One down, the hard way, and one to go. BSU defender Riley Weselowski's goal with just over six minutes remaining propelled Bemidji State to a 7-5 victory over visiting Wayne State (9-22-2, 5-12-0 CHA) Friday at The Glas.
The Beavers, 12-4-3 in league play for 27 points, can clinch the College Hockey America title outright and a first place seed in the CHA Tournament, with a victory tonight. A tie for the Beavers would assure at least a tie for the regular season and the first place seed.
Neither will happen, however, if the Beavers (15-15-3) play like they did Friday, according to head coach Tom Serratore. "It was a helter-skelter game," he said, "and for the most part we got out-played. It's great we found a way to win, but it was an ugly way.
"We're happy with the win, obviously. But there are also big concerns about our lack of consistency. They fore checked harder, finished more checks and won more battles. We better rectify things quickly if we have any hopes of winning one championship, let alone two."
Trailing 4-3 entering the third period, the Beavers got back to even with a power play goal from Blaine Jarvis at the 6:12 mark. The senior forward one-timed a perfect cross ice pass from point blank range to knot the score.
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Wayne State came back with a 5 on 3 goal about two minutes later from Derek Punches. Suddenly, it was 5-4 with the Beavers trailing again. From then on, it was all BSU.
The Beavers got back to even when Matt Francis beat Devoney five hole from the near circle at the 11:27 mark
The game winner came about two minutes later. Jarvis led a 3 on 2 rush up ice for the Beavers. He flung a shot from just inside the blue line with Matt Pope and Brandon Marino crashing the net, along with Weselowski who joined the rush. The BSU defenseman poked home the goal in the ensuing scrum in front.
Wayne State pulled goalie Mike Devoney with 1:15 left for the extra attacker. The Beavers forced a face off in front of their bench and won it with the puck getting out to Pope. He buried the empty netter from just inside the blue line to ice the game with seven seconds remaining.
Whew ...
It was a nightmare second period for the Beavers who quickly saw a two goal lead vanish into a one goal deficit.
Things looked good early as Ryan Cramer scored off a nice passing play from Travis Winter and Matt Read at 1:21 to make it 3-1
From then on, however, it was all Wayne State for the rest of the period. Playing with determination, WSU tied the score at 3-3 with a pair of goals in just 1:09. Stavros Paskaris got the first one from in close through traffic, while Matt Krug connected on a blast from high between the circles.
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That was all for BSU senior goaltender Matt Climie, after the goal from Krug.. He ended his night with 10 saves on 13 shots in just over 30 minutes of play.
Orlando Alamano came on in relief, only to have Wayne score the go-ahead goal with just over four minutes remaining in the second period. Jared Katz scored on a shot off his own rebound and stunningly, Wayne State was ahead 4-3. The visitors dominated the period, holding a 10-4 shot advantage.
"That second period was just plain ugly for us," Serratore reported. "We were completely dysfunctional and they took it to us."
The Beavers got the start they were looking for in the game, scoring two goals in less than two minutes early in the period for a quick 2-0 lead. The first came on the power play as defender Graham McManamin hit Tyler Scofield in stride at the WSU blue line. Scofield split two WSU defenders, went in alone and scored on a backhand.
The Beavers made it 2-0 at 4:47. Joey Moggach controlled the puck and skated around the WSU net, getting off the shot from the side. The puck deflected in front where Ian Lowe pounced and rapped it home.
Wayne State got back in the game with less than three minutes remaining in the first. Paskaris deflected a bouncing puck that barely eluded Climie.
That set the tone for the wild and wooly final two periods. The Beavers came out with the win, but... "We need to figure out a way to play Beaver hockey (tonight)," said Serratore.
BSU ended the night with a 31-27 shot advantage, getting only four in the near disastrous second period. Alamano got the win in net for BSU, making 12 saves on 14 shots.
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The Beavers conclude the series, and the regular, series tonight in a 7:05 p.m. start.
