BEMIDJI, Minn. — Zuzna Tomcikova (So., Bratislava, Slovakia) turned away 37 shots to record her seveth-career shutout, her fourth of the season, to lift the Bemidji State women’s hockey team 3-0 over Minnesota State University, Mankato on Saturday afternoon at the John S. Glas Fieldhouse.

“I didn’t think that we played particularly well and I thought that Mankato outplayed us in certain situations,” said head coach Steve Sertich. “However, I told the players it’s a sign of progress when we’re disappointed that we only got three out of four points from the weekend.”

The three points from the weekend improves Bemidji State to 6-6-4-3 conference record (7-11-4 overall), good for 19 points in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Standings.

BSU netted two quick goals three minutes into the game. Erin Johnson (Jr., Farmington, Minn.) picked up her 10th goal of the year after stealing the puck in the corner of the offensive zone. Johnson then skated into the slot and slipped the puck past Maverick goalie Alli Altmann.

Just just 33 seconds later, while on the power play, Bemidji State would strike again. This time Annie Bauerfeld (Jr., Woobury, Minn.) recorded her fourth goal of the season after connecting with Erin Cody (Jr., Roseville, Minn.) and Montana Vichorek (So., Moose Lake, Minn.). Bauerfeld received the puck on the left side of the net and beat Altmann short-side for the power-play goal.

After the quick two goals by Bemidji State, Minnesota State would find its stride and take back the flow of the game out shooting BSU 17-10 in the first. Despite their efforts, the Mavericks would go to their locker room down by two.

MSU came out fired-up in the second outpacing Bemidji State. The Mavericks drew two power-play opportunities, but Tomcikova and the Beaver penalty kill turned them away.

Toward the end of the period, Jenna Hewitt of Minnesota State was assessed her second penalty of the game. The ensuing power play started off badly for the Beavers as they gave up two shots on goal. When it looked like the Mavericks were going to successfully kill off the penalty, Keirstin Visser (Fr., Crapaud, Prince Edward Island) sniped Altmann from the point, putting the puck top bunk. The goal was Visser’s second. Franny Dorr (Sr., Roseville, Minn.) and MacKenzie Thurston (Fr., Ottawa, Ontario) picked up assists.

With a three-goal lead the Beavers entered the third period poised to walk out with two points. BSU took back the pace of the game in the third out-shooting MSU 12-7, bringing the total shots-on-goal to 37-29 in favor of Minnesota State.

The BSU defense helped out with the shutout posting 20 blocked shots in the game.

Bemidji State is now 13.8 percent (13-94) on the power play and 83.2 percent (84-101) on the penalty kill.

Zuzana Tomcikova now has .937 save percentage with 564 saves on the season and improves her goals against average to 2.09.

While Erin Cody did not score a goal in the game and ends her goal-scoring streak, she did record an assist and has tallied at least one point in the past six game. In the last six games Cody has netted seven goals and tallied two assists.

Bemidji State finishes with a record of 2-0-2-1 against the Minnesota State Mavericks this year. Last time Bemidji State went unbeaten against a WCHA team in a regular season was in the 2006-07 season against North Dakota, winning all four games against Sioux.

The women’s hockey team will host the University of Minnesota next weekend on Friday Jan. 15 at 6:07 p.m. and then again of Saturday Jan. 16 at 4:07 p.m.

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