DEC. 6, 2002
Beavers post first-ever victory over Bulldogs, just third against the WCHA

DULUTH, Minn. - [box score] Bemidji State senior wing Jeff McGill made the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs pay dearly for a Neil Petruic roughing penalty, tapping a shot past Bulldog goaltender Rob Anderson at the four-minute mark of overtime, lifting the Beavers to an historic 3-2 non-conference victory tonight at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center.

Anders Olsson wound up for a shot from the blue line, but instead found McGill wide open at the edge of the crease for the game-winner. The overtime goal gave BSU its first-ever win in a 12-game series with Minn.-Duluth and is just the program’s third victory against a team competing in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association at the time of the game.

“ Everything just opened up,” McGill said of the game-winner. “Anders showed great patience in getting the puck to me, and I just had to throw it in the open net. It’s huge for us to beat Duluth, and at a place we haven’t played that well in the past. Not even just last year, but the year before and year before that we’ve had some tough times here. It’s great to get that first win against them and hopefully we can do the same thing tomorrow night.”

McGill has scored goals in each of BSU’s last two games after scoring just one goal in the team’s first 11 games. The game-winner was the third of his career, and first since Oct. 27, 2001 against Connecticut. It was also McGill’s second power-play goal of the season and seventh of his career.

“ This is not only a big win for the guys in our locker room, but a big win for the community and the program in general,” BSU head coach Tom Serratore said. “This program has emerged where we can compete. I’m not saying we’re going to win all our games, but we’ve come to this level. After we went up 2-0 and they tied it up, it was a real character win for this team. They never die.”

McGill’s game-winner helped BSU stop the bleeding after the Bulldogs rallied from a 2-0 deficit to tie the score late in the third period. Marty Goulet, who would later tally the second assist on McGill’s winner, picked up his 16th career power-play goal and third in BSU’s last four games to draw first blood for the Beavers at 6:20 of the first. Goulet’s lamp-lighter helped BSU take advantage of a five-minute major penalty for checking from behind on UMD’s Luke Stauffacher; Stauffacher was also issued a game misconduct and ejected on the play.

Rookie Myles Khuarski, the team’s leading scorer in November, staked BSU to a 2-0 lead with his fourth goal of the season at 5:36 of the second. Kuharski’s tally came as he was chipping the puck towards the Bulldog goal while looking to get off the ice for a line change.

But the Bulldogs would claw their way back into the contest with a pair of unanswered goals. Brett Hammond’s even-strength tally got the Bulldogs on the board at 18:47 of the second, and Marco Peluso forced overtime with a power-play goal at 17:53 of the third.

Grady Hunt went the distance in net for BSU and picked up his fifth win of the season (5-0-2). Hunt saved 31 of 33 shots faced for the contest to pick up his fourth consecutive victory. The 31 saves gave Hunt three consecutive 30-save efforts, tied for the longest streak of his career (three previous occasions), and marks the fifth time in seven starts this season he has saved 30 or more shots. Hunt ran his unbeaten streak to a career-best seven games, and his four consecutive victories ties the longest streak of his career (Jan. 26-Feb. 8, 2002). He allowed two goals, just the second time in seven starts this season he has surrendered more than one goal, but should retain his national lead in goals-against average and save percentage.

Bemidji State played in its school-record eighth overtime game, and the team’s two overtime wins is tied for second-most in a single season in school history. With more than half of the season to play, BSU is in pursuit of the all-time Division I single-season record for overtime games played of 13, held by five teams and last accomplished by the 2001-02 Maine Black Bears.

The win was also a milestone for Serratore; it was the BSU mentor’s 17th career victory, moving him into a tie with Eric Hughes for fourth place on the BSU all-time coaching victories charts. Hughes went 17-13-0 in a two-year career from 1948-’50.

The victory improves BSU to 5-3-5 on the season, while Minn.-Duluth dipped back below .500 at 5-6-5. The teams continue their two-game home-and-home series with a 7:05 p.m. Central time contest tomorrow evening at the John Glas Fieldhouse in Bemidji. BSU will be hosting the Bulldogs for the first time since 2000 and just the second time since 1949.

1/6:20/B- Marty Goulet (5, PP) (Jeff McGill/4, Andrew Murray/4) // 1-0
2/5:36/B- Myles Kuharski (4) (unassisted) // 2-0
2/18:47/D- Brett Hammond (4) (Ryan Geris, Matt Mathias) // 2-1
3/17:53/D- Marco Peluso (3) (Evan Schwabe, Ryan Geris) // 2-2
OT/4:00/B- Jeff McGill (3, PP, GW) (Anders Olsson/5, Marty Goulet/4) // 3-2 / GW
BSU: Grady Hunt (64:00/9-15-6-1=31 saves/2 GA/W, 5-0-2)
UMD: Rob Anderson (64:00/7-12-5-1=25 saves/3 GA/L)
penalties/power plays: BSU: 7-14/2-7; UMD: 7-25/1-7