BEMIDJI , Minn. (John S. Glas Fieldhouse) - Minnesota Duluth scored three unanswered goals in the second and third periods to pick up a 3-1 victory and complete a weekend sweep over the Beavers. Minnesota Duluth’s Noemie Marin scored two goals to lead the Bulldogs to victory including the game winner.

The Beavers grabbed a 1-0 lead at 7:36 of the first period for it’s first lead of the weekend series. Helena Tageson (Malmo, Sweden) took a pass from Kelly Hart (Ajax, Ontario) and snipped a slap shot past Minnesota Duluth goaltender Riitta Schaublin to give the Beavers an early 1-0 lead. Hart and Nikki Eckebrecht (Hamilton, Ontario) picked up the helpers for the on Tageson’s goal.

With the assist on Tageson’s goal Hart becomes BSU’s all-time assist leader with 64, breaking Amber Fryklund’s old mark of 63 career assists.

The one-goal BSU lead held through the end of the first period, but the Bulldogs scored two times in the first 8:07 of the second period to take a 2-1 lead and slowly take control of the contest.

Bemidji State’s Jackie Robertson (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) was called for roughing at 3:18 of the first period to give the Bulldogs it’s third power-play opportunity of the contest. The Bulldogs capitalized on the man-advantage as Myriam Trepanier recorded her fourth goal of the season with just :07 seconds left on the power-play to even the score at 1-1. Karine Demeule and Saara Tuominen picked up the assists on the Bulldogs game-tying power-play goal.

The Bulldogs quick strike offense would score again, just 2:56 seconds after Trepanier’s game-tying goal. Noemie Marin gave the Bulldogs its first lead of the game at 8:07 of the period when she took a pass from Jessica Koizumi and tip the puck past the Bemidji State goaltender Emily Brookshaw (Webster, Wis.) for her 13th goal of the season. Marin’s goal gave the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead and it held going into the second intermission.

The Bulldogs added an insurance goal with just under 10-minutes left in the contest. The insurance goal was also the Bulldogs third unanswered goal, which pushed Minnesota Duluth’s lead to 3-1. Helena Tageson (Malmo, Sweden) was called for tripping at 8:43 of the final frame to give the Bulldogs its eighth power-play opportunity of the game. Noemie Marin capitalized just :29 seconds into the man advantage. Marin’s goal was her second of the game and her 14th of the season for the Bulldogs. Emmanuelle Blais and Jessica Koizumi assisted on Marin’s power-play goal.

The Beavers would take a timeout with 1:37 left in the contest, but with solid goaltending from Riitta Schaublin the Bulldogs were able to fight off the late offensive attack from the Beavers and skate away with a 3-1 win and weekend series sweep over Bemidji State.

The Bulldogs out shot the Beavers 33-to-23 in the contest, 12-9 in the first period, 13-6 in the second period and 8-8 in the third period.

Emily Brookshaw (Webster, Wis.) saved 30 of 33 shots faced, allowing all three of the Bulldog goals, in 58:23 of work; she took the loss, and fell to 9-13-3 on the year.

Riitta Schaublin saved 22 of 23 shots faced in the complete-game victory for the Bulldogs to earn the win in goal seeing her season record improve to 9-3-2.

BSU and Minnesota Duluth combined for 12 penalties, nine minor penalties on Bemidji State and just three minor penalties on Minnesota Duluth. The Bulldogs went 2-for-9 on the man-advantage, with the Beavers going 0-for-3 on the power-play.

The loss dropped Bemidji State to 0-33-1 in 34 all-time meetings with Minnesota Duluth. The lone tie for the Beavers came on Feb. 3, 2002 when the Bulldogs and Beavers skated to a 3-3 overtime tie in Duluth, Minn. The Beavers are 0-17-0 all-time against the Bulldogs in Bemidji, Minn.

Bemidji State saw its record drop to 10-13-3 with the loss, while Minnesota Duluth saw its season mark improve to 15-7-2. Bemidji State will continue conference play next weekend as the Beavers will travel to St. Cloud, Minn., to take on the St. Cloud State Huskies; opening faceoffs from the National Hockey Center are slated for 7:07 p.m. on Friday night and 2:07 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. It will be the second and final regular season meeting between the two teams this season; BSU swept St. Cloud State, 6-4 and 4-2, in Bemidji on Oct. 13-14.

--beavers--