DATE: Feb. 24, 2006
Purple Eagles pull into a tie with the Beavers in College Hockey America standings

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. (Dwyer Arena) - Bemidji State scored three power-play goals in a span of less than one minute to grab a 3-1 first-period lead, but the Niagara Purple Eagles battled back and pulled out a 6-5 overtime victory in a critical College Hockey America contest. The Purple Eagles capped their comeback and forced overtime when Randy Harris completed a hat trick with less than five minutes to play in regulation, and Sean Bentivoglio scored at 3:23 of overtime to seal the victory.

The loss marked the first time in 10 games this season, and the third time in seven seasons at the Division I level, BSU lost a game in which it scored five or more goals. Prior to tonight, BSU had been 53-2-1 since 1999 when scoring five or more goals, with the last loss coming by a 7-5 score at Ala.-Huntsville on Dec. 11, 2003.

Niagara’s Justin Cross scored on a power-play opportunity just under four minutes after the game’s opening faceoff to give Niagara an early 1-0 lead, but midway through the period BSU’s special teams erupted and seemed to put the Beavers in command of the contest.

Mike Novosad was called for obstruction-hooking at 9:51 Bentivolgio drew a hooking penalty at 10:42 to leave the Purple Eagles two men down. Luke Erickson (Roseau, Minn.) helped the Beavers take advantage and picked his 13th goal of the season at 11:33 to pull the Beavers even. The Purple Eagles drew a bench minor at the same time as Erickson’s goal to leave the hosts two men down, and Jean-Guy Gervais (Winnipeg, Manitoba) scored 24 seconds later to put BSU ahead 2-1. Twenty-one seconds later, BSU picked up its third power-play goal in a span of just 45 seconds as the sixth goal of the season from Ryan Huddy (Stony Plain, Alberta) staked the Beavers to a 3-1 advantage.

It marked the fastest three-goal outburst in BSU’s Division I era, besting a three-goals-in-53-seconds eruption on March 6, 2004 against the same Niagara squad.

Niagara did not stay back on its heels, however, as Randy Harris picked up his 10th goal of the season at 13:00 of the first to steady the ship. The marker helped the Purple Eagles take a 3-2 deficit into the first intermission, and Jason Williamson drew Niagara even with his 10th of the season 1:08 into the second period.

Erickson’s second goal of the night and 14th of the season helped the Beavers temporarily regain the advantage at 6:14, but Harris also picked up his second goal of the night at 11:23 to again even the score, this time at four goals apiece.

Bemidji State goaltender Matt Climie (Leduc, Alberta) picked up a two-minute delay of game penalty and was issued a 10-minute misconduct at 19:02 of the second, and was lifted at that time for Layne Sedevie (Bismarck, N.D.) with the score still tied 4-4.

Ryan Miller (Fergus Falls, Minn.) scored his 15th goal of the season to tie for the team lead and give BSU a 5-4 advantage at 11:32 of the third period, but Harris completed his hat trick less than four minutes later and the score remained 5-5 into overtime. Bentivoglio’s winner came 3:23 into the extra period.

Climie allowed more than two goals for just the third time in his last 11 starts, and received an early hook in a start for the first time in his collegiate career. He picked up 29 saves in 39:02 of work while earning no decision.

Sedevie played 24:21 in relief and allowed two goals against 11 saves. He suffered the loss and saw his season record fall to 8-6-1.

Jeff Van Nynatten went the distance for the Purple Eagles and picked up the victory despite allowing all five Bemidji State goals. He picked up 28 saves in the 63:17 complete game, improving to 15-12-0 with the victory.

The loss drops Bemidji State to 10-14-4 all-time against Niagara, including a 3-9-1 mark in road games. The loss snapped a three-game BSU road winning streak in the series, and gives the Purple Eagles victories in four of the last five meetings in the series overall. BSU’s five goals tied a 5-3 win on Nov. 19, 2004 for most goals in a game at Dwyer Arena, and the 11 combined goals in the contest tied two others for most in a game between BSU and Niagara.

Bemidji State saw its season record fall to 16-12-3 with tonight’s loss, and the Beavers dropped to 10-6-1 in league play (21 points). Niagara saw its season mark improve to 16-14-1, and pulled into a tie with BSU in the College Hockey America standings at 10-6-1 (21 points). The teams wrap up their two-game series tomorrow night. Opening faceoff from Niagara’s Dwyer Arena is slated for 7:05 p.m. Eastern time.

NOTES: The Beavers remain winless in six overtime games this season (0-3-3) and fall to 10-15-25 in their 50th Division I-era overtime contest... The Purple Eagles garnered 18 shots in the first period and 17 in the second en route to a 46-shot night, season high for a BSU opponent... BSU extended its Division I-era record streak of consecutive games with a goal scored to 64... Tyler Scofield extended his scoring streak to a career-high five games with an assist.... Luke Erickson had 2-2=4 points and has 2-3=7 points in BSU’s last two games; Erickson had scored seven points in BSU’s previous 17 games... Ryan Miller has scored a goal in each of BSU’s last three games.

--bsu--