NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (Dwyer Arena) -- For the second consecutive night the Bemidji State University hockey team out played Niagara University at Dwyer Arena in Niagara Falls, N.Y., but tonight the Beavers got the bounces they needed to gain a 3-1 victory and earn a split in the two-game College Hockey America road series.

The boost the BSU needed came from a pair of freshman forwards.

"It was a good game, good weekend and a gutty performance by our guys," commented head coach Tom Serratore after the victory. "We really stood tall and weathered a few storms, especially in the second period, but won the period and won the game."

The Beavers stomped the peddle to the floor from the get go. The team recorded 22 shots in the first period with 11 going on target. Just 13 seconds after the drop of the puck, Ben Kinne (Fr., F, St. Paul, Minn.) got BSU on the board with his second collegiate goal. Travis Winter (Sr., F, St. Cloud, Minn.) won the opening face off. From behind the Purple Eagles' net, Brandon Marino (Sr., F, Riverside, Calif.) flung the puck in front of the net to set up the tip in by Kinne. Senior blue liner Cody Bostock (Sr., D, Salmon Arm, British Columbia) was also credited with an assist on the play.

Tyler Lehrke (Jr., F, Park Rapids, Minn.) was called for a five minute checking from behind penalty and sent to the locker room with 18:28 remaining in the first leaving the Beavers with a short bench for virtually the hole game. The penalty may have stymied some, but the Beavers showed resilience not skipping a beat by killing off the major penalty.

Niagara battled back and had the game tying-goal in the back of the net with 56-seconds remaining in the first, but the goal was disallowed due to a high stick sending the teams to the intermission with the score at 1-0 in favor of BSU.

Shea Walters (Fr., F, Hibbing, Minn.) put the Beavers up 2-0 at the 8:03 mark of the second with a one of the most tremendous individual efforts for the Beavers in 2008-09. After a steal by Graham McManamin (Jr., D, Anchorage, Alaska), Walters got the puck and sliced through the offensive zone past two defenders and beat Juliano Pagliero dragging the puck between his forehand and back hand before flipping it over the glove hand of the NU goaltender.

Five minutes into the final stanza, Robert Martini scored a goal assisted by Ryan Olidis to cut the deficit in half. But the Beavers buttoned down the hatches and kept the Purple Eagles out of the goal.

In just his second game back from injury, senior winger Matt Francis (Surrey, British Columbia) closed the door on a Purple Eagle comeback and sent the 1,051 in attendance to the exits on an empty-net marker with 18.7-seconds on the clock.

The goal ended a streak of three games, dating back to December of 2007, without a BSU win at Dwyer Arena and allowed the Beavers to pull the Purple Eagles to 14-19-8 in the all-time series.

Bemidji State out shot NU 25-23 despite NU gaining a 13-5 advantage during the second period.

Although each team went on the power-play three times, including the Purple Eagles' five-minute man advantage in the first, both BSU and NU were held without a special teams goal.

Matt Dalton (So., Clinton, Ontario) was between the pipes for BSU. The sophomore earned improved to 3-4-0 on the season turning away 22 NU shots.

Pagliero was tagged with the loss allowing a pair of goals on 25 shots. He falls to 5-5-1.

Bemidji State (3-7-0; 2-2-0 CHA) returns home for a non-conference series with Michigan Tech University Nov. 28-29. The series, that will get underway Friday at 7:35 p.m. and will wrap Saturday at 7:05 p.m., marks the Huskies first ever trip to Bemidji, Minn.