DATE: Oct. 28, 2005
Beavers lose to Falcons for first time since January 2001

U.S.A.F.A., Colo. (Cadet Ice Arena) - Fifteenth-ranked Bemidji State dropped its College Hockey America opener and saw a 16-game unbeaten streak in its series with Air Force come to an end as the Falcons posted a 4-3 victory over the Beavers tonight. The loss was BSU’s first in its series with Air Force since Jan. 13, 2001, and was the first loss to Air Force for BSU head coach Tom Serratore.

The Falcons scored just 13 seconds into the contest to kick-start a three-goal first period. Brian Gineo scored his third goal of the season from Theo Zacour and Mike Knaeble to give the hosts the immediate lead.

Mike Phillipich scored eight minutes later, and the Falcons grabbed a 3-0 lead on Jay Mendenwaldt’s third goal of the season at 16:08 of the first. Mendenwaldt’s marker gave the Falcons a three-goal lead over Bemidji State for the first time since Dec. 3, 2000 - a game Air Force won, 3-0.

The Beavers fought back to within a goal, scoring twice in s span of 1:24. Tyler Scofield (Prince George, British Columbia) broke up the shutout with his first collegiate goal at 19:55 of the first period, a five-on-three power-play goal which was the 200th power-play goal scored in BSU’s Division I era.

Brooks Turnquist put the game away for Air Force with his second goal of the season at 19:24 of the third period. The game-winner came on a power-play opportunity affter BSU’s David Deterding (Alexandria, Minn.) was called for hooking at 18:42.

Jake Bluhm (Red Wing, Minn.) netted his team-leading fifth goal of the season at the 6:42 mark of the third period to draw the Beavers within a goal, 4-3, but BSU could get no closer. The Beavers played the game’s final 28 seconds with an empty net, but were unable to force across the game-tying goal.

Luke Erickson (Roseau, Minn.) assisted on all three BSU goals, recording his fourth career three-assist game. He last had three assists against Niagara on Dec. 10, 2004. It helped Erickson extend his scoring streak to four games, and his streak of consecutive games with multiple points to three.

Erickson also tied a BSU Division I era record by assisting on three consecutive BSU goals scored; he is the 13th player to achieve the feat.

Andrew Martens (Friendswood, Texas) assisted on Bluhm’s goal and extended his scoring streak to a career-high five games. He has scored in each of BSU’s five games this season, extending his own BSU Division I-era record for longest scoring streak to open a season.

Sophomore goaltender Matt Climie (Leduc, Alberta), who entered the contest having allowed just five goals in 302:27 career minutes played against Air Force, took the loss for Bemidji State. He saved 21 shots - seven in each period - and allowed all four goals in 59:32 of work. The loss snapped Climie’s four-game regular-season winning streak and dropped his record to 2-1-0 on the season.

Peter Foster out-duelled Climie, saving 19 of 22 shots faced in a 60-minute complete game. He saved 10 of 11 shots in the third period to help protect the Falcon lead. The victory improved Foster’s record to 1-3-0 on the year.

BSU was whistled for 10 minor penalties, giving it 10 or more penalties for the fourth consecutive game. Air Force went 1-for-7 on the power play, while BSU took advantage of eight Falcon penalties for 27 minutes to go 2-for-6 with the man advantage.

The Air Force victory snapped BSU’s six-game regular-season winning streak, which had been tied for the longest in its Division I era, and ended BSU’s 13-game winning streak and 16-game unbeaten streak in its series with Air Force. Both had been BSU’s longest against any single opponent since making the jump to Division I in 1999. It also marked BSU’s first loss at Air Force since Dec. 3, 2000, snapping a seven-game BSU road winning streak in the series.

Bemidji State falls to 4-1-0 with the loss and drops to 0-1-0 in College Hockey America play. Air Force improves to 2-5-0 and leads CHA with a 1-0-0 record. The teams wrap up their two-game schedule tomorrow evening at the Cadet Ice Arena; opening faceoff is slated for 7:05 p.m. Mountain time.

NOTES: BSU fell to 20-6-2 all-time against Air Force... Air Force’s four goals were its most against Bemidji State since a 7-4 loss on Feb. 27, 2004... It marked just the second time since 2001 Air Force had scored more than three goals in a game against BSU; Air Force had scored just five goals in its previous four games against BSU... Rob Sirianni’s four-game scoring streak came to an end... BSU scored one goal in each period, giving it a Division I-era record streak of 12 consecutive periods with a goal scored.
--bsu--