DATE: January 28, 2005
No. 12 North Dakota Rallies in Third Period for 3-3 Tie
BSU Earns First Points Versus a Nationally-Ranked Foe Since a Nov. 14th, 2003 Win over Minnesota Duluth

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (Ralph Engelstad Arena) - [box score] No lead is safe in the rough-and-tumble world of Division I men’s ice hockey and tonight Bemidji State University learned that lesson. Owning a 3-0 lead over No.12 University of North Dakota just 25 minutes into the contest, the Beavers saw the Fighting Sioux put three consecutive goals on the board in the final 25:17 of regulation to force overtime and a 3-3 tie at the Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Unable to score during 30 minutes of play, the Fighting Sioux revved up their power-play unit in the second period. UND converted two of three man advantage situations on the night.

UND’s Andy Schneider got the Sioux on the board at 14:43 of the second period with help from Colby Genoway and Travis Zajac. Just 9:38 into the third, Zajac would be credited with his second assist of the night when he found Drew Stafford on the power-play as UND crept to within one goal of the visiting Beavers (3-2).

The Fighting Sioux played with a sense of urgency in the final 10 minutes of regulation. Stafford opened the door and UND would take advantage. The Sioux pressured the Beavers and caught the stunned BSU team with 2:57 to play. Chris Porter, with help from Genoway and Rory McMahon, scored his 10th goal of the season to knot the game 3-3.

The teams were held scorless in the overtime periord as each squad collected two shots on goal.

“Its frustrating to tie a game like that,” stated Bemidji State head coach Tom Serratore. “We played well. We executed our game plan and exposed their defensemen. We were in shot lanes and contesting shots,” he added. “Then in the third period we sat on the lead and played like we had a lead.”

Jean-Guy Gervais (Winnipeg, Manitoba) got the Beavers out of the gates early finding the back of the net for his ninth lamplighter of the season from freshman Matt Pope (Langley, British Columbia). Pope would stretch BSU’s lead to a pair of goals at the 11:55 mark of the first taking a pass from Myles Kuharski (Neepawa, Manitoba) and Niko Suoraniemi (Angelholm, Sweden) and putting it past the UND goaltender for his fifth career goal. It would be Pope’s fourth career multi-point game.

Sophomore forward Rob Sirianni (Edmonton, Alberta) extended the Beavers’ lead over their nationally-ranked foe to 3-0, scoring his ninth goal of the season from Blaine Jarvis (Gladstone, Manitoba) at the 5:01 mark of the second period causing the Ralph Engelstad Arena faithful of nearly 11,000 to sit on their hands.

Freshman Matt Climie (Leduc, Alberta) logged 64:56 in the net for the Beavers stretching his unbeaten streak to six games posting a 5-0-1 record in his last five decisions. Clime allowed three goals while making 27 saves including two in the overtime period. He is 6-2-1 this season.

Pilippe Lamoureux saved 23 shots for the Sioux, allowing three goals in the tie. He saw his season record move to 7-5-2.

Unlike the UND power-play unit that was an effective 2-for-3 on the night, the Beavers went 0-for-5. In addition, the Fighting Sioux outshot BSU 9-7 with the man advantage.

The tie is the first in the 10-game series versus UND, as the Fighting Sioux hold an 8-1-1 advantage all-time versus BSU and 5-0-1 record versus the Beavers since BSU joined the Division I ranks in 1999.

The tie also marks the first time BSU has equaled a ranked opponent since the team jumped into the Division I ranks. BSU is now 1-22-1 versus nationally ranked foe.

Both BSU and UND were without one of their respective top players. The Fighting Sioux were without Matt Green who was the first of a two-game team suspension while BSU was without senior Andrew Murray (Selkirk, Manitoba) who was a game-time scratch due to an injury suffered in last weekend’s series in Alabama.

Bemidji State is now 14-8-1 overall. The teams wrap up their two-game series tomorrow evening at the Ralph Engelstad Arena. Opening face-off is slated for 7:05 p.m. Central time.

--bsu--