DATE: January 6, 2007
Winter’s five points helps Beavers rally twice from two-goal deficits, score game’s final four goals to complete sweep of Warriors

BEMIDJI, Minn. (John Glas Fieldhouse) - Bemidji State’s men’s ice hockey team rallied from two goal deficits twice in the second period - trailing 4-2 and 5-3 - by scoring the game’s final four goals to capture a wild 7-5 victory and complete a College Hockey America series sweep of Wayne State. Sophomore Travis Winter (St. Cloud, Minn.) erupted for five points, scoring two goals and recording three assists, as the Beavers took over sole possession of first place in College Hockey America and tied a school record by extending their unbeaten streak in CHA play to nine consecutive games.

Winter’s two-goal, three-assist effort marked the first five-point night by a BSU skater this season, and the first since Luke Erickson (Roseau, Minn.) had four goals and an assist in a Dec. 3, 2005 victory over Niagara. Both of Winter’s goals came on power-play opportunities, doubling his career power-play goal total to four, and he assisted on BSU’s first goal of the game and two of the three third-period goals as the Beavers completed their come-from-behind victory.

The Warriors were held to five shots on goal in the first period, but scored twice - including an unassisted goal from Mark Cannon just 55 seconds prior to the intermission - as the teams played an up-tempo 20-minute opening stanza. Nate Higgins got the Warriors on the board first, scoring with help from Jared Katz and Jason Bloomingburg at the 3:20 mark of the period on Wayne State’s first shot of the night.

The lead held until late in the period, when BSU piled on two goals in a span of just 44 seconds to take a one-goal lead of its own. Cody Bostock (Salmon Arm, British Columbia) helped BSU take advantage of an obstruction-tripping call against Wayne State’s Nate Higgins, picking up his first power-play goal of the season with assists from Travis Winter (St. Cloud, Minn.) and Brandon Marino (Riverside, Calif.) to pull BSU even at the 17:41 mark.

BSU grabbed its first lead of the game just 44 seconds later, as Shane Holman (Hibbing, Minn.) took a pass from Kyle Hardwick (Warroad, Minn.) to stake the Beavers to a 2-1 advantage at the 18:25 mark. The assist was the first collegiate point for Hardwick, who was making his collegiate debut.

Cannon’s unassisted marker at the 19:05 mark helped the Warriors take a 2-2 tie into the first intermission.

The Warriors scored two goals in the first 1:25 of the second period to grab a 4-2 advantage and chase BSU goalie Matt Climie (Leduc, Alberta). BSU was caught with too many on the ice when Winter hit a puck on his way off just 45 seconds after the period’s opening faceoff, and Katz scored with an assist by Higgins at the 1:15 mark. Derek Bachynski scored off the ensuing faceoff 10 seconds later, after Matt Boldt had won the draw, to put Wayne State on top 4-2 at the 1:25 mark and chase Climie. Climie’s night ended with four goals allowed against just four saves in 21:25 of work.

Winter scored twice for the Beavers in the second, helping BSU chip away at the Wayne State lead and take a one-goal deficit into the third period. He picked up his seventh goal of the season on a power-play opportunity following a hooking penalty against Matt Krug to pull BSU within 4-3 at the 5:12 mark of the period, then made the score 5-4 in favor of the visitors with a power-play goal at the 17:04 mark following a high-sticking call against Katz.

Sandwiched in between the Winter markers was the fourth goal of the season by Wayne State’s Mark Nebus, who scored at the 11:19 mark following a penalty for elbowing-contact to the head against Jarvis. The Nebus lamp-lighter put the Warriors ahead 5-3.

Wayne State’s 5-4 lead held until midway through the third, but the Beavers erupted for three goals in the game’s final 8:08 - including two goals in the final 1:15 of regulation - to steal the victory and complete the series sweep.

Joey Moggach (Brandon, Manitoba) got the rally started by tying the game at 5-5 with his first collegiate goal at the 11:52 mark of the third period, with help from Winter and Marino. The tie game held until the final minutes, when Holman benefitted from Winter’s third assist of the contest to bury what would become the game-winning goal, his sixth lamp-lighter of the year, at the 18:45 mark of the third.

Wayne State pulled goalie Will Hooper for an extra attacker at the 18:58 mark, but Blaine Jarvis (Gladstone, Manitoba) picked up his seventh goal of the season - a goal which extended his scoring streak to to nine - against the empty Warrior net to salt away the 7-5 win. Jarvis was assisted by Nathan Schwartzbauer (Wasilla, Alaska) and Rob Sirianni (Edmonton, Alberta) on the empty-netter; the assist also helped Sirianni extend his scoring streak to seven consecutive games.

Alamano turned in a strong performance in the 37:40 relief appearance, backstopping BSU to a victory off the bench for the second time since Dec. 9. He turned aside 14 of 15 shots faced, allowing only the second-period power-play marker by Nebus, and saw his season record improve to 3-1-0. Alamano also gathered a 6-5 overtime victory off the bench at Minn.-Duluth on Dec. 9, and has recorded two of the three goaltending wins by a goalie coming off the bench in BSU’s Division I era.

Hooper saved 25 shots for the Warriors and yielded six of the seven Beaver goals on the night. He suffered the loss and fell to 1-11-0.

Bemidji State out-shot Wayne State handily in the contest, holding a 32-23 advantage for the game, but the Warriors won the third-period shot battle 11-8 and scored their five goals on a total of just 12 shots through the first two periods.

The drama on the scoreboard helped contribute to a 17-penalty contest, with the Warriors drawing nine minor penalties for 18 minutes and BSU drawing eight penalties for 27 minutes, which included a five-minute major and subsequent game misconduct against Tyler Scofield (Prince George, British Columbia) for checking from behind at the 11:40 mark of the second. Wayne State went 2-for-6 against BSU on the power play, its first game with more than one power play against BSU since Nov. 23, 2004, while the Beavers converted on three of eight chances with the man advantage. BSU’s three power-play goals tied its season high, set at Maine on Oct. 14.

Winter’s heroics helped extended BSU’s winning streak over CHA opponents to nine games (7-0-2) dating back to Nov. 11, 2006. It ties three other nine-game unbeaten streaks in CHA play for the longest by the Beavers since the conference’s inception in 1999.

The series sweep continues BSU’s historic domination of Wayne State, as the Beavers improved to 21-6-4 all-time in the series. BSU has gone 9-0-1 against Wayne State since a 2-0 win on Feb. 4, 2005 and in total has assembled a record of 12-1-1 in the last 14 meetings in the series. BSU has not lost a game to Wayne State in Bemidji since Nov. 16, 2002, and since that loss has gone 9-0-1 against the Warriors at the John Glas Fieldhouse.

The victory also helped the 2006-07 BSU senior class become the second-winningest group of seniors in College Hockey America history with 51 conference victories. BSU’s 2006-07 seniors have posted a record of 51-16-5 in regular-season CHA play since the start of the 2002-03 campaign, and now trail only the 2006 BSU seniors, who won 54 games during their careers.

Bemidji State improved to 12-5-3 overall and moved past Niagara to take over sole possession of first place in College Hockey America at 7-2-3 against the loop for 17 points. Wayne State saw its season record dip to 4-16-0, 1-7-0 in CHA play. Bemidji State is in non-conference action next weekend, when it travels to Houghton, Mich. for a two-game series against Michigan Tech from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Opening faceoffs are slated for 7:07 p.m Central time on Jan. 12-13.

--beavers--