Bemidji State is in Duluth this weekend for the first time as a member of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
Yet the rivalry with Minnesota Duluth, as conference partners, ends next season.
The 12-team WCHA will be splintered in 2013-14. Bemidji State will remain in a reformed league bearing almost no resemblance to the present WCHA, other than the name.
UMD and five others, including North Dakota and St. Cloud State, will leave for the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. Minnesota and Wisconsin will leave for the Big Ten Conference.
"After the Big Ten announcement (in March), we knew there was talk about another league. We weren't oblivious to that," Bemidji coach Tom Serratore said this week. "I still feel blindsided a bit, but there's a not a lot you can do. Are our fans disappointed? Of course they are."
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Serratore hopes to continue to schedule Bemidji State's two closest rivals -- UMD and North Dakota --in nonconference play when the new era among Division I schools begins. When College Hockey America dissolved after 2009-10, the city of Bemidji built the new Sanford Center and Bemidji State joined the WCHA in 2010-11.
UMD is the only school to play Bemidji State every year since the Beavers moved to Division I in 1999-2000. The series has been ultra-competitive with Bemidji State holding a 5-4-1 advantage the last 10 meetings, including a 3-2 overtime win in the 2011 WCHA Final Five first round on March 17 at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center. UMD leads 14-10-1 overall.
Bemidji State (3-3) started the season with a road split at Miami of Ohio, then ranked No. 2 in Division I. After two close losses at No. 3 Colorado College, the Beavers swept previously undefeated Michigan Tech 6-5, 3-1 in Bemidji, Minn.
"When we play well we're pretty good. When we don't we're vulnerable," said Serratore, a former Bemidji State captain and St. Cloud State assistant coach from Coleraine. "We might not have some of the stars we had last season, but this is probably a more balanced team."
Center Matt Read, who scored 22 goals as a senior last season, is with the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers. Sophomore right winger Brance Orban leads the Beavers in scoring with seven points in six games, and senior center Shea Walters of Hibbing has three goals and six points.
Bemidji State is playing four of its first five series on the road.
Bulldogs building on Providence road series
No. 15-ranked UMD (2-3-1) broke a three-game losing streak last weekend with a nonconference win and tie at Providence College. The Bulldogs blanked 11 of 12 opposing power plays and scored on two of 10 chances. Senior goalie Kenny Reiter stopped 54 of 58 shots on goal against a Providence team that had scored 11 goals in winning its first two games.
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UMD had lost a pair of 5-4 games at home to Minnesota the week before.
"It was a good rebound effort. We got better goaltending and better efforts in other areas, but we're still not consistent enough defensively. We'll keep working on that," said UMD coach Scott Sandelin.
Sandelin made some line changes last weekend and indicated there's been more tweaking this week, including on the top two lines. Freshman Caleb Herbert centering freshman Justin Crandall and senior David Grun has remained intact.
In WCHA play through three weeks, all seven series have been sweeps and all at home, except for Minnesota's two wins at Amsoil Arena.
