It was just one of those days -- the kind the University of Minnesota Duluth certainly wants to put in its rearview mirror as soon as possible.

The No. 7 Bulldogs opened up the 2015 North Star College Cup Friday afternoon by falling 4-0 to one-time Western Collegiate Hockey Association rival Bemidji State University at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The Beavers scored once in each of the first two periods, and then added a pair of insurance goals in the first half of the third  route to posting its second lifetime shutout over UMD. The Bullldogs, who hadn't been blanked since a 3-0 home setback to the University of North Dakota on Feb. 21, 2014, are now winless in their last four outings (0-3-1) and have lost back-to-back games for the first time this season.

"Bemidji played hard today -- they were the better team," said head coach Scott Sandelin, whose Bulldogs lost for just the fifth time in 13 away dates this season and fell to 13-9-1 overall. "I don't want to get into any particular aspect of what we didn't do well tonight. The bottom line is they deserved to win this game."

UMD failed to cash in on any of its five power play opportunites, including a five-minute chance late in the first period, while the Beavers (8-12-3) went 1-of-5. The Bulldogs have struck just five times with the man advantage in their last 12 games.

UMD will now face the University of Minnesota, which the Bulldogs swept in a home-and-home series two months ago, in Saturday afternoon's third place game.

"The train is off the track right now, but it's not completely off the track," said Sandelin. "We've just got to get back to working hard again because nothing is going to come easy from here on in."

Notes: The shutout loss marked the end of UMD junior center Tony Cameranesi's career-high nine-game scoring streak ... UMD, which has been outshot in just three of its 23 games to date, held a slim 28-26 shot advantage over the Beavers ... Five of those shots came off the stick of sophomore left winger Alex Iafallo ... The Bulldogs are 2-2-1 against unranked opponents in 2014-15 and 11-7-0 versus the rest ... UMD's all-time record at the Xcel Energy stands at 10-7-1.