March 1, 2003
Beavers remain in contention for second place in College Hockey America after a dominant performance

BEMIDJI, Minn. - [box score] The Bemidji State men's ice hockey team got the three points it needed from Niagara in this weekend's pivotal College Hockey America series, remaining alive for second place in the league and a bye in the first round of the CHA Tournament with a 6-1 demolition of the Niagara Purple Eagles tonight at the John Glas Fieldhouse.

Bemidji State dominated all aspects of the contest, scoring in every period, going 4-for-10 on power-play opportunities, out-shooting Niagara 43-22 and holding a 51-18 advantage in faceoffs won.

The game was the final home contest for BSU seniors Jeff McGill and Marty Goulet, the program's two leading scorers in its Division I era.

"This was a great way to send off our seniors," BSU head coach Tom Serratore said. "We were clicking on all cylinders. Our power-play and penalty kill were excellent. This was a good win for us."

Niagara actually scored the game's first goal, getting the third lamp-lighter of the season by Ryan Gale to grab a lead at 6:03 of the first period. From there, however, the game was all BSU.

The Beavers evened the score at 11:53 of the first period, getting the 20th career power-play goal from Goulet.

BSU tacked on two goals in a span of less than a minute late in the first to grab control of the game. Brendan Cook picked up his ninth goal of the season, taking helpers from Andrew Murray and McGill, tallying the eventual game-winner at 16:31 of the first. Peter Jonsson needed just 59 seconds to get in on the act, scoring his second goal at 17:30 to put BSU ahead 3-1 - a two-goal edge it would take into the first intermission.

After the first intermission, Niagara was never in the game. The Purple Eagles needed 14:30 of the second period to even manage a shot on net, and ended with just three for the period. They also committed six penalties in the period and at one point skated with three men in the penalty box, which led to two BSU power-play goals.

Wade Chiodo scored his sixth goal of the season at 8:41 of the second, taking advantage of a Dave Hominuk hooking penalty, and John Haider scored his first goal of the season and first since Feb. 1, 2002 - ironically also against Niagara - at 18:14 of the second after Hominuk's second penalty of the period. Niagara committed three separate minor penalties in a span of 1:51 leading up to Haider's goal.

Cook completed the BSU scoring with his second goal of the game, scoring BSU's fourth power-play goal of the contest at 18:10 of the third.

BSU's four power-play goals in the game tied the team's season high (4 vs Union College, 10/26/2002) and tied for third-most in a single game in the program's Division I era. BSU's 10 power-play opportunities are a season high and tied for the second-most in BSU's Division I era. The Beavers also had 10 against Wayne State on Nov. 25, 2000. BSU has scored a power-play goal in each of its last four games, tied for the second-longest streak in its Division I era, and has set a Division I-era record by scoring a special teams goal in six consecutive games.

With the win, Bemidji State earned the three points in this weekend's series it had to have to remain alive for a bye in the CHA Tournament. Wayne State completed a sweep of Air Force tonight, leaving BSU in fourth place in the CHA standings. The Beavers and Warriors both stand at 20 points, but the Warriors have the edge on tiebreaker No. 1, wins vs CHA foes (BSU 8, WSU 9). BSU must now hope for two things: Niagara taking no more than one point from Alabama-Huntsville, and Wayne State taking one less point from Findlay than Bemidji State takes from Air Force in next weekend's regular-season finales.

Bemidji State improved to 10-13-8 overall on the season and 8-6-4 in College Hockey America play with tonight's win. Niagara falls to 13-16-5, 9-4-5 in the CHA. Bemidji State wraps up its 2002-03 regular season next weekend with a two-game CHA series at Air Force.

SCORING SUMMARY
1/ 6:03/N - Ryan Gale (3) (Luke Parillo/1, Doug Conley/14) / 0-1
1/11:53/B - Marty Goulet (13, PP) (Riley Riddell/10, Anders Olsson/10) / 1-1
1/16:31/B - Brendan Cook (9, GW) (Andrew Murray/15, Jeff McGill/10) / 2-1
1/17:30/B - Peter Jonsson (2) (Myles Kuharski/11, Jean-Guy Gervais/4) / 3-1
2/ 8:41/B - Wade Chiodo (6, PP) (Riley Riddell/11, John Haider/4) / 4-1
2/18:14/B - John Haider (1, PP) (Anders Olsson/11, Marty Goulet/5) / 5-1
3/18:10/B - Brendan Cook (10) (Andrew Murray/16, Bryce Methven/8) / 6-1

NU: Jeff VanNynatten (60:00 / 15-14-8=37 saves / 6 GA / L, 6-8-3)
BSU: Grady Hunt (60:00 / 11-3-8=21 saves / 1 GA / W, 10-9-5)
Penalties/Power Plays: NU: 12-24/0-4; BSU: 6-12/4-10
three stars: 1/Brendan Cook, BSU; 2/John Haider, BSU; 3/Marty Goulet, BSU