St. Cloud tops Bemidji State women's hockey team
BEMIDJI – St. Cloud State University completed a sweep of the Bemidji State University women’s hockey team on Saturday afternoon, tallying a late third-period score to come away win a 1-0 win at the Sanford Center. Sophomore goaltender Abby Ryplanski (So., Winnipeg, Manitoba) turned aside 27 Husky shots in her first home start as a Beaver after transferring from Niagara University, whose program folded after the 2011-12 season.
This weekend marked the first time Bemidji State was swept by SCSU since Nov. 21-22, 2008. BSU entered the weekend having won the teams’ last 10 meetings to even the all-time series at 26-26-7.
BSU came out in the first period with an improved effort from Friday night, where it came out slow and conceded an early power-play goal. Both teams racked up 12 shots on goal, but Ryplanski and SCSU netminder Julie Friend were up to the task and kept the game deadlocked.
The goaltenders’ duel continued in the second period when the teams amped up the offensive opportunities. The Beavers churned out 16 more shots in middle frame, but came out with nothing to show for it. Ryplanski kept all 13 St. Cloud shots out of the back of the net.
In the third period, it would be Bemidji State who would blink first, as Abby Ness collected a Kalli Funk pass and beat Ryplanski up high to make it 1-0 with just 5:27 left in regulation.
Friend stopped all 11 BSU chances in the final frame and completed a 39-save shutout to backstop her team back to its second win, her first between the pipes. Emily Erickson (Sr., F, Coleraine, Minn.) was the Beavers’ top offensive threat, creating several quality scoring chances and pacing the team with six shots on target.
Bemidji State finished the contest outshooting SCSU 39-28. The Beavers fell to 0-2-0 on the season with a 0-2-0-0 mark in Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) play, while St. Cloud improved to 2-2-0 with a 2-2-0-0 WCHA ledger.
