BEMIDJI - Bemidji State’s explosive offense early in the game proved not to be enough Friday night, as Brandon Morley scored a hat trick to lead Alaska Fairbanks to a 4-3 win at the Sanford Center.
After weekend at Northern Michigan in which they scored just one goal, followed by an off week, the Beavers (1-5-2; 0-4-1 WCHA) had a lot of time to solve their scoring issues, and it showed early.
“I thought early we protected the puck well, I thought we possessed it well,” BSU head coach Tom Serratore said. “We had a lot of opportunities because of that.”
Junior winger Charlie O’Connor got the Beavers on the board just 23 seconds after the puck dropped. Brendan Harms redirected a Cory Ward pass on net that resulted in a big rebound right to O’Connor to pound home.
BSU added to it at the 6:03 mark when Harms scored a rebound goal of his own, a 5-on-3 tally for and his first of the year.
“It definitely feels good,” Harms said. “I’ve been waiting a little while here, I had a bunch of chances. On the play, I think it was Gerry who shot from the point. The puck just popped out right to me, I got a gift on the back door so I’ll definitely take it.”
Harms finished with a goal and two assists on the night.
Bemidji State controlled the play throughout most of the first period. It wasn’t until halfway through that goalie Michael Bitzer saw his first shot.
Before the buzzer though, two Morley goals evened the score at 2-2.
The first was a seemingly harmless shot from a bad angle that hit the post and went in.
With under a minute left, he scored his second on a bad Bemidji State turnover in which the puck ended up on his stick and in the top right corner of the net.
“We made a few ill-advised plays, and the puck ended up in the back of our net,” Serratore said. “Three of their goals were unassisted, and that’s kind of odd in a game. They took advantage of a couple miscues by us and that’s what happens. Hats off to Fairbanks.”
The Beavers regained most of the momentum early in the second, and they finally regained the lead at the 12:35 mark on a nice Fitzgerald passing play that resulted in Leo Fitzgerald’s first goal of the season.
Once again, though, Morley was there to answer four minutes later. For his third goal, he blocked a shot from the point just as Jack Weiss got out of the penalty box. They went down on a 2-on-1 rush, and Morley beat Bitzer for the third time.
“We had a couple turnovers,” Serratore said. “They were plays that are correctable plays, and you just can’t make those mistakes. A lot of times you make a mistake and it doesn’t end up in the back of the net, but obviously when it does, it hurts.”
The rest of the action was even until Alaska scored a fluke goal early in the third.
Roseau native Josh Erickson got credit for the goal, but he never touched the puck. A Bemidji defender played the puck off his own back wall, and it bounced behind Bitzer without him seeing it, and he knocked it in.
For the rest of the period, the Beavers had Alaska on the ropes, but the Nanooks played just well enough in their defensive zone to keep the puck out of the net.
BSU pulled its goalie with a minute and a half left, but the extra attacker still wasn’t enough and the game came to the final of 4-3.
The two teams match up again at 7:07 p.m. Saturday night at the Sanford Center. The Beavers, who are winless in their last seven games, are still looking for their first WCHA victory. The Nanooks improved to 4-5-0 overall and 2-2-0 in league play.
“They’re a team that capitalizes on what we give them,” Harms said. “(We need to) continue to play the way we are, and just try to limit those mistakes.”
Alaska 4, Bemidji State 3
UAF 2 1 1 - 4
BSU 2 1 0 - 3
First Period - 1, BSU, O’Connor (Harms, Ward), 0:23; 2, BSU, Harms (G. Fitzgerald, Gerbrandt), 6:03, PP; 3, UAF, B.Morley (Frye, Huysmans), 12:39; 4, UAF, B.Morley (Unassisted), 19:19. Penalties - UAF, Hinz (Tripping), 5:20; UAF, Atkinson (Slashing), 5:20; UAF, Atkinson (Tripping), 7:08.
Second Period - 5, BSU, L. Fitzgerald (G. Fitzgerald, Harms), 12:35; 6, UAF, B.Morley (Unassisted), 16:41. Penalties - UAF-Munson (Holding), 7:38; BSU, Gerbrandt (Interference), 12:47; UAF, Weiss (Hooking), 14:33; BSU, Janco (Holding), 17:13.
Third Period - 7, UAF, Erickson (Unassisted), 3:07. Penalties - UAF, Peterson (Tripping), 1:12; BSU, Bauman (Tripping), 5:19; UAF, Peterson (Tripping), 11:15.
