Nov. 23, 2002
POTSDAM, N.Y. - [box score] Bemidji State scored the game’s first two goals, but Clarkson stormed back and put four unanswered goals on the board en route to a 5-4 victory over the Beavers tonight at the Cheel Arena.

Brendan Cook and Myles Kuharski got the Beavers off to a quick start out of the gates, staking the team to a 2-0 lead at the 9:23 mark of the first period. Cook put home his first goal of the season off helpers from Wade Chiodo and Bryce Methven at the 5:30 mark, and Kuharski needed less than four minutes to put up the third goal of his rookie campaign from Peter Jonsson and Ryan Huddy.

Rob McFeeters put home the first of his two goals in the contest at 17:01 of the first period, taking advantage of a power-play opportunity after a John Haider interference penalty, to get Clarkson on the board, 2-1.

McFeeters’ goal sparked a 4-0 Clarkson scoring run, as the Golden Knights picked up a Mike Nagai lamp-lighter at 14:51 of the second, McFeeters’ second goal of the night 1:35 into the third, and a power-play goal from Randy Jones at 3:49 of the third to take a 4-2 lead.

Despite a furious third period, the 4-2 lead would be enough to support Clarkson’s freshman netminder Dustin Traylen. Jeff McGill pulled the Beavers to within a goal, 4-3, with his second goal of the campaign at 4:41 of the third, but Clarkson regained its two-goal advantage with a short-handed goal from Tristan Lush at 11:06 of the third.

BSU got back within a goal on Jared Hanowski’s second tally of the season, his first career short-handed goal at 17:56 of the third. The Beavers pulled goalie Kelly Shields for the game’s final 0:26, but were unable to push across the tying goal.

Shields was making his first start in goal for BSU since game two of the MSU-Mankato series on Nov. 2. He saved 20 shots, but allowed a career-high five goals; he took the loss for BSU and saw his season record fall to 0-3-1. Traylen saved 23 of 27 shots faced for the Golden Knights and earned his first career victory (1-2-1).

The teams played a penalty-littered contest, combining for 21 infractions for 42 penalty minutes. But the penalty-killing units performed admirably; BSU was limited to 0-for-8 on the power play and surrendered a short-handed goal, while Clarkson was 2-for-7 with the man advantage and also scored short-handed. The last time Bemidji State failed on as many as eight power-play opportunities in a game came Nov. 18, 2000 against Findlay when BSU went 1-for-9 with a man advantage, and the first time BSU failed to score with at least eight power-play chances since going 0-for-8 against Findlay on Nov. 17, 2000.

BSU’s 10 penalties are the most for the team since recording 10 at Ferris State on Jan. 26, 2002. Hanowski’s short-handed goal was the first for BSU this year and first by a Beaver since Says Phrakonkham scored short-handed against Niagara on Feb. 15, 2002.

Chiodo led a group of 10 BSU players who scored at least one point with two assists, the only Beaver with more than one point on the night. He turned in his second multi-point game of the season and his second with two assists; it was Chiodo’s fifth career multi-assist game.

The loss drops BSU to 4-3-5 on the season and snaps the program’s unbeaten streak at five games. With the win, Clarkson improves to 3-5-1 and gains its first non-conference win of the season. BSU is off next weekend and returns to action Dec. 6-7 with a home-and-home series against the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs.

1/5:30/B- Brendan Cook (1) (Wade Chiodo, Bryce Methven) // 1-0
1/9:23/B- Myles Kuharski (3) (Peter Jonsson, Ryan Huddy) // 2-0
1/17:01/C- Rob McFeeters (PP) (Tristan Lush, Kevin O’Flaherty) // 2-1
2/14:51/C- Mike Nagai (Matt Syroczynski, Marc Zwicky) // 2-2
3/1:35/C- Rob McFeeters (Mac Faulkner, Randy Jones) // 2-3
3/3:49/C- Randy Jones (PP) (Rob McFeeters, Kevin O’Flaherty)// 2-4
3/4:41/B- Jeff McGill (2) (Anders Olsson) // 3-4
3/11:06/C- Tristan Lush (SH/GW) (Joe Carosa, Dave Reid) // 3-5 / GW
3/17:56/B- Jared Hanowski (SH) (Wade Chiodo, John Haider) // 4-5

BSU: Kelly Shields (59:34/5-7-8=20 saves/5 GA/L; 0-3-1); empty net (0:26/0 GA)
CU: Dustin Traylen (60:00/10-7-6=23 saves/4 GA/W)
Three stars: 1: UC Rob McFeeters; 2: UC Randy Jones; 3: BSU Myles Kuharski
penalties/power plays: BSU: 10-20/0-8; UC: 11-22/2-7