Beavers rally for 1-1 draw at Wayne State

DETROIT, Mich. (Michigan State Fairgrounds Arena) --Bemidji State's Brandon Marino scored his second goal of the season midway through the second period, helping BSU overcome an early one goal deficit and skate to a 1-1 draw in a defensive-minded College Hockey America contest with the Wayne State Saturday.

Coupled with Niagara's 3-3 draw at Robert Morris tonight, BSU ends its regular season holding a share of first place in the CHA standings -- although Niagara has two games in hand and will play Wayne State in league play next weekend.

Niagara holds the head-to-head tiebreaker against Bemidji State and secured the No. 1 seed in the 2007 College Hockey America Tournament, slated for March 9-10 in Des Moines, Iowa. BSU's seed remains in play; the Beavers are currently the No. 2 seed in the field, but third-place Robert Morris also has two league games in hand on BSU. The Colonials can move even in the CHA standings with BSU by sweeping Wayne State next weekend, and by way of their head-to-head tiebreaker over the Beavers would secure the No. 2 seed.

Regardless of seed, BSU will face Robert Morris in Semifinal Game 2 of the CHA Tournament, slated for a 7 p.m. start at 95KGGO Arena in Des Moines, Iowa on March 10

BSU defenseman Graham McManamin set the stage for the game's opening goal, picking up an interference penalty at the 17:15 mark of the first period. With just 10 seconds remaining on the ensuing power play, Jeff Caister picked up his second goal of the season to stake Wayne State to a 1-0 lead at 19:05.

The lead held until midway through the second period, when Marino's second goal of the season balanced the scoreboard at 11:54. Matt Pope and Joey Moggach assisted on the marker, which held up as the game-tying goal.

BSU managed a 28-18 shot advantage over the Warriors, holding the hosts to eight shots or less in each period and allowing no shots on goal in the overtime period. The teams combined for just eight first- period shots -- four apiece -- and a 12-6 BSU shot advantage in the third marked the game's lone period in which either team managed 10 or more shots on goal.

Matt Climie benefitted from the defensive effort in goal, saving 16 of 17 Wayne State shots to garner the draw. He went the distance and saw his season record move to 11-9-5.

Will Hooper also went the distance for Wayne State, turning aside 27 of 28 shots faced to pick up his first tie of the season. The draw moved his season mark to 3-11-1.

As was the case in last night's 3-1 Wayne State victory, the teams combined for 12 minor penalties in the contest -- although this night the totals were reversed with eight against BSU and four against the Warriors. BSU went 0-for-4 with the man advantage, while Wayne State converted on one of eight opportunities with the man advantage. Since snapping an 0-for-57 streak against BSU on the power play with a second-period goal on Dec. 2, 2006, the Warriors have gone 7-for-25 (.280) against the Beavers with the man advantage.

Coupled with last night's 3-1 Wayne State victory, Bemidji State was limited to just two goals in the weekend series to match its lowest scoring output in a CHA series. BSU was held to two goals at Niagara in the third CHA series it played, losing 5-2 and 10-0 on Nov. 19-20, 1999, and also by Findlay in 9-1 and 2-1 losses on Nov. 17-18, 2000.

With the tie, BSU moved to 12-2-2 in its last 16 meetings against Wayne State and now leads the all-time series between the two by a 21-7-5 mark. A 7-5 win over Wayne State on Jan. 6, 2007 capped a 13- game streak in which Bemidji State went 10-1-2; since that victory, BSU has gone 2-8-2, including a 1-4-1 record in its last six contests.

Bemidji State's 2006-07 regular season comes to an end at 14-13-5 overall, and 9-6-5 against College Hockey America. Wayne State improved to 10-20-2 overall, 6-10-2 in CHA play; the Warriors have gone 4-1-2 in their last seven starts.

Bemidji State will host the U.S. National Under-18 Team in a two-game exhibition series next weekend at the John S. Glas Fieldhouse.

Opening face offs are slated for 7:35 p.m. and 7:05 p.m., respectively, on March 2-3.

BSU 0 1 0 0 -- 1

WSU 1 0 0 0 -- 1

First period -- 1, WSU, Jeff Caister 2 (Derek Bachynski, Mark Nebus), 19:05 (pp). Penalties -- Taylor Donohoe, WSU (roughing), 1:28, Nate Higgins, WSU (boarding), 8:50, Graham McManamin, BSU (interference), 17:15, Dave Deterding, BSU (hooking), 19:20

Second Period -- 2, BSU, Brandon Marino 2 (Matt Pope, Joey Moggach), 11:54. Penalties -- Bachynski, WSU (high-sticking), 2:53, Moggach, SU (tripping), 6:47, Rob Sirianni, BSU (tripping), 12:37, McManamin, BSU (tripping), 15:37, Chris Peluso, BSU (holding), 19:54

Third Period -- no scoring. Penalties -- Jake Bluhm, BSU (hooking), 7:51, Deterding, BSU (high-sticking), 9:15, Mark Cannon, WSU (hooking), 11:26

Overtime -- no scoring. Penalties -- none.

Shots -- BSU 4-7-11-5 28, WSU 4-8-6-0 18. Saves -- BSU-Matt Climie (18 shots-17 saves), WSU Will Hooper (28 shots-27 saves). Power play -- BSU 0 for 4, WSU 1 for 8. Referee -- Scott Hoberg, assistant referees -- Neil Stafford, Bruce Vida

A -- 603