BEMIDJI, Minn. -- Sophomore Ruslan Pedan scored a pair of goals, while goaltender Michael Bitzer secured his second straight shutout with 24 saves to help the Bemidji State University men's hockey team defeat University of Alabama-Huntsville, 4-0, Saturday evening at Sanford Center.

Bemidji State took a 1-0 lead when Kyle Bauman scored his second goal of the weekend at the 18:19 mark of the first period and would not look back. John Parker and Pedan would add goals in the second and Pedan would strike again in the third, while Bitzer stonewalled the Charger attack posting nine saves in both the first and second period and stopped all six UAH shots in the third.

The victory helped the Beavers claim their second series sweep of the season and extend their unbeaten streak to seven games (4-0-3).

The Beavers improve to 7-10-3 overall and 5-6-3 in league play with the victory.

Bemidji State returns to action Jan. 16-17 when it travels to Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. for a WCHA series against Lake Superior State University. The Beavers and Lakers open the two-game set at 6:37 p.m. CST Friday with a 6:07 opening face-off schedules for Saturday. Both games will take place at LSSU's Taffy Abel Arena.

Bemidji State notes:

Bitzer improved to 5-5-1 on the season and extended his shutout streak to 234 minutes and 23 second with the victory, while backstopping a BSU penalty-kill unit that held the Chargers scoreless on four opportunities.

Bitzer is now unbeaten in his last four appearances (3-0-1) and carries a 0.73 goals against average and a.964 save percentage during that span.

The Beavers' back-to-back shutouts stand as their first since blanking UAH Dec. 16-17, 2011 (3-0 and 5-0).

After posting his second multi-point game in the series opener, which included his first collegiate goal, Kyle Bauman bounced back to post the game-winning goal in the series finale.  He finished the weekend with two goals and an assist.

Ruslan Pedan posted his first multi-point game as a Beaver netting his second and third goals of the season.

BSU's seven game unbeaten streak (4-0-3) stands as its longest since it posted and eight-game streak to open the 2009 campaign from Oct. 9-Nov. 7, 2009 (7-0-1).

BSU now holds a 43-29-4 all-time record versus Ala.-Huntsville with a 25-10-1 record when hosting UAH.

The Beavers are 33-4-3 since March 3, 2006.

BSU is now 6-4-1 at Sanford Center in 2014-15 with a 5-2-1 mark when hosting league games.

Holding UAH scoreless on four power-play opportunities Saturday, BSU has now stymied 17 of its opponents' last 18 man advantage opportunities (.944).

--bsu--