DATE: November 4, 2006
Orlando Alamano saves 25 of 27 shots faced in first career start

MANKATO, Minn. (Midwest Wireless Civic Center) - Bemidji State rode a strong performance from junior goaltender Orlando Alamano (Fresno, Calif.), making his first career start, and completed its first two-game road series sweep of Minnesota State since 1987 with a 3-2 victory tonight in a non-conference men’s hockey contest.

Alamano, who prior to tonight had made one career appearance in a regular-season game in a BSU uniform - a 14-minute relief appearance against Bentley in 2004 - saved 25 of 27 shots faced to gather his first collegiate victory in goal. Alamano saved eight of nine shots faced in the first period; six of seven in the second period and 11 of 11 in the third period to backstop BSU to the road series sweep.

BSU rallied from a 1-0 deficit after the first period, scoring three of the game’s final four goals to secure the win.

Minnesota State picked up the lone first-period goal of the contest, as Jerad Stewart tallied his first goal of the season with assists from James Gaulrapp and Travis Morin at 11:40 of the first period.

The one-goal advantage held until the midway point of the second period, when Travis Winter (St. Cloud, Minn.) set off a wild five-minute stretch which saw the teams combine for three goals.

Garrett Roth (Cary, Ill.) was called for holding at 8:00 of the period, and with help from Tyler Scofield (Prince George, British Columbia) Winter scored his second goal of the season, short-handed, to tie the score at the nine-minute mark. It was BSU’s second short-handed goal of the series, and third of the season.

The draw lasted just over a minute, as Morin put up his fourth lamp-lighter of the season with help from Jon Kalinski at 10:04.

Chris McKelvie (New Brighton, Minn.) answered at the 13:51 mark, scoring his first collegiate goal, even strength, with help from Matt Pope (Langley, British Columbia) and Joey Moggach (Brandon, Manitoba) to again even the scoreboard at two goals apiece. The assist was Moggach’s first collegiate point as well.

The 2-2 draw held through the second period, when defenseman John Vadnais (Stillwater, Minn.) scored his first collegiate goal to put BSU on top, 3-2. He picked up assists from Winter and Luke Erickson (Roseau, Minn.); Erickson’s assist made him the first Division I-era player at BSU to score at least one point in each of the team’s first six games to open a season.

The Beavers killed off two penalties following the Vandais marker, and Minnesota State played the game’s final 58 seconds in front of an empty net in an attempt to force across the equalizer, but BSU held on to complete the series sweep.

Alamano out-duelled Minnesota State’s Chris Clark, who saved 24 of 27 shots faced in 59:02 of work. He took the loss for his first decision of the season.

Morin led the Mavericks with a goal and an assist; he finished with 1-3=4 points for the series and had a hand in four of Minnesota State’s five goals.

The teams combined for 13 penalties for 26 minutes - seven for 14 against BSU - and for the second game in a row neither team was able to solve the other’s penalty kill. BSU went 0-for-6 with the man advantage, while the Mavericks went scoreless on seven power-play chances. The Beaver penalty kill has now taken care of 16 consecutive opponent power-play opportunities and 25 of its last 26 after allowing 14 goals on its first 31 chances this season. Minnesota State entered the series ranked fourth in the nation in power-play efficiency at better than 25 percent; the Mavericks were 0-for-14 on the power-play in the series.

The victory improved BSU to 44-19-3 all-time in its series against Minnesota State, and helped the Beavers complete their first two-game road series sweep of the Mavericks since Feb. 28-March 1, 1987. BSU improved its overall winning streak over the Mavericks to four consecutive games dating back to Oct. 14, 2005, its longest winning streak in the series since March 17, 1985 to Feb. 7, 1986.

The win improved BSU to 9-46-3 in its Division I era against Western Collegiate Hockey Association opposition, including a 6-3 record in its last nine meetings with WCHA foes dating back to Oct. 7, 2005.

Bemidji State (2-3-1 / 0-1-1 CHA) makes its 2006-07 home debut next weekend, when it opens a two-game College Hockey America series against the Robert Morris Colonials, Nov. 10-11. Opening faceoffs from Bemidji’s John S. Glas Fieldhouse are slated for 7:35 p.m. and 7:05 p.m., respectively.

NOTES: BSU improved to 2-19-2 in its Division I era on Olympic-sized ice sheets... Travis Winter’s two-assist game gave him 1-3=4 points in the series...

--beavers--