BEMIDJI, Minn. - The Bemidji State University women’s hockey team started slow again today giving up an early goal to Ohio State. But the team would use a dominant second period to beat Ohio State 4-2 and take the series. The Beavers gained three of the four points this weekend going 1-0-1 against the Buckeyes.
After a night were the teams’ play mirrored each other, the Beavers stepped their games up today to take sole position of third place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
The Buckeyes found the net first to take 1-0 first period lead. Jana Harrigan scored her fourth goal of the season off a Jennifer Desson rebound, to beat the Beaver goaltender, Anik Coté.
Coming into the second period down 1-0, the Beavers skated to arguably their best individual period of play this season. They out shot the Buckeyes 17-12 and scored four goals.
Katie Ward led the Beaver scoring attack as she scored her first goal of the season, to tie the game 1-1. At the 2:33 mark of the period, Amber Fryklund faked the shot and passed to Ward to beat the OSU goaltender Natalie Lamme. Fryklund would again be in on the scoring as she beat her former Hibbing High School teammate, Lamme, for an unassisted goal at the 3:44 mark. The goal gave the Beavers a 2-1 lead. Guylaine Haché scored her fourth goal of the season at the 13:23 as Fryklund recorded her second assist of the game and Lisa Peters added an assist. Just 24 seconds later (13:47) the Beavers would find the net when senior assistant captain Betsy Hegland scored her first goal of the season as Caesare Stimson fed her the pass on a 2-1 break. The Beavers took a 4-1 lead into the second intermission.
Beginning the third period with a three-goal lead is something that Bemidji State has not done much this year. “We played a good second period and wanted to play the third period smart and I think we did that,” said head coach Bruce Olson.
The Buckeyes would score another goal to move within two goals when Emma Laaksonen beat Coté at the 12:42 mark of the period. In a last ditch effort to gain ground, Ohio State pulled their goaltender with 2:05 remaining in the game. The Beavers would hold off the Ohio State charge to keep the lead and get the win.
After the game Olson commented, “This was a a good step for us, confidence-wise. It was a really gutty performance and a good team effort. We did a good job bottling them up and Anik played well in the net.”
The win brings the Beavers record to 3-4-2 over all and 3-2-1 in the WCHA. They will take the ice again next weekend (Nov. 8-9) when they travel to Minneapolis, Minn. to take on the No. 2 team in the nation, the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. Friday’s game is set for a 7:05 p.m. start and the puck will drop at 4:05 p.m. on Saturday. Both games will be played in Ridder Arena, the University of Minnesota’s new women’s hockey venue.
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Scoring Scored by Assist
1st OSU Jana Harrigan (4) Jennifer Desson (3)
Jeni Creary (7)
2nd BSU Katie Ward (1) Amber Fryklund (7)
2nd BSU Amber Fryklund (3) unassisted
2nd BSU Guylaine Haché (4) Amber Fryklund (8)
Lisa Peters (1)
2nd BSU Betsy Hegland (1) Caesare Stimson (1)
3rd OSU Crystal Sayther (1) Emma Laaksonen (7)
Saves
OSU Natalie Lamme (57:55) - 22 BSU Coté (60:00) - 37
Stars (1) Fryklund-BSU, (2) Coté-BSU, (3) Peters-BSU
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