MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (Island Sports Center) - With
their backs against the proverbial wall and the 2007-08 College Hockey
America regular-season championship banner hanging in the balance, the
Bemidji State University men’s hockey team responded with an
offensive explosion. The boys from BSU scored four first-period goals
and would not look back taking a 7-2 victory out of the Island Sports
Center to manage a series split with second place Robert Morris
University to hold the five-point lead in the race for the title.
Prior to the game, BSU head coach Tom Serratore
cited one of the keys to Saturday’s game was scoring first and
holding the lead for 60 minutes. The Beavers didn’t score first
but they scored often. After falling behind 1-0 just 90 seconds into
the contest, BSU bounced back netting three goals in a matter of just
4:46 to erase a deficit and go up by two, 3-1.
The
Colonials went through all three of their goaltenders on the night
trying to find an answer for the BSU attack. The Beavers netted goals
on their first three power-play shots, went 3-for-4 on the man
advantage while it posted a season-high seven goals on the night as 15
players recorded their names in the box score.
“It
was a great effort not for us only offensively but also
defensively,” Serratore stated. “Everybody
contributed.”
The seventh-year head
coach added, “It was a must win for us and that is why I am proud
of the guys. They really responded.”
Robert
Morris did its best to take BSU out of the game early. Before the squad
would even break a sweat, Ryan Cruthers found Kyle Burton in front of
the net with a pass from the left corner. Burton slid the puck passed
BSU goaltender Matt Climie (Sr., G, Leduc, Alberta) to give the Colonials the early lead.
The
goal would serve as a wake up call for the Beavers who would net three
goals during the next five minutes and would score again before time
expired on the first frame.
Matt Pope
(Sr., C, Langley, British Columbia) got the Beavers on the board
scoring the first of two BSU power-play goals in the period 4:45 in.
Pope recorded his 12th goal of the season after beating his man to
track down an outstanding pass from Tyler Scofield (Jr., F, Prince George, British Columbia). Brandon Marino (Jr., F, Riverside, Calif.) was also credited with an assist as he got the play started with a pass to Scofield.
Three-minutes and 36-seconds later, the puck would again bounce the Beavers’ way when Joey Moggach
(So., F, Brandon, Manitoba) netted his first goal since Nov. 17--a
streak spanning 17 games--to give BSU a 2-1 lead. Moggach’s
second marker of the season, came on a quick rebound after the RMU
goaltender Christian Boucher kicked aside a Riley Weselowski
(Sr., D, Pilot Mound, Manitoba) bullet from the point. Matt Francis
(Jr., F, Surrey, British Columbia) earned an assist on the play.
Matt Read
(Fr., F, Ilderton, Ontario) put the Beavers up 3-1 less than a minute
later (9:21) netting a 2-on-1 goal with the help of Scofield.
Scofield registered a season-high third assist of the night with 4:48 remaining in the stanza when he hit Travis Winter
(Jr., F, St. Cloud, Minn.) with a blue line-to-blue line pass. Winter
converted the second power-play opportunity of the night for BSU
netting his fifth power-play goal of the season on an odd-angle shot
from deep in the zone.
The Beavers dominated
play during the first 20 minutes and skated into the intermission with
a 4-1 lead to show for it. BSU also held a 9-5 advantage in the shots
category, netting four of nine shots on goal.
The teams played even hockey for the first six minutes of the second, but when Graham McManamin’s
(So., D, Anchorage, Alaska) blue line shot through traffic found its
way into the back of the net, it would put BSU up 5-1 and knock Boucher
out of the game for good. Jim Patterson would replace him in net for
the reminder of the second.
Midway through the period, freshman Ryan Cramer
(Fr., F, International Falls, Minn.) scored his first collegiate goal
when he threw the puck towards the net and it glanced off the shoulder
of Patterson. Tyler Lehrke (So., F, Park Rapids, Minn.) and Dan MacIntyre
(Fr., D, Fort Frances, Ontario) were each credited with a helper on the
play. The assist also stood as MacIntyre’s first collegiate point.
Before the second period expired (19:31), the Beavers would add a third power-play goal. Cody Bostock
(Jr., D, Salmon Arm, British Columbia) unleashed a laser from the point
that was tipped in by Winter, who netted his second power-play marker
of the game to record his first multi-goal game of 2007-08. The goal
put BSU up 7-1 with just over 20 minutes to play
In
the third period, David Boguslawski would net a goal right off the draw
at the 7:59 mark of the frame, but it would be too little, too late for
the Colonials.
BSU special teams were again
suburb. The Beavers’ penalty kill stymied all three RMU power
plays while the power-play unit connected on three of four
opportunities.
Climie recorded 19 saves while
allowing both RMU goals in 49:54 between the pipes. He earned his 12th
victory of the season improving to 12-6-3 overall. Orlando Alamano
recorded 10:06 in relief making eight saves while holding the Colonials
scoreless.
Boucher was tagged with the loss
allowing five BSU goals and recorded just eight saves in 25:34 of
action. He falls to 14-8-2 on the year. Wes Russell held BSU scoreless
in 20:34 while Patterson also recorded 13:52 in the Colonials net and
allowed a pair of BSU goals.
The victory helps
BSU’s improve its all-time record versus RMU to 10-6-1 while the
team is now 4-4-0 versus the Colonials on their home ice.
First-place Bemidji State, 14-13-3 overall and 11-4-3 in league play,
will take a break from College Hockey America action and will travel
west on Highway 2 to battle regional foe No. 3 University of North
Dakota. The strange two-game series will take place on Saturday and
Sunday afternoon. Both games are slated to start at 3:35 p.m. at the
Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.
--bsu--
