Box Score SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. (Taffy Abel Arena) – The Bemidji State University Men’s Hockey team jumped out to an early lead and held off a Lake Superior State University run late in the game to earn a 5-3 victory Saturday and salvage a Western Collegiate Hockey Association series split.
The Beavers wasted no time grabbing the lead. After Mike Soucier pulled the puck out of a scrum behind the net, the senior set Alex Adams up with a one-time opportunity and Adams found the back of the net for his first collegiate goal at the 2:19 mark of the first period. The Beavers’ lead would swell to 2-0 at the 6:34 mark when Jay Dickman found Charlie Combs in transition and Combs skated the puck up the ice for his 10th goal of the season, slipping the puck between the pads of LSSU goaltender Nick Kossoff.
The Bemidji State two-goal lead lasted deep into the second period. At the 13:59 mark, the Lakers broke up the shutout on a Will Riedell goal. But the Beavers answered 50 seconds later when Soucier again filled the role of the playmaker dishing a pass to Tyler Kirkup, who found the back of the net for his first collegiate goal and second point of the night.
BSU opened the third period just like it began the first. Just 2:07 after the puck dropped, Nick Cardelli found the back of the net for his seventh goal of the season and second of the series. Midway through the third (10:54), Ethan Somoza netted BSU’s fifth goal of the night to put the Beavers up four goals—a lead that would prove useful.
Despite being down four goals with less than 10 minutes to play, the Lakers did not give up. With 7:58 left in regulation, Brayden Gelsinger beat BSU’s Zach Driscoll. The goal sparked a LSSU rally. Brian Basilico scored the Laker’s third goal of the game at the 13:31 mark of the period to reel the Beavers to within two goals, but that was as close as they would come and BSU completed the victory, 5-3.
Driscoll collected his eight victory of the season (8-6-1). The sophomore turned aside 24 of the 27 shots he faced in the win and backstopped a BSU penalty-kill unit that was perfect, holding LSSU without a power-play goal in five opportunities. The perfect night extends the Beavers’ run of consecutive games without surrendering a power-play goal to seven (24-for-24).
BSU, now 13-12-3 overall and 11-8-1-0 in league play, BSU has a week free from competition, Feb. 1-2, and will return to action Feb. 8-9 when it travels to Big Rapids, Mich. for a two-game WCHA series with Ferris State University. The opening face off is set for 6:07 p.m. (CT) each night from Ewigleben Ice Arena.
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