The Bemidji State men’s hockey team scored four goals in the third period to defeat No. 2 ranked Miami 5-3 Friday night at Steve Cady Arena in Oxford, Ohio.
Aaron McLeod scored twice for the Beavers and added an assist in the regular season opener for both teams. Jake Areshenko, Darcy Findlay and Sam Rendle also scored for Bemidji State.
The victory in front of an energized crowd of 3,406 was a boost for the Beavers and was the second straight win over the RedHawks since the 2009 Frozen Four semifinal loss.
“The guys see some success and realize again their hard works pay off,” Bemidji State hockey coach Tom Serratore said. “We won it by playing the way Beaver hockey is supposed to be played. We were hard to play against. When we are able to take away time and space, it makes things very difficult for the other team.”
Bemidji State senior goalie Dan Bakala finished with 17 saves, including a key save in the first period using a defenseman’s stick after his broke. Miami goalie Cody Reichard finished with 19 saves.
Bemidji State and Miami, ranked No. 1 in the USA Today/USA Hockey and No. 2 in the USCHO.com national polls, wrap up the weekend series today at 6:05 p.m.
The Beavers entered the season with a new-look offense after losing six seniors from last year’s squad, including reliable scorers in forwards Matt Read and Ian Lowe.
The RedHawks, last year’s CCHA tournament champion, started out playing a fast and physical game.
Miami scored first by taking advantage of a power play resulting from Ben Kinne’s cross checking penalty 44 seconds into the game. Curtis McKenzie scored at 2:10 on a pass from Steve Mason to give the RedHawks a 1-0 lead.
The Beavers were able to match Miami by the end of the first period and outshot the RedHawks 7-4.
“I really felt with about five minutes left in the first period until the end of the game we played very well,” Serratore said.
McLeod answered for the Beavers early in the second period when he took a pass from Jeff Jubinville and beat Reichard with a wrist shot off the crossbar. The goal at 1:44 tied the game at 1-1.
Miami regained the lead 92 seconds later when Jimmy Mullin tipped in Chris Wideman’s shot from the blue line and the goal stood under video review.
The third period belonged to Bemidji State and the Beavers took their first lead of the game with back-to-back goals.
Jake Areshenko’s slap shot from the blue line bounced off the post, deflected off of Reichard’s skate and back into the net at 5:06. McLeod gave BSU 3-2 lead three minutes later with a wrist shot over Reichard from the top of the right circle for an unassisted goal.
The RedHawks tied the game for the last time with its second power-play goal of the night from Alex Wideman with 4:50 remaining.
The Beavers closed out strong when Darcy Findlay put back a loose puck in front of the net with 1:55 remaining. Sam Rendle followed by capping a penalty kill in the final minutes with a shorthanded, empty-net goal with 19 seconds left.
Bemidji State’s third and fourth lines were key to the win. Jubinville, McLeod and freshman Tyler Tosunian played on the third line. Brance Orban, Drew Fisher and Findlay played on the fourth line.
“The third and fourth lines were our best lines tonight – they won almost every shift,” Serratore said. “Our guys executed well and got them chasing a little bit. When we got them chasing we were able to change the momentum of the game.”
Scoring Summary
BSU 0 1 4 – 5
MU 1 1 1 – 3
First period – 1, M, McKenzie 1 (Mason), 2:10, (pp).
Second period – 2, BSU, McLeod 1 (Jubinville), 1:44. 3, MU, Millin 1 (Wideman, Weber), 3:16.
Third period – 4, BSU, Areshenko 1 (McLeod), 5:06. 5, BSU, McLeod 2 (unassisted), 8:30. 6, MU, A. Wideman 1 (Schilling, Hirschfeld), 15:10, (pp). 7, BSU, Findlay 1 (unassisted), 18:05. 8, BSU, Rendle 1 (unassisted), 19:41, (en).
Shots on goal – BSU, 7-7-10-24. MU, 4-6-10-20.
Goalies – BSU, Bakala (20-17). MU, Reichard (24-19).
Power Plays – BSU, 0-for-2. MU, 2-for-5.
A-3,406.
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Follow Eric Stromgren on Twitter at @estromgren and on Facebook.
