Feb. 2, 2008

[box score]

BEMIDJI, Minn. (John S. Glas Fieldhouse) - It may have taken five periods, but the Beavers awoke from their slumber and it could to have happened at a more opportune time. Senior center Matt Pope (Langley, British Columbia) scrapped for a loose puck in front of the net an pushed it past the WSU goaltender Brett Bothwell to give the Beavers a 4-3 overtime victory.

Bemidji State used the third period to battle back and put themselves in position to win the contest.

Down 2-1 entering the final period of regulation and falling behind 3-1 just 1:55 into the third, BSU came charging back out shooting the Warriors 14-3 during the last 20 minutes While scoring a pair of unanswered goals to tie the game with 12 minutes to go and adding the game-winner 2:57 into the overtime stanza.

The extra-period marker, Pope's second game-winner of the season, extended BSU's unbeaten streak in overtime games to 12--a string stretching back to March 11, 2006 victory over Alabama-Huntsville--while it snapped the Warriors longest winning streak of the season at three.

The teams skated into the locker rooms after posting identical first periods. Each squad registered eight shots on goal and was 0-for-1 on the power play.

BSU's best scoring opportunity came midway through the period when Dan MacIntyre (Fr., D, Fort Frances, Ontario) found Ryan Cramer (Fr., F, International Falls, Minn.) leading the rush for the Beavers. Cramer wound up from the point and rung a snapshot off the near post. but that was as close as either team would come during the first period.

The Beavers netted the first goal of the game to break the scoreless tie at the 7:27 mark of the second period. The play was started by sophomore defender Chris Peluso (Wadena, Minn.) who chased down a puck dumped into the far corner of the WSU offensive zone. He found Graham McManamin (So., D, Anchorage, Alaska) who in turn hit a streaking Blaine Jarvis (Sr., F, Gladstone, Manitoba) with a pass as he entered the BSU zone. After a fake put the Warrior goaltender out of position, Jarvis tapped the puck into the back of the net with one second remaining on the Beavers' second power-play of the evening.

But before time would expire on the period, Wayne State would steal the lead with a pair of even-strength goals. Chris Kushneriuk deflected a Tylor Michel shot form the point out of the reach of the screened BSU goaltender Matt Climie (Sr., Leduc, Alberta) at the 10:38 mark and Jordan Inglis matched the goal 61 seconds later on a slap shot from the point that put WSU up 2-1 heading into the final period of regulation.

The Warriors would add to their lead 1:55 into the third period on Inglis' second goal of the game.

Down 3-1 with 18:05 to play, the WSU goal sparked the Beavers who played the remainder of the period inspired.

Jarvis would begin the comeback 4:13 into the period when he netted his team-leading 11th goal of the season, his second power-play goal over the night, with help form Matt Read (Fr., F, Ilderton, Ontario) and Cody Bostock (Jr., D, Salmon Arm, British Columbia). With 12:46 to play, Tyler Scofield (Jr., Prince George, British Columbia) knotted the game at 3-3 with his 10th goal of 2007-08. The marker again came on the power play marking the first time in 2007-08 BSU has netted three goal on the man advantage in a single game. The 3-for-5 night helped BSU to climb to 13th in power-play efficiency at 19.3 percent.

The teams skated to a 3-3 time as the third period final horn sounded despite an barrage of BSU shots fired on net during the period's final four minutes.

The Beavers managed only one shot on goal in the overtime period, but that shot was all they would need as Pope's game-winner gave BSU a 4-3 victory and allowed it to salvage a series split with the Warriors.

In addition to posting a tremendous night on the power-play, the BSU penalty-kill held WSU scoreless on two power-play opportunities.

Climie garnered his 11th victory of the season, posting 18 saves. He used the 62:57 effort to improve to 11-5-3 over all this season and extend his own BSU Division I-Era goaltending victories mark to 42.

Bothwell was tagged with the loss to fall to 5-8-0 on the season. He turned away 31 BSU shots in the game including 12 in the third period alone.

The victory bumps BSU's all-time record versus WSU to 23-9-5 while the team is now 16-4-2 versus the Warriors since Dec. 5, 2003.

Bemidji State, 13-12-3 overall and 10-3-3 in league play, is idle next week but will return to action Feb. 15-16 for a trip to Pennsylvania to battle College Hockey America rival Robert Morris University.

--bsu--