The men’s hockey team swept the fourth ranked University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) Bulldogs this weekend, beating UMD 4-1 Friday night, Jan. 22 in Bemidji, and 5-4 in overtime on Saturday, Jan. 23 in Duluth.
The Beavers were coming off of a rough weekend, losing to Conference Rival, Niagara, and UMD was currently leading the WCHA, the Beavers' new conference for next year.
“The biggest thing tonight was to respond," said sophomore goaltender Dan Bakala. "Last weekend wasn’t the best weekend, we needed to prove that we were the real thing.”
Bakala responded well himself, holding the Bulldogs off the board for the first 55 minutes of the game, ending the night with 29 saves.
Junior forward Ian Lowe put the Beavers on the board 11 minutes into the game, knocking a rebound past UMD goaltender Kenny Reiter. Freshmen forward Jordan George and sophomore defenseman Brad Hunt picked up assists on the goal.
UMD pressed hard in the second period, out-shooting the Beavers 12-6. The Beavers avoided danger early in the period when they killed a five on three situation in the first five minutes.
After being held scoreless for the entire second period, Hunt got a goal of his own, scoring on a slap shot from the point on a five on three power play. Sophomore forward Jamie MacQueen and Lowe received credit for the two assists.
Lowe got his third point of the game just six minutes later, when he picked up his own rebound from the corner and banked it off of Reiter and into the net. Jordan George got the lone assist on the goal.
Freshmen forward Brance Orban put the icing on the cake just a minute and a half later, when he fired a rebound from sophomore forward Ben Kinne past Reiter. Orban’s goal was his third career goal, and third in the past two games.
That goal ended the night for Reiter, and UMD placed Brady Hjelle in the net.
The Bulldogs ended Bakala’s shot at a clean sheet, with four minutes left in the game, when they scored a power play goal. But the Beavers held off the late surge and won the first game of the series 4-1.
The teams travelled back to Duluth for the second game of the series on Saturday. Once again, the Beavers struck first when senior forward Chris McKelvie received a pass from MacQueen, and tipped it to the back off the net, past UMD tender Brady Hjelle.
UMD responded before the end of the first period and evened up the score after peppering Bakala all period.
The Bulldogs continued to put pressure on Bakala in the second period, who held them off with 22 saves. But UMD got a goal halfway through the second period, bringing the score up to 2-1.
The third period took a different identity from the first two strong defensive periods.
Junior forward Matt Read scored his third short-handed goal of the season, which tied the game at 2. Ben Kinne got the assist on the goal, for his second of the series, and eighthof the season. But UMD responded quickly, scoring on that very same power play to take the lead again and make it 3-2.
Five minutes later, the Beavers got on the power play and made the best of their man advantage. Lowe netted the tally, for his third of the series, bringing the score to a tie at 3. Junior forward Ryan Cramer and Read got assists on the goal as well.
Once again, the Bulldogs were quick to respond, this time just 29 seconds later, beating Bakala for the first even strength goal for either team in the third period, resulting in a score of 3-4 The goal was scored with a little over five minutes remaining.
The hopes of a Beaver sweep were fading when Head Coach Tom Serratore called a time out with 37 seconds left in the contest. The Beavers pulled Bakala for an extra attacker and for the second time this season, Kinne found the back of the net with ten seconds remaining, to tie the game for the Beavers and send the game into overtime.
This time the game found a winner in over time. George intercepted a neutral zone pass and beat the defenders and then the goalie, to end the game just 36 seconds into overtime.
The sweep over the Bulldogs made the Beavers record 3-0 over teams ranked in the top 5, after beating Miami of Ohio who was no. 1 at the time.
The Beavers will take to the ice again this weekend at the John Glas Fieldhouse when Robert Morris comes to town.
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