BEMIDJI, Minn. (John Glas Fieldhouse) - The Bemidji State University men’s ice hockey team found a way to win Friday but not without first taking the Beaver faithful on quite a roller-coaster ride. Despite taking a 2-0 lead less than five minutes into the contest, the Beavers found themselves down 4-3 after 40 minutes of play and needed four third-period goals to skate out of the John Glas Fieldhouse with a 7-5 victory over College Hockey America foe Wayne State University.

“It was a helter-skelter game,” commented BSU head coach Tom Serratore in frustration after the game. “We found a way to survive, but it was an ugly way of winning. As happy as you are to win a game, there are also some concerns in our lack of consistency. If we don’t remedy this by tomorrow, we could be in rough shape.”

With the score knotted at 5-5 and the clock in its last 10 minutes, the Beavers urgently skated the puck into the zone. Matt Pope (Sr., Langley, British Columbia) fired a shot form the right face off circle that was saved, but Brandon Marino (Jr., Riverside, Calif.) bounced a second attempt off the leg of WSU goaltender Mike Devoney before senior blue liner Riley Weselowski (Pilot Mound, Manitoba) found the rebound at the top of the crease and slid the puck into the back of the net.

The goal would put the Beavers on top 6-5 and they would not look back.

“The game-winning goal was the result of great effort,” Serratore stated. “On the sixth goal, we went to the net hard. We created a scrum in the slot and Riley Weselowski was Johnny-on-the-spot.”

The game began with a BSU flurry. Just seconds after the drop of the puck a Marino shot was saved by Devoney and a Jarvis whizzed a rebound past the right post. The play set the tone for early Bemidji State play.

At the 2:56 mark of the first period, the Beavers took their first lead of the game. Graham McManamin (So., Anchorage, Alaska) picked off an errant Warrior pass and found Tyler Scofield (Jr., Prince George, British Columbia) streaking behind the WSU defenders. The junior beat the goaltender with a flick of the puck for his fourth power-play goal of the season . Less than two minutes later (4:47), BSU would strike again this time Joey Moggach (So., Brandon, Manitoba) found freshman Ian Lowe (Fr., Bradwardine, Manitoba) for his second career goal.

But the BSU offense would hit a lull as the first period moved on and although the team held a 14-7 advantage in shots on goal, WSU bounced back with an even-strength goal at the 17:35 mark to head into the locker room down 2-1 after 20 minutes of play.

BSU’s Ryan Cramer (Fr., International Falls, Minn.) netted his second collegiate goal to put BSU up 3-1, 1:21 into the second frame. Travis Winter (Jr., St. Cloud, Minn.) got the play started passing to Matt Read (Fr., Ilderton, Ontario). Read found Cramer with a pass across the front of the crease and the rookie pounded the one-timer home form the left pipe.

WSU cut its deficit to one goal 9:11 into the period on Stavros Paskaris’s second marker of the evening. The tally sent the Beavers into a tail spin. During the next 10 minutes, BSU would fail to register a single shot on net. Meanwhile the Warriors would take the lead, 4-3, collecting two more goals by the 16-miniute mark of the stanza and knocking BSU’s senior goaltender Matt Climie (Leduc, Alberta) out of the game.

Down a goal entering the final 20 minutes of play, the feeling of desperation began to creep into the Glas. Jarvis brought the crowd to its feet 6:12 in when he locked the score at 4-4 with his team-leading 13th goal of the season. But just as BSU began to regain momentum, the team put the visitors on a 5-on-3 situation for over a minute and the Warriors would capitalize on the opportunity. Derek Punches scored WSU’s only power-play marker of the game at the 8:55 mark to reclaim Wayne State’s one-goal lead in the process, 5-4.

Matt Francis (Jr., Surrey, British Columbia) evened the score at 5-5, 42-seconds later with help from Tyler Lehrke (So., Park Rapids, Minn.) and Cramer setting the table for Weselowski’s heroics. Pope would add an empty-net goal with seven second on the clock to secure the victory.

Orlando Alamano (Jr., Fresno, Calif.) earned the victory in relief marking the second time of his career he has come off the bench to lead BSU to a victory. He made 12 saves in 29:40 between the pipes to improve to 2-5-0 on the year. He allowed the Warriors final two goals. Climie logged 31:20 allowing three WSU goals while making 10 saves.

Devoney turned away 24 BSU shots an allowed six goals in loss. He falls to 2-3-0 in 2007-08.

The win allowed the first-place Beavers to inch ever closer to the team’s third CHA regular-season crown. BSU can take care of business tomorrow and assure itself of an outright championship with a victory over WSU while a tie would guarantee at least a share of the title. Also a Robert Morris win over Niagara would send the trophy BSU’s way no matter what happens at the Glas.

Bemidji State, now 15-15-3 overall and 12-4-3 in CHA play, wraps up the 2007-08 regular-season schedule tomorrow with a 7:05 p.m. contest versus the same Wayne State team. The game also marks the final home start for a group of six BSU seniors. The class of Jake Bluhm (Red Wing, Minn.), David Deterding (Alexandria, Minn.), Climie, Jarvis, Pope and Weselowski will be honored in a ceremony prior to the opening face off.

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