HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (Von Braun Center) -- Tied 2-2, the No. 8 Bemidji State University men’s ice hockey team got a goal from senior captain Chris McKelvie (F, New Brighton, Minn.), with just over seven minutes remaining in the third period, to push the Beavers past University of Alabama-Huntsville, 3-2, in the College Hockey America series-opener Friday at the Von Bran Center in Huntsville, Ala.

With the victory, BSU improves to 23-8-2 overall and 14-3-0 in CHA play.  The 2009-10 Beavers join elite company matching the 2004-05 team for a Bemidji State Division I-era record for wins in a season (23).  

With three of the Beavers’ five wins versus the Chargers this season coming by just one goal, tonight’s game again proved that the no game versus UAH ever comes easily, especially on their home ice.

“Winning isn’t easy anywhere,” head coach Tom Serratore said after the game. “I don’t care where we are.  [College hockey] is full of great competition and in hockey there is such a fine line between winning and losing.”

The Beavers got the benefit of a “Von Braun Center goal” at 12:01 of the first to take a 1-0 lead.  Tyler Lehrke (Sr., F, Park Rapids, Minn.) sent the puck down into the zone along the boards.  Cameron Talbot, the UAH goaltender, vacated the net to play the puck, but before he could, it jumped off the boards and out in front of the crease where Darcy Findlay (So., F. Bristol, Quebec) tapped his sixth goal of the season into the open net.

It would take the Chargers just 2:01 to even the score.

Cody Campbell helped Ala.-Huntsville make the best of a Jake Areshenko (Fr., D, Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) penalty.  Campbell redirected a Neil Ruffini shot from the point through traffic and past Dan Bakala (So., G, Calgary, Alberta) just 71 seconds into the Chargers’ first power-play opportunity of the evening.  UAH would finished the night scoring on just 1-of-6 chances on the man advantage.

The Beavers would regain their one-goal lead with 21 seconds left in the first frame when Ian Lowe (Jr., F, Bradwardine, Manitoba) scored his 18th goal of the season on a give-and-go play with Ben Kinne (So., F, St. Paul, Minn.).  Linemate Matt Read (Jr., F. Ilderton, Ontario) was also credited with an assist on the play to extend his team-leading scoring streak to five games.

The second period was void of scoring but there was no lack of quality scoring opportunities.  

The Beavers held a 10-6 advantage in shots on goal despite spending five minutes a man short.  Just 4:08 into the period, junior blueliner Dan MacIntyre (Fort Frances, Ontario) was sent to the showers after being whistled for a five-minute major and ten-minute misconduct for checking from behind.  Rather than spending the penalty on their collective heels, the Beavers proved to the be the aggressors during the penalty and posted a pair of scoring chances that resulted from odd-man rushes.

Bemidji State snuffed out the five-minute penalty and another minor infraction to escape the period clinging to a 2-1 lead.

“Our last two five-minute majors have been textbook.  I can’t say enough about how the guys have been killing.  That was a second-period five-minute penalty too, where we have the long line changes so it was especially important that we made the right plays and we cleared the pucks.”

Midway through the third period (9:30), the Chargers stuck back.  UAH knotted the score at 2-2 on an even-strength lamplighter from Andrew Coburn.  Bakala stacked his pads to keep the initial shot from Jamie Easton out of the goal, but was unable to coral the rebound before Coburn flipped the loose puck into the back of the net.

BSU looked to get the break it needed at the 12:40 mark when the Charger benched was assessed a two-minute penalty for too many men on the ice.  But the power-play would last just 14 seconds as a breakdown on the offensive zone would lead to a UAH breakout and freshman forward Jordan George (Madison, Wis.) was forced to trip in order cut down the scoring chance.

Nine seconds into 4-on-4 play, Lehrke took the outside ice and got the shot through traffic and forced Talbot to make the save. McKelvie was on the doorstep waiting for the rebound and quickly deposited the loose puck to seal the Beavers’ 11th consecutive win over Ala.-Huntsville.

Bakala improved to 19-6-2 on the season, turning away 28 UAH shots and allowed just two goals in 59:57 between the pipes for BSU.

The Beavers now hold a 35-27-3 lead in the all-time series including a 5-0-0 mark versus UAH in 2009-10. Since Mar. 3, 2006, is an impressive dominant 23-2-2 versus UAH and is unbeaten by the Chargers in 17 of the last 18 meetings.

The Beavers (22-8-2; 13-3-0 CHA) and Alabama-Huntsville (10-16-2; 6-9-2 CHA) return to action tomorrow to wrap up the series and the CHA regular-season.  The rare matinee is set to begin at 3 p.m. from the Von Braun Center.

--bsu--