DATE: March 3, 2006
Beavers remain in the hunt for first-round bye in 2006 College Hockey America Tournament

BEMIDJI, Minn. (John S. Glas Fieldhouse) - Bemidji State scored a single goal in each period, with Jean-Guy Gervais (Winnipeg, Manitoba) scoring an insurance goal late in the third period to secure a 3-1 victory over the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers in a crucial College Hockey America contest.

Niagara defeated Robert Morris, 3-2, in overtime tonight to officially eliminate BSU from contention for the CHA regular-season championship. However, the Beavers remain alive for a second-place finish in the league and a first-round bye in the 2006 CHA Tournament, slated for March 10-12 in Detroit, Mich.

The Beavers scored single goals in the first and second periods to take control of the contest. Rob Sirianni (Edmonton, Alberta) made his return from a five-game injury absence in style, hammering home his 13th goal of the season at 11:48 of the first period to get the Beavers on the board. Garrett Roth (Cary, Ill.) and Jake Bluhm (Red Wing, Minn.) found Sirianni behind the net, and Sirianni circled around to fire on the right post. His first attempt was saved, but he cleaned up the rebound to stake BSU to the early 1-0 lead.

Roth picked up his third goal of the season, the eventual game-winner, with help from Sirianni at 1:50 of the second to put BSU up two.

The Chargers broke up the shutout at 14:00 of the third period when Bruce Mulherin scored his 15th marker of the season, unassisted.

Just over three minutes later, BSU would pick up the Gervais insurance marker to ice the victory. Ryan Huddy (Stony Plain, Alberta) found Gervais inside the left circle, and Gervais fired the puck home to stake the Beavers to a 3-1 lead. The goal was the 60th career point for Gervais, making him the ninth Division I-era player at BSU to reach that plateau.

Layne Sedevie (Bismarck, N.D.) turned in a solid effort in goal for the Beavers in his first Friday-night start in over a year. He turned aside 27 of 28 Charger shots in the contest, including 20-of-20 in the first two periods. Sedevie helped BSU hold the Chargers scoreless through two periods for just the third time in 32 meetings since the inception of CHA in 1999. He picked up his first victory since Jan. 21 in 59:56 of work and improved his season record to 9-6-1.

Scott Munroe saved 26 of 29 shots faced in a 60:00 complete game. He saved 21 of 23 in the first two periods and five of six in a slow-paced third. He took the loss and saw his season record dip to 16-9-2.

In typical BSU-UAH fashion, the teams combined for 22 penalties for 63 minutes in the contest. BSU was whistled for 11 minor penalties for 22 minutes while the Chargers drew 11 penalties for 41 minutes, including a 10-minute misconduct to Mike Salekin in the first period and a five-minute major for checking from behind and a subsequent game misconduct to Brett McConnachie late in the third period.

The teams combined to go 0-for-15 on the power play, with BSU going scoreless on six chances. Since scoring three power-play goals in a span of 45 seconds at Niagara on Feb. 24, BSU is scoreless on its last 15 power-play chances. Ala.-Huntsville went 0-for-9 on the man advantage, tying five others for the third-worst power-play performance by a BSU opponent in BSU’s Division I era, bested only by 0-for-10 nights by Niagara on Dec. 10, 2004 and by Wayne State on Feb. 5, 2005.

BSU improved to 13-25-1 all-time against the Chargers, and evened the all-time series in Bemidji at 7-7-1. BSU is 5-3-1 in the last nine meetings with the Chargers in Bemidji since the 2001 season.

Bemidji State saw its season record improve to 17-13-3 with tonight’s victory, and the Beavers improved to 11-7-1 in league play (23 points). Ala.-Huntsville dropped to 18-11-2 and are now tied for first place with Niagara atop the CHA standings at 12-6-1. The Beavers and Chargers wrap up the 2005-06 regular season tomorrow evening, with a 7:05 p.m. opening faceoff at Bemidji’s John Glas Fieldhouse.

CHA TOURNAMENT SEEDING SCENARIOS: With one game remaining in the 2005-06 regular season, Niagara and Ala.-Huntsville are tied for first place in CHA at 12-6-1 (25 points) and BSU is third at 11-7-1 (23 points).
u Alabama-Huntsville can win the CHA regular-season championship with a tie or a win against Bemidji State tomorrow and a Niagara loss at Robert Morris. UAH will be eliminated from contention should Niagara defeat Robert Morris tomorrow.
u Niagara controls its own destiny and will win the CHA regular-season championship by matching or bettering Ala.-Huntsville’s result at BSU. The teams split their four-game regular-season series 2-2-0, and if the teams are tied in the standings Niagara would win on CHA tiebreaker #3 by way of a 19-16 advantage in total goals scored in the series.
u Bemidji State is eliminated from championship contention but is still in the hunt for a second-place finish and a first-round tournament bye. BSU can clinch the bye by defeating Ala.-Huntsville tomorrow; a one-goal victory would give BSU the advantage in tiebreaker #6 (best goal differential in CHA games), while a win by two or more goals would give BSU the advantage in tiebreaker #3 (head-to-head goal differential).

NOTES: BSU extended its Division I-era record streak of consecutive games with a goal scored to 66... Layne Sedevie held his opponent to a single goal for the fifth time this season... Jake Bluhm extended his scoring streak to a career-high four games; he has an assist in each of those four games, tied for the seventh-longest assist streak in BSU’s Division I era...

--bsu--