ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Adam Brady netted a pair of goals as the Bemidji State men’s hockey team rolled to its sixth straight win with a 4-1 victory at Alaska Anchorage.
Zach Driscoll nearly earned his fourth shutout of the season as he finished with 18 saves.
The win allowed the No. 13 Beavers (19-8-4, 19-4-2-1 WCHA) to keep pace with No. 3 Minnesota State in the WCHA standings. The first-place Mavericks blew out Alabama Huntsville 10-0 in Mankato but BSU pulled back to within five points of MSU with its win later in the night.
The Seawolves (4-21-6, 4-16-5-3 WCHA) held the momentum through much of the first period as they owned an early 8-1 advantage in shots, though Driscoll snagged every one of them.
With the seconds ticking down in the frame, Tommy Muck lifted a pass high through the air from deep in his own end that landed at the stick of Brady, who picked a spot in the top right corner for the goal with 7.9 ticks to go.
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Brady ballooned the lead to 2-0 early in the second period as BSU took advantage of an extended power play. Marcus Mitchell yanked Will Zmolek’s helmet off his head and was issued a five-minute major and game misconduct for facemasking, while Zmolek got two minutes for roughing, leaving Bemidji State with a three-minute major power play.
The man advantage let Brady net his team-leading 17th goal as the senior’s one-timer found the back of the net.
Freshman forward Carter Jones picked up his first collegiate goal near the halfway mark in the period, his fifth point of the season. Muck notched his second helper of the night on the play as he’s up to a career-high 18 points on the year.
The goal chased the opposing goalie as Kris Carlson made way for Brandon Perrone.
For the second game in a row, the Beavers successfully killed a five-minute major after Brendan Harris was given a game misconduct for checking from behind at 12:54 of the period.
Owen Sillinger pushed the lead to 4-0 a minute into the third period thanks to a well-timed pass into the neutral zone by Alex Ierullo. The pass let Sillinger sneak behind a trio of defenders and lift a backhander past Perrone for his 12th goal.
The shutout came to an end with only 26 seconds to play as Nick Wicks scored on a late power play. The BSU penalty kill finished 1-for-3, with the power play also finishing 1-for-3.
After getting outshot 10-8 in the opening frame, the Beavers outshot UAA 23-9 the rest of the way.
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Bemidji State will look to extend its win streak to seven when the Beavers return to the Seawolf Sports Complex for the series finale at 8:07 p.m. Saturday.
No. 13 Bemidji State 4, Alaska Anchorage 1
BSU 1 2 1 -- 4
UAA 0 0 1 -- 1
First period -- 1, BSU, Brady (Muck, Zmolek), 19:53.
Second period -- 2, BSU, Brady (Combs, Miller), 4:34, PP; 3, BSU, Jones (Muck), 9:39.
Third period -- 4, BSU, Sillinger (Ierullo), 1:03; 5, UAA, Wicks (Brown), 19:34, PP.
Goalies (saves-shots) -- BSU, Driscoll (18-19); UAA, Carlson (13-16), Perrone (14-15).
