Nov. 6, 2004
[box score]
GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Sophomore Nikki Eckebrecht (Hamilton, Ontario) scored the first hat trick of the season for the Bemidji State women’s hockey team (1-8-0, 0-7-0 WCHA) but North Dakota (3-6-0, 3-6-0 WCHA) tallied two-power play goals en-route to a 6-4 win Saturday at Ralph Engelstad Arena. UND has now beaten BSU in six straight games.
The opening period of play proved to an offensive showcase with each team tallying two goals each. Bemidji State compiled a 16-14 shot advantage over the Fighting Sioux in the period, marking the highest single-period shot total of the season for the Beavers.
Despite being out-shot by an 11-2 clip in the first five minutes of the game, North Dakota lit up the scoreboard first at the 7:45 mark when Liz Funk earned her fifth goal of the year for UND.
BSU answered with a bang-bang goal of it its own less than a minute later. Junior Mandy Bambrough (Toronto, Ontario) took a pass from freshman Jessica Pullar (Elk River, Minn.) and fired the puck on net which was in turn redirected to the back of the net off the leg of UND defender Jessica Kovacevich. The marker was Bambrough’s first of the season, while Pullar chipped in a point for the second consecutive contest with the first assist of her young career.
The Fighting Sioux capitalized on a BSU tripping penalty with a power-play tally from Alexia Gagnon Laplante at 16:55 of the first period to garner a 2-1 lead.
Much like their first goal of the game, the Beavers responded quickly in recording their second score of the afternoon. Forward Nikki Eckebrecht lit the lamp for the first time of her sophmore campaign at 18:58 of the first period after stealing the puck from a UND defender and beating goaltender Jenna Burdy on the short side.
The scoring explosion between the two teams continued in the second stanza, as the Fighting Sioux netted three goals and the Beavers lit the lamp once.
Although UND put up only six shots in the period three of those shots found the back of the net. Bemidji native, Meghan Hopps gave the home team a 3-2 lead at the 5:35 mark, while Christey Allen gave the Fighting Sioux a two-goal cushion with the second power-play goal of the game for North Dakota at 13:52 of the period.
After allowing four goals in 19 shots, junior goaltender Jill Luebke (Neenah, Wis.) was pulled for rookie Emily Brookshaw (Webster, Wis.).
UND extended its lead to 5-2 less than a minute later as Devon Fingland notched her first goal of the year.
BSU finally got back on the board at the 18:02 mark when junior Laura Lankton (Houghton, Mich.) fed Nikki Eckebrecht’s second lamp-lighter of the game. Eckebrecht’s two-goal performance is the first multi-goal effort of 2004-05 for the Beavers. The helper by Lankton was her first of the season.
In the final stanza the Beavers cut the Fighting Sioux lead to 5-4 with Ekebrecht’s third goal of the game at 8:55, marking the first hat trick to be scored by a BSU player since Dec. 12, 2003, when Jenn Sadler recorded three goals and an assist against St. Cloud State in Bemidji. Jessica Pullar was credited with her second helper of the afternoon and third point in two games.
Overall, both teams fired 30 shots on goal in the game, the first time that has happened this season.
North Dakota’s Cami Wooster put the game out of reach Bemidji State at the 13:31 of the final frame with her fifth score of the year.
Emily Brookshaw compiled eight saves after relieving Jill Luebke, who stopped a season-low 15 shots before being pulled.
Jenna Burdy made 25 saves for UND in the first start of her freshman season.
The Beavers and Fighting Sioux will play the rematch Sunday afternoon at 2:05 p.m. at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
