BEMIDJI, Minn. (John Glas Fieldhouse) - The Peters Cup is back in Bemidji.

The Bemidji State University men's ice hockey team clinched the 2008 College Hockey America regular-season crown Saturday with a 5-3 victory over Wayne State University.

The Beavers bounced back from an early 2-1 deficit in true team form. Nine skaters recorded at least a point in the game while freshman Ryan Cramer (International Falls, Minn.) netted a pair of goals to pace the Beavers and post the first multi-goal came of his career.

"This was a nice win," commented head coach Tom Serratore after directing his BSU squad to its third league title in five years. "Anytime you win a championship it is very fulfilling and gratifying. I am really happy with the way we won it this year. It might be the sweetest of the three CHA titles we have won."

Skating into the second frame with the score knotted a two goals apiece, Cramer gave BSU the boost it needed. He potted the go ahead goal at the 4:42 mark and added another, which would proved to be the game winner, less than five minutes later (9:19).

In one of the best individual efforts of the Beavers' season, Cramer dug the puck out of the far corner, skated in front of the net and down the near side boards. Once he crossed into the BSU offensive zone, he cranked up and unleashed a laser that left the WSU goaltender frozen and sent his water bottle to the boards.

"Its always nice to see your young guys step in and break things open and [Cramer] did that," stated Serratore. "He's got a wicked shot and his last goal was indicative of that. Hopefully we are going to see a few more of those in the next four years."

BSU was first to get on the board. Tyler Scofield (Jr., Prince George, British Columbia) scored his 12th goal of the season on a pass from Matt Read (Fr., Ilderton, Ontario) just 5:31 into the game. But the Warriors would come charging back netting a power-play goal midway through the period and going up 2-1 on an unassisted goal by Jared Katz at the 17:30 mark.

But BSU's Kyle Hardwick (So., Warroad, Minn.) leveled the score before the teams left the ice for the first intermission recording his first collegiate goal on a beautiful pass in front of the net by Brandon Marino (Jr., Riverside, Calif.) as he charged down the slot.

After Cramer's double in the second, the Beavers entered the third period with a 4-2 lead and just 20 minutes of hockey separating it from the championship.

Travis Winter (Jr., St. Cloud Minn.) put the Beavers up three goals, 5-2, 9:19 into the third when he tipped an odd-angle shot off the stick of Cody Bostock (Jr., Salmon Arm, British Columbia) into the back of the net.

The Warriors would add another goal late in the game, but it was too little too late as the Beavers completed the sweep and sent their seniors out in style with the win.

BSU's Matt Climie (Sr., Leduc, Alberta) turned in another solid performance gaining the win to improve to 13-7-2 on the season turing away 25 WSU shots in 59:56 of work.

Kyle Funkenhauser was tagged with the loss allowing four goals and making just eight saves before being replace in goal by Mike Devoney midway through the second period. Devoney posted 18 saves in 30:16 between the pipes holding BSU to just one goal.

The game marked the final trip to the Glas for Wayne State which is dissolving it men's hockey program at the end of the season. An inaugural member of the CHA, Wayne State, under the direction of Bill Wilkinson, experienced a tremendous amount of success in the early years of the league. The Warriors claimed three consecutive conference crowns and made an appearance in the NCAA tournament in 2002-03. The all-time series between BSU and the Warriors now stands at 25-9-5.

Bemidji State honored its senior class of Jake Bluhm (Red Wing, Minn.), David Deterding (Alexandria, Minn.), Climie, Blaine Jarvis (Gladstone, Manitoba), Matt Pope (Langley, British Columbia) and Riley Weselowski (Pilot Mound, Manitoba) prior to the opening face off. This class has aided BSU to a pair of NCAA tournament appearances and to two conference championships.

Bemidji State, 16-15-3 overall and 13-4-3 in CHA play, will now use its idle week to prepare of the CHA Tournament that will take place at Niagara, N.Y. March 14-17. The league's top seed, BSU has earned a bye in the first round and will play the winner of the No. 4/No. 5 game between Wayne State and Alabama-Huntsville Saturday Mar. 15.

--bsu--