Saturday, February 02, 2013

BEMIDJI, Minn. (Sanford Center) – Despite a solid all-around effort, the Bemidji State University men’s hockey team’s winless drought was extended to 10 games Saturday night when it lost at home to 13th-ranked St. Cloud State University, 4-1. The Huskies’ sweep of the Beavers dropped BSU’s record to 0-8-2 since the midseason break.

Bemidji State is now 5-16-5 on the year with a record of 4-12-4 in Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) play. SCSU maintained its strengthened its grip on first place in the league by improving to 17-10-1 and 14-5-1 in conference games.

On the game’s opening play, St. Cloud State almost broke through on a shot by captain Ben Hanowski, but the puck hit the post after getting by BSU goaltender Mathieu Dugas (Sr., L’Assomption, Quebec) and harm was averted.

Dugas came up big midway through the frame on a point-blank opportunity from the Huskies’ Cory Thorson, but freshman Kalle Kossila found the back of the net minutes later off a one-timer from the right circle.

The Beavers, who were shut out 4-0 in Friday’s series-opener, finally got on the board when David Boehm (Sr., F, Naples, Fla.) dished the puck to Brady Wacker (Sr., D, Jansen, Saskatchewan). Wacker bombed the one-time shot into the rafters of the net past SCSU netminder Ryan Faragher to make it 1-1 with 47 seconds left in the opening frame.

The tally was Wacker’s second in four games after the senior defenseman went more than a full calendar year without a goal.

After entering the second period knotted at one, St. Cloud State broke the tie when Jonny Brodzinski collected a Jimmy Murray pass and extended his point streak to 13 games with his 13th goal of the season.

The first penalty of the game came at 16:08 of the second period when Sam Rendle (So., D, Grand Rapids, Minn.) was whistled for hooking. SCSU capaitalized when David Morely whacked home a puck that squeak by Dugas off a Kossila shot.

Twelve seconds into the third period, the Huskies capped the scoring at 4-1 when Drew LeBlanc potted his eighth goal of 2012-13 after BSU turned the puck over in the defensive zone.

Dugas finished with 29 saves in a losing effort, dropping his record to 1-6-1 on the season. Faragher is now 16-8-1 after a 21-save victory.

The Huskies conceded just one goal on 46 shots and were not called for a single penalty in the two-game series. BSU has now gone six games without a goal on the man advantage and is 0-for-17 in that span.

Next weekend, Bemidji State travels to the University of Wisconsin before returning home to face in-state rival University of Minnesota Duluth.

--bsu--