh off winning the Western Hockey League's Del Wilson Memorial Trophy as the top goaltender of the year during his age-out season in 2024-25. However, his start with the Beavers came with growing pains.
Replacing four-year starter Mattias Sholl, who graduated in 2025, Hildebrand posted an .880 save percentage in his first six games at BSU last season, working in a tandem with Raythan Robbins. After the calendar flipped to 2026, Hildebrand started all but three games to finish the season.
"After Christmas, I started to play a little bit more and get in more of a rhythm," Hildebrand said. "Things in college started becoming a bit more routine for myself. I've just been building off that all offseason and coming into this year as well."
Hildebrand ended the season on a tear, posting a .940 save percentage over the final six games of the season against Minnesota State, St. Thomas and Augustana in the Mason Cup quarterfinals.
"It was right around February — and you can ask him — but I think that's when things slowed down for him," Serratore said. "We got on a good run. Remember, the month of January was tough on us. We were dialed in the first month of the year, and then in January, I don't know what happened. It might've extended into the first weekend in February, but again, we got back on track, and a lot of it was because of Hilty."
Including the final six games of last season and his first six starts this season, Hildebrand's save percentage is .923.
"All sports and games are more fun when you have confidence and you're in a rhythm," Hildebrand said. "I've been trying to work on raising the floor a bit so I'm more consistent when I play, so even on nights when I'm not feeling the most confident, I can still give my team a chance to win."
Bemidji State hit the road for Bowling Green for its first league series away from the Sanford Center this weekend. It's a series that Serratore suspects Hildebrand will need to keep playing at the level he's been at.
"It's going to be a tough series," Serratore said. "They're physical, and they're pretty dialed in. ... We've had some crazy games in Bowling Green over the years — crazy games. It's a fast rink, small rink, no neutral zone, no lead is safe. Like I said, a lot of crazy games over the years, and I wouldn't be surprised if this weekend's the same thing."
Bowling Green is 4-4, but it's coming off a bye and a six-point sweep of Lake Superior State to open the CCHA slate. The Falcons were swept by Michigan to begin the 2026-27 season in a home-and-home series, then won the Ice Breaker Tournament with road wins over Sacred Heart and UConn.
BGSU was then swept in a pair of sold-out games at Slater Family Ice Arena before sweeping the Lakers on the road.
While it's been an up-and-down start for Bowling Green, it arguably has the league's top player through the first month of the season. Sophomore forward Noah Morneau is tied with Lake Superior State's Charles Savoie and Augustana's Leo Bulgakov with 11 points to lead all CCHA skaters so far. Forwards Bordy Waters (1g-7a—8p), Tyler Hotson (5g-2a—7p) and Connor Levis (1g-6a—7p) are all top 10 in the CCHA in scoring as well, while Breck McKinley (2g-3a—5p) is third among all CCHA defensemen in scoring.
"We'll see a better team because they're a year older," Serratore said of BGSU. "They're a good team and a better team. They have a talented defensive corps. When you sit here and talk about teams that can win this league, you think of Bowling Green, along with a couple of other teams."
Bemidji State went on the road to Bowling Green at a similar point in the season last fall — Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 — and came out of it with four CCHA points in a pair of games that went to overtime. After the Beavers won the shootout in a 4-4 tie in the series opener, they staged a two-goal comeback in the third period in the second game when Hudson Thornton scored in overtime to win 3-2.
"Last year, we had a good trip out there, and it's going to be a good first CCHA trip for us this year," Hildebrand said. "They're a hard team to play against, especially in their own building. We had some success there last year and hopefully we can build off that this year."
The series begins at 6:07 p.m. on Friday. The series finale begins at 5:07 p.m. on Saturday. The Beavers return home to host Minnesota State Nov. 13-14 at the Sanford Center.