DATE: February 10, 2007
Victory gives Robert Morris its first-ever two-game sweep of the Beavers

MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (RMU Island Sports Center) - Robert Morris built a 3-0 lead en route to a 4-1 College Hockey America victory and its first-ever two-game weekend series sweep of the Bemidji State Beavers. The Colonials scored two second-period goals and picked up a marker early in the third period to build a 3-0 lead, then added an insurance goal midway through the period to complete the sweep.

Bemidji State out-shot Robert Morris 18-7 in the first period, but neither team was able to find the scoreboard and the game remained scoreless heading into the first intermission.

The Colonials broke the scoreless deadlock less than two minutes into the second period, then pushed its lead to 2-0 with a second goal at the 18:51 mark. Ryan Cruthers put the hosts on the board with his 10th marker of the season at the 1:59 mark with assists by Aaron Clarke and Brett Hopfe, and two penalties late in the period set up a five-on-five situation to set the stage for the eventual game-winner. BSU’s Matt Pope (Langley, British Columbia) was called for hooking at 16:51 to leave the Beavers down a man, but RMU’s Logan Bittle picked up a holding call at 17:47 to put the teams back even on the ice. With just fractions of a second left on Pope’s penalty, Sean Berkstresser scored his fifth goal of the season to stake the Colonials to a two-goal lead at the 18:51 mark.

Cruthers scored his second goal of the night just 1:36 into the third period to push RMU’s lead to 3-0.

Blaine Jarvis (Gladstone, Manitoba) helped the Beavers break up the shutout at the 8:31 mark of the third period, scoring his ninth goal of the season with an assist by Rob Sirianni (Edmonton, Alberta).

But Logan Bittle added an insurance goal for the Colonials just over two minutes later, picking up his fifth goal of the season at the 11:51 mark of the third for the game’s final 4-1 margin.

Bemidji State lost despite out-shooting Robert Morris 36-28, but after putting up 18 shots in the first period the Beavers managed a total of just 18 shots over the second and third periods combined, and just seven in the third period.

The teams combined for 14 minor penalties in the contest, with six for 12 minutes called against BSU, but neither team was able to take advantage. BSU went 0-for-7 on the power play while Robert Morris went 0-for-5; the 0-for-5 night for the Colonials snapped a streak of 12 consecutive games in which BSU had allowed at least one power-play goal, a streak which had been the longest in BSU’s Division I era.

Matt Climie (Leduc, Alberta) took the loss for the Beavers, saving 24 shots and allowing all four Colonials goals in 59:58 of work. He saw his season record fall to 10-7-4.

Christian Boucher picked up the win for the Colonials; he turned aside 35 of 36 shots faced in a 60-minute complete game; he saw his record improve to 8-9-1.

The loss dropped BSU to 8-4-0 all-time against Robert Morris, with the Colonials now holding a 4-3-0 edge in the last seven meetings in the series. Coupled with last night’s 4-2 victory, the Colonials completed their first-ever two-game sweep of Bemidji State and extended their overall winning streak to a school-record five games. The Colonials need only one point in CHA play in their remaining regular season games to clinch a first-round bye in the CHA Tournament.

The loss dropped Bemidji State to 13-11-4 on the season, including an 8-4-4 mark in CHA play, while Robert Morris improved to 13-13-1 overall, 9-7-0 in CHA play. Bemidji State returns to action on Friday, Feb. 16 when it opens a two-game CHA series against Alabama-Huntsville in its regular-season home finale. Opening faceoffs for the two-game series are set for 7:35 p.m. and 7:05 p.m., respectively, on Feb. 16-17 at BSU’s John S. Glas Fieldhouse.

--beavers--