DATE: February 16, 2007
Luke Erickson ties BSU Division I-era career records for assists, power-play goals, becomes BSU’s first Div. I-era 50-50 player

BEMIDJI, Minn. (John S. Glas Fieldhouse) - Luke Erickson (Roseau, Minn.) became the first player in Bemidji State’s Division I era to score at least 50 goals and 50 assists in his career, tying BSU Division I-era career records for assists and power-play goals in helping direct the Beavers to a 4-3 College Hockey America victory over Alabama-Huntsville. Erickson’s historic night came in his first home-ice appearance since Nov. 18, 2006; he had missed 13 games with an injury before returning to the BSU lineup Feb. 10 at Robert Morris.

Erickson helped the Beavers rally from a one-goal deficit after the first period, picking up his 50th career goal and 22nd career power-play marker at the 7:41 mark of the second period, then assisted on Riley Weselowski’s (Pilot Mound, Manitoba) third-period game-winning marker, marking his 69th career assist. The 22 power-play goals ties BSU’s Division I career record originally set by Brendan Cook from 2001-05, and the 69 assists ties a mark set by Andrew Murray from 2001-05.

Erickson’s 50th career goal has him join Cook, who holds BSU’s Division I-era career record with 55, as the only two players at BSU since 1999 to reach 50 or more goals scored for their careers. With 50 goals and 69 assists, Erickson also became the first player in BSU’s Division I era to score at least 50 goals and 50 assists in a career. He is the 21st player overall at BSU to achieve that milestone, and is the first new member of the 50-50 club at BSU since Craig Matatall in 1996.

The Beavers and Chargers played a rare penalty-free first period which saw the teams combine for just 14 shots on goal - eight by the visitors and six from the Beavers. Ala.-Huntsville used its second shot of the night to break onto the scoreboard, as Steve Canter found Scott Kalinchuk at the left point. Kalinchuk fired a shot on net, and the puck was tipped into the goal by Kevin Morrison, who picked up his seventh goal of the season just 1:09 into the contest.
The single goal held up through the first 20 minutes, and Ala.-Huntsville skated into the first intermission holding a 1-0 advantage.

The Beavers drew even with a dominant performance in the second period, out-shooting the Chargers 19-5 in the frame and taking advantage of the 50th career goal by Erickson, and his first since Dec. 2. Huntsville’s Brett McConnachie was called for hooking at the 6:06 mark of the second period - the first penalty in the game called against either team - and Erickson capitalized at the 7:41 mark with his first goal since returning from a 13-game injury layoff. Cody Bostock (Salmon Arm, British Columbia) and Tyler Scofield (Prince George, British Columbia) assisted on Erickson’s historic marker.

The Chargers picked up two penalties in a span of just 28 seconds later in the period, an interference call against Mike Salekin at 13:02 and a five-minute major for kneeing to Josh Murray at 13:30 to leave the visitors two men down for 1:32 and facing a 3:28 penalty kill on the major, but the Beavers were unable to capitalize and the 1-1 draw held into the second intermission.

After combining for just two goals in the game’s first 40 minutes, the Beavers and Chargers threw up five goals in a wild, back-and-forth third period - including three in a span of 5:30 late in the frame.

BSU grabbed its first lead of the game at the 4:27 mark of the third period on the 10th goal of the season from senior Rob Sirianni (Edmonton, Alberta). David Deterding (Alexandria, Minn.), who had assisted on Sirianni’s marker, was called for hooking just 24 seconds after the goal to leave BSU a man down. The Beavers ultimately killed the penalty, but Charger pressure in the final seconds of the power play helped the visitors rebalance the scoreboard. Kalinchuk fired a shot on goal as the power play chance expired, and Steve Canter cleaned up a loose rebound two seconds after the penalty cleared the scoreboard to tie the score at 2-2.

Joey Moggach (Brandon, Manitoba) helped the Beavers regain the lead with his fourth career goal at the 12:11 mark, a goal which would set off a span of 5:30 during which the teams combined for three goals. Moggach’s marker gave BSU a 3-2 lead, a lead that would last for just over two minutes. Tom Train scored an even-strength marker with help from Matt Sweazey at the 14:57 mark, and the game was again tied, this time at three goals apiece.

BSU recaptured the lead, this time for good, less than three minutes later. The teams were skating four-on-four after a boarding call against Moggach at 16:00 and a charging call against the Chargers’ David Nimmo at 16:51, and Weselowski gave BSU its ultimate 4-3 advantage after hammering home his own rebound at the 17:41 mark.

Tyler Scofield (Prince George, British Columbia) complemented Erickson’s record-setting evening with a season-high three assists, his first three-assist night since March 4, 2006 against the same Ala.-Huntsville squad. He helped on Erickson’s second-period power-play goal and on the second and third of BSU’s three third-period lamp-lighters.

Canter had a goal and an assist for the Chargers, and Kalinchuk finished with two assists.

Matt Climie (Leduc, Alberta) saved 14 of 17 shots faced to pick up the victory for the Beavers and see his season record improve to 11-7-4. Marc Narduzzi took the loss for the Chargers, allowing all four BSU goals in 59:57 of action. He saved 34 of 37 shots faced, including 18-of-19 during BSU’s second-period onslaught, and fell to 6-15-1 on the year. Climie improved to 6-2-1 all-time against the Chargers and posted his fourth win over BSU’s rival this season.

Bemidji State out-shot Ala.-Huntsville 38-17 in the contest, holding the Chargers to just nine shots over the game’s final 40 minutes. The 17-shot total for the Chargers marks their lowest single-game output against Bemidji State since Feb. 1, 2004, when they were held to 16 shots in a 4-2 BSU victory.
The contest featured an uncharacteristically-low number of penalties for a BSU/UAH contest, with the Chargers drawing six penalties for 15 minutes including Murray’s second-period kneeing major, and the Beavers taking just two minor penalties - both in the third period - for four minutes. The Chargers went 0-for-2 on the power play, while BSU converted on one of six chances with the man advantage.

The victory helped Bemidji State extend its series-best unbeaten streak over Ala.-Huntsville to eight games dating back to a 3-1 win on March 3, 2006. BSU has gone 7-0-1 in its last eight meetings with the Chargers, marking the longest unbeaten streak in the series for either team. BSU improved to 11-7-1 against the Chargers in Bemidji and ran its home-ice winning streak in the series to six. The Beavers have not lost a game to the Chargers at the John Glas Fieldhouse since a 3-1 setback on Feb. 18, 2005.

Bemidji State improved to 14-11-4 with the victory and moved to 9-4-4 in CHA play, while the Chargers saw their season mark dip to 8-19-2 and 5-11-1 against the loop. The Beavers and Chargers wrap up their two-game weekend series and six-game regular-season CHA series tomorrow night at BSU’s John S. Glas Fieldhouse. Opening faceoff for the contest, which is also the final regular-season home game remaining on BSU’s 2006-07 schedule, is slated for a 7:05 p.m. Central faceoff.

--beavers--