NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. - [box score] Bemidji State’s men’s ice hockey team posted its first-ever win over a Hockey East foe, using the first goal of the season from Myles Kuharski to topple the Merrimack Warriors, 3-2, tonight at the Volpe Center.

Bemidji State drew first blood, needing 11:28 of the first period to get the first goal of the season from Bryce Methven. He fired a wrister off the helper from Luke Erickson and Andrew Murray to stake the Beavers to a one-goal lead.

Methven’s marker in the first period gives BSU a power-play goal in five consecutive games, tying its Division I-era record set on two previous occasions. BSU scored with the man advantage in five consecutive games from March 4-Oct. 20, 2000 and from Feb. 15-March 1, 2003.

But the Warriors needed just five minutes to draw even, as Marco Rosa punished BSU for a holding penalty on Anders Olsson to score on the power-play at 16:28 of the first. The power-play goal was the first allowed on the road by the Beavers this year; road opponents had been 0-for-12 with man advantage prior to Rosa’s marker.

Rosa’s power-play goal snapped the third-longest streak of consecutive minutes without allowing a power-play goal in BSU’s Division I era at 275:02. BSU had not allowed a power-play goal since 6:26 of the third period against Minnesota-Duluth on Oct. 25, 2003. Still, BSU has now killed 45 of 50 opponent power-play opportunities.

The Warriors grabbed their first lead of the game just 55 seconds into the second period when Blake Stewart scored even-strength off a pass from Bryan Schmidt and Brent Gough, both of whom also assisted on Rosa’s first-period goal.

It took Bemidji State just 18 seconds to answer, as the Beavers evened the score at 1:13 of the second on an own-goal from Merrimack. Ryan Huddy and Wade Chiodo were playing a two-man game looking for a shot on net, and the puck was deflected into the Warrior net by one of their own players. Chiodo was credited with the goal with Huddy and Riley Riddell earning the assists.

The score remained even at two goals apiece until 14:39 of the third, when Kuharski scored his first goal of the season to give BSU the victory. He flipped the puck toward the net from the hash marks while looking to get off the ice for a line change, and it trickled past Warrior goaltender Casey Guenther to give BSU a 3-2 lead.

Grady Hunt faced just 18 shots in net for Bemidji State, which allowed less than 20 shots in a game for the first time this season. The 20 shots are the fewest allowed by BSU since Wayne State managed just 15 shots in the CHA championship game last year, March 16, 2003. Hunt saved 16 shots to earn his fourth win in his last four starts, improving to 4-2-0 on the year. Hunt has allowed just three goals in his last 204:38 of ice time - a goals-against average of just 0.88 in that span. For the year, he is saving at a .912 clip and has a goals-against average of 2.18.

Bemidji State improved to 3-1-0 away from John S. Glas Fieldhouse this season. BSU’s five road wins a year ago set a Division I-era single-season record; BSU won four road games in 2001-02, two in 2000-01 and just one in its inaugural Division I season in 1999-2000.

BSU has now won all three meetings with Merrimack; the Beavers swept two games from the Warriors to win the 1984 NCAA Division II national championship. This weekend’s series marks the first Division I meeting between the programs. It also is BSU’s first-ever matchup against a member of Hockey East. BSU now has at least one victory against all six Division I conferences since elevating its program in 1999.

The win lifts BSU to 4-3-2 on the season, while Merrimack falls to 2-8-2 and sees its winless streak reach eight games (0-6-2). The Beavers and Warriors wrap up their two-game non-conference series tomorrow night with a 7:05 p.m. Eastern time face-off at the Volpe Center.