DATE: Jan. 20, 2006
Blaine Jarvis, Riley Weselowski score three points each in Beaver victory

BEMIDJI, Minn. (John Glas Fieldhouse) - Bemidji State’s Blaine Jarvis (Gladstone, Manitoba) had two goals and an assist, including an empty-net goal with less than three minutes to play in regulation, to help lift the Beavers to a 5-2 come-from-behind victory over Air Force in a College Hockey America contest.

BSU needed just over a minutes to get on the scoreboard. Riley Weselowski (Pilot Mound, Manitoba) found Jean-Guy Gervais (Winnipeg, Manitoba) and started a breakaway, and Gervais fed Shane Holman (Hibbing, Minn.) who was streaking down the left side of the ice. Holman fired on Air Force goaltender Peter Foster from the right circle, and his second goal of the season gave BSU the early lead at 1:08.

The Falcons retaliated by scoring the game’s next two goals, picking up a five-on-three power-play goal at 8:36 of the period, then taking the lead on an even-strength tally at 14:51.

Weselowski was whistled for checking from behind at 7:06 and Ryan Miller (Fergus Falls, Minn.) picked up a hooking call at 8:20 to leave the Beavers two men down. The Falcons needed just 16 seconds of the Miller penalty to convert on the two-man advantage, getting the fifth goal of the season from Brian Gineo to even the score at a goal apiece.

Andrew Ramsey’s fifth goal of the season gave the Falcons the lead at 14:51, and helped Air Force score two first-period goals against BSU in the John Glas Fieldhouse for just the fourth time since 1999.

The Beavers evened the scoreboard at 16:40 of the period. Brooks Turnquist took an interference penalty at 15:41, and Matt Pope (Langley, British Columbia) picked up his fifth goal of the season to tie the game at two goals apiece less than a minute into the power play. Weselowski and Luke Erickson (Roseau, Minn.) assisted, giving Weselowski the second multi-assist game of his career.

Bemidji State recaptured the lead at 8:21 of the second period. Jarvis picked up a loose puck in the Air Force zone and led a three-on-two breakaway, firing a shot on Foster from the left point. Foster stopped the puck with his stick, but it popped over his head and into the net to give the Beavers the lead, 3-2.

The Falcons gave Foster the hook after the Jarvis goal, and Ian Harper took over. The Beavers needed just 13 seconds to score on Harper, as Andrew Martens (Friendswood, Texas) scored off the faceoff with an assist from Miller, who won the draw at center ice following the Jarvis lamp-lighter.

The 13-second span between goals scored marked the second-fastest two-goal outburst in BSU’s Division I era. It trailed only a streak of two goals in 12 seconds, at 9:18 and 9:30 of the second period, against Niagara on March 6, 2004.

The 4-2 lead held through the third period. Air Force pulled Harper for an extra attacker with four minutes remaining in regulation, skating with a two-man advantage during a penalty to BSU’s Cody Bostock (Salmon Arm, British Columbia). Jarvis scored on the empty net at 17:39. The goal was Weselowski’s third point of the contest, and Weselowski picked up an assist, his third of the contest.

With 10 seconds remaining, Harper and Erickson were involved in a scuffle in front of the Air Force net during a Falcon power play, leading to penalties to Erickson, Pope and the Falcons’ Matt Bader. Harper and BSU goaltender Matt Climie (Leduc, Alberta) began shouting at each other across the length of the ice, and Harper was pulled and replaced with Ben Worker for the game’s final 10 seconds.

Air Force out-shot Bemidji State, 34-26, marking the first time the Falcons have out-shot BSU in Bemidji since winning the shot battle 29-26 on Jan. 14, 2000. It is just the seventh time BSU has been out-shot at the John Glas Fieldhouse in five years under Tom Serratore, the second time this season and the second time since 2002.

Climie saved 32 of 34 shots faced to earn the victory in goal. He extended his unbeaten streak to four consecutive starts, evening his season record at 5-5-2.

Foster took the loss for Air Force. He saved 10 shots in 28:01 of work and fell to 3-9-0 on the season. Harper saved 11 shots in relief, and Worker earned no saves in 10 seconds of work.

Air Force went 1-for-8 on the power play while Bemidji State scored once on five opportunities with the man advantage. Over its last five games, BSU has held its opponents to 2-for-31 (.065) on the power play.

BSU saw its season record improve to 12-8-3 with tonight’s victory and moved to 7-3-1 for 15 points in College Hockey America play. Air Force falls to 5-13-1 overall and 3-6-0 against CHA opponents. The teams wrap up their two-game series tomorrow night in the final regular-season meeting between the programs as CHA opponents with a 7:05 p.m. Central faceoff at BSU’s John Glas Fieldhouse.

--bsu--