DATE: December 16, 2006
Matt Climie notches 44 saves, Rob Sirianni posts second consecutive three-assist night to spearhead Beaver victory

BEMIDJI, Minn. (John S. Glas Fieldhouse) - Bemidji State ran its Division I-era record unbeaten streak to nine games, riding a 44-save effort by junior goaltender Matt Climie (Leduc, Alberta) and the second consecutive three-assist night from senior forward Rob Sirianni (Edmonton, Alberta) to complete a College Hockey America series sweep of Ala.-Huntsville, 4-2.

As it had in Game 1 of the series, Ala.-Huntsville scored the game’s first goal to put Bemidji State in an early hole. Brandon Marino (Riverside, Calif.) was called for interference just 44 seconds after the opening faceoff, and the Chargers took advantage and picked up the game’s first goal at the 1:41 mark. Mike Salekin took a pass from David Nimmo and put a shot on goal, which was saved by Climie. However, Climie was unable to control the rebound, and Grant Selinger cleaned up the loose puck for his ninth goal of the season to put the Chargers on top.

However, also true to the Game 1 formula, BSU answered the Huntsville opener with three consecutive goals to grab a 3-1 advantage.

Huntsville’s one-goal cushion held for more than 15 minutes, until Tyler Lehrke (Park Rapids, Minn.) picked up his second goal of the season to balance the scoreboard at a goal apiece, again off a rebound. Cody Bostock (Salmon Arm, British Columbia) fired on Charger netminder Marc Narduzzi after taking a feed from Joey Moggach (Brandon, Manitoba), but Narduzzi could not contain the carom and Lehrke was on target with the rebound at the 16:54 mark of the period.

The second period got off to a sluggish start as neither team could keep the puck in play for sustained periods of time. After seeing just 21 faceoffs in the entire first period, there were 20 in the first ten minutes of the second period alone and a total of 37 for the frame.

Bemidji State was the first to break through the quagmire, pulling ahead to a 2-1 lead at the 5:47 mark. Sirianni found Blaine Jarvis (Gladstone, Manitoba) on a breakaway opportunity, and Jarvis was able to get a shot off on Narduzzi. Narduzzi saved the puck and the rebound went directly back out to Jarvis, who unleashed a second shot which struck the pipe to Narduzzi’s left. The rebound off the pipe went to Ryan Miller (Fergus Falls, Minn.), who scored his third goal of the season to give BSU its first lead of the night.

Ala.-Huntsville’s Josh Murray picked up a hooking call at 12:59 of the second period, and BSU took advantage of that miscue to push its lead to 3-1. Chris Peluso (Wadena, Minn.) found Sirianni, who picked up his second assist of the night with a pass culminating in Jarvis’s sixth goal of the season at the 13:58 mark.

However, the Chargers would pick up their second power-play goal of the night just over two minutes later to shave BSU’s lead to a single goal. Marino was called for slashing at the 14:36 mark of the period, and Matt Sweazey scored his second goal of the season at the 16:03 mark with help from Shaun Arvai and Joe Federoff to pull the visitors within a goal at 3-2.

That one-goal lead for BSU held until the final minute of the contest. The Chargers pulled Narduzzi in favor of an extra attacker with 51 seconds to play in the contest, then took a time out with 41 seconds left. Five seconds after the opening faceoff, Sirianni took the puck near the boards on the left wing and found Travis Winter (St. Cloud, Minn.), who scored on Huntsville’s empty net to give BSU a 4-2 advantage at the 19:24 mark.

Sirianni’s helper on the empty-netter marked his third assist of the night, tying his career high and giving him six assists in the two-game weekend series.

With 20 seconds to play, the teams were involved in a fracas near the boards on the right side of the Charger defensive zone. Roth picked up a slashing call which set off the melee, which saw four matching minors for roughing, four matching minors for unsportsmanlike conduct and a 10-minute game misconduct issused. When the dust settled, the final seconds ticked off on the 4-2 Beaver victory.

Ala.-Huntsville out-shot BSU 46-34 in the contest, marking just the fourth time since 1999 the Chargers had won the shot battle against Bemidji State in the John Glas Fieldhouse. The 12-shot differential marked the largest margin by which BSU had been out-shot at home since also being out-shot by 12 shots by North Dakota on March 3, 2001.

Climie was stellar in the face of the 46-shot onslaught, however, turning aside a season-high 44 shots - just one shy of his career high - to run his unbeaten streak to nine consecutive starts. He improved to 7-2-3 with the victory.

Narduzzi took the loss for the Chargers. He saved 30 of 33 shots faced, yielding three of BSU’s four goals, and saw his season mark fall to 4-8-0.

The win completed BSU’s second consecutive home-ice sweep of the Chargers and helped the Beavers continue their recent domination of the series. BSU has now won a series-best five consecutive meetings with Ala.-Huntsville, has a five-game winning streak over the Chargers in Bemidji with a total record of 7-1-1 in the last nine games between the pair in Bemidji, and improves the Beavers to 12-5-1 overall in the last 18 meetings in the rivalry. All-time, BSU pulled to 17-25-1 in the series.

BSU’s nine-game unbeaten streak extends the longest streak in its Division I era and is the longest unbeaten at BSU since the 1992-93 campaign. That year, BSU assembled a 12-game winning streak from Dec. 11, 1992 to Jan. 29, 1993. BSU’s nine-game unbeaten streak is the fourth-longest active streak in the nation. The win also helped BSU run its winning streak a Division I-era record-tying six consecutive games.

The win also helped the Beavers run their unbeaten streak in CHA play to seven, dating back to the Nov. 11, 2006 shutout of Robert Morris. It is BSU’s longest CHA unbeaten streak since a record-tying nine-game unbeaten skein (8-0-1) from Jan. 10 - Feb. 28, 2004. BSU has won four consecutive CHA games, its longest winning streak in league play since Feb. 4-12, 2005.

Bemidji State improved to 9-4-3 overall, its best 16-game start as a Division I program, and moved to 5-2-3 in the CHA. Ala.-Huntsville fell to 5-12-1 and 3-7-0 against the loop. BSU has next week off for winter break, then returns to the ice Dec. 29-30 with a two-game non-conference series at Colorado College. It will mark just the second and third games ever between the Beavers and Tigers. Opening faceoffs are slated for 7:37 p.m. Mountain time both nights from the Colorado Springs World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo. BSU will take a four-game winning streak over Western Collegiate Hockey Association foes into the series.

--beavers--