MANKATO, Minn. – It has been 16 years since the last time the Bemidji State University Men's Hockey team swept Minnesota State University, Mankato but that streak ended as the Beavers completed the series sweep over the 16^th ranked Mavericks with a 4-1 victory Friday night in Mankato, Minn.
 
The Beavers (9-5-4, 7-2-3 CCHA) stole five Central Collegiate Hockey Association points from the Mavericks (10-9-1, 7-6-1 CCHA) and now sit atop of the CCHA Standings with 25 league points heading into the Christmas break.
 
The Mavericks out-shot the Beavers 32-16 in the game but sophomore goaltender Mattias Sholl backstopped BSU to victory and turned aside 31-of-32 shots to claim his seventh victory of the season and third consecutive.
 
Sophomore Jakub Lewandowski opened the scoring for the Beavers late in the first period with his second goal of the series after forcing a Maverick turnover and beat goaltender Alex Tracy to the far post with just 59 seconds remaining in the period. The goal would be his fourth of the season and was unassisted.
 
On the penalty kill for most of the second period, the Mavericks controlled play in the Beavers' defensive zone and eventually broke through Sholl and the Beavers' defenses when Ondrej Pavel scored just seven seconds after a Mavericks' power play 4:54 into the middle frame.
 
The Beavers returned to form and after more consistent five-on-five play, sophomore Jere Vaisanen scored his fourth goal of the season after Lewandowski centered a pass from behind the net that Vaisanen was able to shoot quickly past Tracy to put the Beavers up once again at the 10:40 mark of the period.
 
The Beavers would head into the second intermission with the one-goal lead looking hold off the Mavericks.
 
Minnesota State would through all it had at the Beavers' defense and totaled 16 shots during the final 20 minutes. However, Sholl was lights out and turned aside all 16 shots powering the Beavers to the upset win. Following the Mavericks lone goal in the game in the second period, Sholl stopped all 19 shots following to hold the league's second highest scoring offense to just one goal.
 
Bemidji State could muster just two shots on goal during the period but made the most out of its few chances scoring on both shots including an empty-net goal.
 
The Beavers earned a power play early in the third period and junior Jackson Jutting capitalized with the man advantage with a tic-tac-toe play that left him alone in front of the net to score his second goal of the season and first power-play marker just 2:56 into the period.
 
The Beavers would be held without another shot until 1:40 remaining when freshman Adam Flammang scored on the empty net for his third goal of the season and seal the 4-1 victory for the Beavers.
 
Bemidji State finished 1-for-2 while on the power play on the night and after allowing two power-play goals in two chances last night, the Beavers' penalty kill unit shined and denied the Mavericks on all four of their power-play chances.
 
With the win, Sholl now improves to 7-3-4 on the season while Tracy falls to 6-3-0.
 
Bemidji State will now have the week off for Christmas break and the next three weeks off from CCHA play. The Beavers will return to the ice New Years Eve for an exhibition with No. 3 University of Minnesota at Sanford Center before a non-conference home-and-home series with University of Minnesota Duluth, Jan. 6-7.
 
Puck drop for the exhibition game with the Gophers is slated for 5:07 p.m.
 
Located on the shore of Lake Bemidji, Bemidji State University sponsors 15 varsity athletic programs with NCAA Division I men's hockey in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and women's hockey in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, while its 13 NCAA Division II programs hold membership in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).
 
--bsu--