Dec. 28, 2002
GRAND FORKS, N.D. - [stats] For a split second, it appeared as if Bemidji State captain Bryce Methven had done what few would have expected coming into tonight's contest - draw the Beavers even with the No. 2/1-ranked North Dakota Fighting Sioux on their home ice in the final minutes of the third period. But Methven's red-line shot at 14:29 of the third was waved off after BSU was judged to have been off-sides on the play, and North Dakota escaped with the 4-3 victory and the Subway Holiday Classic championship.

"We realize where we are as a program and what we can do against the upper-echelon teams,” BSU head coach Tom Serratore said. “We're not intimidated. We get excited [to play games like this]; we realize we're talented and we realize we can compete.

"This is a game of inches,” Serratore added. “When you sit back and factor where we've come from in three years - we came to North Dakota three years ago, gave up 96 shots and never saw the puck. Look at where we're at right now. We've made great strides as a program.”

The teams got off to a slow start in the first period, as neither club was able to manage a shot on goal in the game's first four and a half minutes. But North Dakota would draw first blood, taking advantage of a high-sticking penalty on BSU's Jean-Guy Gervais to net the game's first goal. On the power-play, BSU's Marty Goulet held the puck in the defensive zone and attempted to chip it out, but the clearing pass hit the stick of UND's Kevin Spiewack at the top of the face-off circles. He fired the puck past goaltender Grady Hunt's left shoulder to put the Sioux up, 1-0.

Brandon Bochenski staked the Sioux to a 2-0 lead 10 minutes later, taking a feed from centerman David Lundbohm on a three-on-one breakaway between the faceoff circles and beating Hunt to his left at the 14:15 mark of the first. It was Bochenski's NCAA-leading 24th goal of the year.

North Dakota nearly went into the first intermission with a 3-0 lead after a wild flurry in front of the BSU crease in the closing seconds of the period. Bochenski beat Hunt, again to Hunt's left, but drew pipe and saw the puck ricochet parallel across the goal line before BSU was able to clear and get out of the period down only 2-0.

The teams traded goals in a second period which was mostly uneventful until after the 10-minute mark. Ryan Connelly held the puck in traffic on the left side of the BSU zone, and dropped it back to Quinn Fylling at the top of the face-off circles. Fylling took the puck to the base of the circles and fired a wrister past Hunt to put the Sioux ahead 3-0 at the 12:13 mark of the second. Fylling's goal came with just two seconds left on a power-play after BSU's John Haider had been sent to the box for holding at 10:15.

Goulet was able to even up the period and get the Beavers on the board with a shot at 17:37 of the second which beat North Dakota goaltender Josh Siembida low on the stick-side to draw BSU back within two goals 3-1, where the score would remain at the second intermission.

The teams then combined for three goals in the first five minutes of the third period. Bochenski netted his NCAA-leading 25th goal of the season and second of the night, taking a pass from Andy Schneider from the blue-line at the base of the left face-off circle and beating Hunt to put the Sioux ahead 4-1.

But BSU ripped off two goals in just 1:59 to pull back within a single goal. Brendan Cook needed just 23 seconds to respond to Bochenski's second goal, scoring short-handed on a wrap-around from behind the net to pull BSU within 4-2 at the 1:19 mark of the third. After UND's Ryan Hale was sent to the box for hooking, BSU needed less than a minute to pull within a goal. Andrew Murray stood in for a face-off at the left circle in the North Dakota zone and won the draw, dropping the puck back to Goulet at the top of the circle. Goulet fired a slap-shot past Siembida to push the score to 4-3.

After Methven's goal was waved off, the teams played even and BSU skated the game's final 1:12 with an empty net in a last-ditch effort to push across the equalizer.

Special teams for both teams played a key role tonight. North Dakota netted three power-play goals, the most by a BSU opponent this season, but the BSU special teams picked up goals both short-handed and on the power-play in the third period to pull back into the game.

The Beavers fall to 1-8 all-time against the Fighting Sioux and have dropped each of the last seven games in the series dating back to BSU's lone win on Feb. 7, 1970.

With tonight's loss, Bemidji State drops to 5-6-6 on the season while North Dakota improves to 18-1-1 and keeps alive several winning streaks. The Fighting Sioux are unbeaten in their last 13 starts this season, the second-longest streak in the nation, and extended their home unbeaten streak to 15 games, dating back to March 2, 2002 - tied for the fourth-longest streak in UND history. Bemidji State is back in action Jan. 16-17 when it returns to College Hockey America play with a two-game series at Alabama-Huntsville.

SCORING SUMMARY
1/ 5:35/N - Kevin Spiewack (9, PP) (Rory McMahon/8, Nick Fuher/5)
1/14:15/N - Brandon Bochenski (24) (David Lundbohm/22, Nick Fuher/6)
2/12:13/N- Quinn Fylling (3, PP) (Ryan Connelly/4, Colby Genoway/1)
2/17:37/B- Marty Goulet (7) (unassisted)
3/ 0:56/N- Brandon Bochenski (25, PP) (Andy Schneider/6, Kevin Spiewak/6)
3/ 1:19/B- Brendan Cook (4, SH) (unassisted)
3/ 3:18/B- Marty Goulet (8) (Andrew Murray/8)

BSU: Grady Hunt (58:48 / 8-9-11=28 saves / 4 GA / L; 5-3-3)
empty net (1:12/0 GA)
UND: Josh Siembida (60:00 / 4-8-11=23 saves / 3 GA / W; 11-1-0)
Penalties/Power Plays: BSU: 5-10/1-5; UND 5-10/3-6

POST GAME NOTES
Bemidji State at No. 2/1 North Dakota
Dec. 28, 2002
Ralph Engelstad Arena; Grand Forks, N.D.
• Tonight's announced attendance of 11,164 is the largest crowd ever to watch a Bemidji State hockey game. The previous record was 9,709 for BSU's game at Minnesota on Jan. 27, 2001.

• BSU's Andrew Murray and Marty Goulet were named to the inaugural Subway Holiday Classic All-Tournament Team. North Dakota's Brandon Bochenski was named Tournament MVP. UND's David Hale and Josh Siembida, along with Manitoba's Andrew Kaminsky and Brown's Paul Esdale rounded out the all-tournament team.

• The one-goal loss was BSU's closest game with North Dakota since falling 3-2 on Jan. 19, 1971. North Dakota had out-scored BSU 26-9 in the last four games in the series and scored fewer than six goals just once in that span - a 5-1 win in Bemidji on March 2, 2001.

• Brendan Cook scored a goal in his third consecutive game, extending his career high. His three-game goal-scoring streak is season-high for a BSU player. Jared Hanowski was the last BSU player to score a goal in three consecutive games; he had four goals for BSU from Feb. 8-14, 2002 (Feb. 8-9 vs Air Force, Feb. 14 at Niagara).

• Cook's goal came short-handed, his first career short-handed goal. It was also just the second career unassisted goal for Cook; the first came at Alabama-Huntsville on March 9, 2002.

• Marty Goulet's two goals give him a team-high eight for the year. It is his first multi-goal game this season and sixth of his career. Goulet has three goals in BSU's last two games. Goulet's power-play goal at 3:18 of the third period gives him five for the season and 17 for his career.