DENVER, Colo. (Magness Arena) - Tyler Scofield (Jr., F, Prince George, British Columbia) and Blaine Jarvis (Sr., F, Gladstone, Manitoba) each scored goals but the Bemidji State University men’s ice hockey team ran into a tough University of Denver squad Saturday falling to the fourth-ranked pioneers, 4-2 at Magness Arena in Denver, Colo.

“Give credit to where credit is due,” commented BSU head coach Tom Serratore after the loss. “ That is a good hockey team. They are big and strong and tough down low. We had some good play tonight, but they were the better hockey team.”

Bemidji State started out strong taking a 1-0 lead just 6:19 into the game. Scofield got the Beavers on the board when Travis Winter (Jr., C, St. Cloud, Minn.) found his speedy linemate streaking beyond the Pioneer defense. Scofield found the five hole for his team-leading ninth goal of 2007-08.

Unfortunately that was the only offensive surge the Beavers would muster during the first 20 minutes. The team was out shot 15-6 in the stanza as they spent a good portion of the back half of the period at least a man short.

On the other hand, Denver controlled the final ten minutes of the period getting a pair of unanswered goals from Tyler Bozak and Matt Glasser.

The Beavers killed off a 5-of-3 penalty as the first period came to a close holding the Pioneers scoreless on three chances up a man. The teams skated to the locker rooms with DU leading 2-1.

The Pioneers got their fourth power-play opportunity when Matt Francis (Jr., F, Surrey, British Columbia) was sent to the penalty box just two minutes into the third and the fourth time was a charm for DU capitalizing on a defensive breakdown in the Pioneer zone. Rhett Rakhshani scored the Denver’s third goal with a lone assist credited to Tom May. The goal would stand as the game-winner--Rakhshani’s third of the season.

The Beavers cut the DU lead to 3-2 at the 12-minute mark when Matt Pope (Sr., C, Langley, British Columbia) found Jarvis standing alone at the back door for a power-play for the Beavers’ lone power-play marker on six opportunities on the night. Four minutes later, Chris Nutini earned five minutes in the box and a game misconduct for checking from behind setting BSU up with a power-play for the remainder of the period. However, the Beavers were unable to generate any push and finished the stanza trailing the hosting Pioneers 3-2.

The third period was evenly played, but when the Beavers turned the puck over at the blue line during their forth power-play chance of the night, the Pioneer’s leading scorer Brock Trotter slid the unassisted, short-handed marker past Orlando Alamano (Jr., G, Fresno, Calif.) at the 7:38 mark to stretch the lead to 4-2 and put an end to the momentum swing.

Despite pulling Alamano to use the extra attacker for most of the final two minutes of the game, BSU was unable make up any ground and fell to the Pioneers 4-2.

In all the BSU penalty kill was effective killing seven of DU’s eight opportunities, but time, effort and energy spent a man down caught up with the squad in the long run.

BSU was out shot in the game 32-28, marking just the fourth time this season BSU has been out shot.

Alamano allowed four goals in the loss falling to 1-4-0 on the season. He turned away 28 DU shots in 57:59 in net.

Marc Cheverie, a freshman, collected 26 saves while allowing just two goals in the win, logging 60:00 between the pipe to earn the first win of his collegiate career (1-0-0).

Bemidji State, now 11-11-2 overall and 8-2-2 in league play, looks to protect its lead in the College Hockey America regular-season standings next weekend as it welcome third-place Robert Morris University (10-8-2/5-2-1 CHA) to the John Glas Fieldhouse for the first meeting between the teams this season. The series is set to start Friday at 7:35 p.m. while the puck will drop on the final game of the series at 7:05 p.m.

--bsu--