DATE: Feb. 17, 2006
Victory helps Beavers retain share of second place in College Hockey America

BEMIDJI, Minn. (John S. Glas Fieldhouse) - A career night from junior Garrett Roth (Cary, Ill.) helped Bemidji State maintain its share of second place in the College Hockey America standings with a 5-2 victory over the Robert Morris Colonials.

Roth, a little-used reserve who had scored 2-5=7 points in 25 games played entering tonight’s contest, erupted for a career-high 1-2=3 points, including a goal and an assist in the first period as BSU grabbed an early 2-0 lead.

Bemidji State needed just 1:07 of the first period to get on the board. Shane Holman (Hibbing, Minn.) picked up a loose puck in the BSU defensive zone and fed Jake Bluhm (Red Wing, Minn.) at center ice, and Bluhm passed to Roth down the left side. Roth found himself on a one-on-one breakaway into the RMU zone, where he skated to the left edge of the crease and fired high and across the body of Colonial goaltender Joe Tuset. The puck hammered off the right pipe and dropped into the net to give BSU the early lead.

Roth and Bluhm staked BSU to a 2-0 lead later in the period. Roth picked up a loose puck after a Colonial turnover and fed Bluhm, who scored in a fashion similar to Roth’s goal earlier in the period. Bluhm skated to his left and fired across the body of Tuset, and the puck found the upper right-hand corner of the goal just before it was toppled over from behind, and BSU took the two-goal lead at 16:46 of the period.

The Beavers grabbed a 3-0 lead just over a minute into the second period. Tyler Scofield (Prince George, British Columbia) took a pass at the top of the circles, where he danced past a Robert Morris defender. While up one on one skate he fired a shot past Tuset to put BSU ahead by three goals at 1:39 of the period.

A hooking penalty to Sean Berkstresser of the Colonials at 11:46 of the second period led to the first BSU power-play opportunity of the contest. Ryan Miller (Fergus Falls, Minn.) scored at 13:05 with assists from Matt Pope (Langley, British Columbia) and Scofield to snap BSU’s 0-for-12 power-play drought and stake the Beavers to a four-goal lead at 13:05.

Miller’s goal chased Tuset from the game, and Christian Boucher came on to finish the game between the pipes for the Colonials.

Holman picked up his sixth goal of the season just over three minutes later with help from Roth and Bluhm to give BSU a 5-0 lead and put the game out of reach.

Robert Morris had two full minutes of five-on-three power-play time midway through the third after Miller picked up a five-minute major for checking from behind and a game misconduct and Blaine Jarvis (Salmon Arm, British Columbia) drew an elbowing minor at 7:41 of the period. The Colonials converted on the five-on-three to break up the shutout as Logan Bittle scored his seventh goal of the season at 8:57 with an assist from Jake Sparks.

The Colonials pulled within 5-2 after an unassisted goal by Tom Biondich at 13:40 but could draw no closer.

Matt Climie (Leduc, Alberta) saved 28 of 30 shots faced for Bemidji State, and held his opponent to two goals or less for the seventh time in his last nine starts. He played a complete game and picked up his seventh victory of the season. Bittle’s five-on-three power-play goal in the third period snapped Climie’s personal shutout streak against Robert Morris at 120:22; the Colonials had not scored against Climie since Feb. 11, 2005.

Tuset took the loss for Robert Morris. He saved 14 of 18 shots faced, allowing the first four BSU goals in 33:05 of work, and took the loss to fall to 2-2-0 on the year. Boucher played the game’s final 26:55. He saved 11 shots and allowed one goal, earning no decision.

The teams played an uncharacteristically penalty-littered contest, with BSU drawing a season-high 45 penalty minutes on 13 penalties, which tied its season high set on three previous occasions. Robert Morris, which entered the game as the least-penalized team in College Hockey America at just 17.4 minutes per game, drew 11 penalties for 30 minutes. BSU’s 45 penalty minutes are its most in a game since Oct. 25, 2003, when it also drew 45 penalty minutes on 13 calls in a 2-2 overtime tie with Minnesota State.

The Beavers went 1-for-5 on the power play, while Robert Morris went 1-for-6.

Bemidji State saw its season record improve to 15-11-3 with tonight’s victory, and the Beavers maintained their second-place tie in the CHA standings with Niagara at 9-5-1 in league play. Robert Morris falls to 9-16-3 overall and 5-8-2 against CHA.

BSU and Robert Morris close their four-game CHA regular-season series tomorrow night at Bemidji State’s John S. Glas Fieldhouse. Opening faceoff is slated for 7:05 p.m. Central time.

NOTES: BSU had an apparent goal waved off at 9:03 of the second period for having a man in the crease; the goal would have put BSU ahead 4-0... Tyler Scofield scored his first career game-winning goal... BSU is 2-for-34 (.059) on the power play in its last five games.

--bsu--