Bemidji State's Brance Orban and Denver's Scott Mayfield battle for the puck during the first period of Friday night's game at the Sanford Center. Pioneer Photo/Eric Stromgren
There are times when momentum in a hockey game can change in an instant and change the result of a game.
That moment for Bemidji State came late in the third period of Friday night’s 3-2 loss to No. 13 Denver in front of 3,229 fans at the Sanford Center.
A miscommunication behind the net between BSU goalie Dan Bakala and defenseman Matt Prapavessis resulted in a game-tying goal for Denver’s Jason Zucker with 7:09 remaining. Drew Shore scored the winning goal just under three minutes later.
Up until that moment, Bemidji State was in control and in position to close out a win.
“That one stinks – our own rink,” said BSU senior Jamie MacQueen, who gave the Beavers a 2-1 lead in the second period. “We’re up going into the third period and we let it slip away. We played great hockey for the first two periods but a couple turnovers, two bad shifts in a row, a bad bounce for the tying goal and that bit us.”
Zucker, a Minnesota Wild draft pick, scored Denver’s first goal in the three-goal second period. Shea Walters and MacQueen answered for BSU to give the Beavers a 2-1 heading into the second intermission.
Everything came apart for BSU on the miscommunication behind the net. Bakala’s attempt to move the puck deflected off Prapavessis’ skate and bounced out front. All Zucker needed to do was put it back into the wide-open net.
“Sometimes when it rains it pours and we gave them three goals,” BSU head coach Tom Serratore said. “You can’t give up goals like that. I thought overall we had good execution but the second one was a tough one to swallow.”
Bemidji State (6-9-3, 5-7-3 WCHA) and Denver (7-5-3, 5-3-3 WCHA) end the weekend series Saturday night at the Sanford Center at 7:07 p.m. The game wraps up the first half of the WCHA schedule for BSU.
Denver’s appearance in Bemidji this weekend is the first in program history and the Pioneers came to town with a 8-0 all-time record against BSU. The two teams played defensive in a scoreless first period.
Zucker opened scoring in the second period by picking the upper corner of the net over Bakala’s blocker with a quick wrist shot. The shot from the top of the left circle came 3:16 into the period.
Bemidji State responded with the next two goals and both were scored from nearly the same place on the ice.
When Radoslav Illo’s shot was saved by Denver goalie Juho Olkinuora and bounced in front of the net, Walters was there to slap it back through on the rebound to tie the game at 1-1.
BSU went ahead 2-0 seconds after back-to-back power plays came up empty.
Jeff Jubinville set up the goal with a centering pass from behind the Denver net. MacQueen was unguarded and he put it through Olkinuora for his second goal of the season.
“They were a couple of great plays and we fought hard to get those two goals,” MacQueen said. “It’s unfortunate we didn’t score on the power play but we had some good looks. That’s a good thing that you’re getting chances but we have to bear down tomorrow.”
Zucker’s tying goal started a sequence where nothing seemed to go right for the Beavers – and it lasted until the end of the game.
BSU’s Areshenko’s slap shot stung BSU captain Ben Kinne in the leg two minutes later. He limped off the ice but returned.
A bad line change led to Drew Shore’s winning goal with 4:02 to play when he scored on a long shot from the top of the left circle.
Bemidji State’s frustration continued when Brady Wacker was called on an interference penalty with 3:11 remaining.
Denver head coach George Gwozdecky talked about the good fortune for the Pioneers.
“We’ve had a lot of them (bounces) go against us the last month it seems and haven’t seen a lot of positive results,” he said. “We needed the win. I don’t know if you can ever say that there’s a must-win in the month of December, but for us, for what we want to be able to do it certainly was a must-win and a pretty good confidence boost for us.”
Scoring Summary
DU 0 1 2 – 3
BSU 0 2 0 – 2
First period- No scoring.
Second period – 1, DU Zucker 9 (D. Shore, Loney), 3:16. 2, BSU Walters 7 (Illo, Areshenko), 7:58. 3, BSU MacQueen 2 (Jubinville, Areshenko), 16:13.
Third period – 4, DU Zucker 10 (unassisted), 12:51. 5, DU D. Shore 7 (Makowski, Salazar), 15:48.
Shots on goal – DU, 9-13-6-28. BSU, 8-6-9-23.
Goalies – DU, Olkinuora (23-21). BSU, Bakala (28-25).
Power plays – DU, 0-for-2. BSU, 0-for-2.
A-3,229.
Photo Gallery
All photos by Eric Stromgren.
Brance Orban waits to go onto the ice before pregame introductions
Bemidji State hockey alums Terry Burns (1965-69) and Jerry O'Neil (1959-62) dropped the ceremonial opening face-off with Denver's Drew Shore and BSU's Ben Kinne as part of BSU alumni weekend.
Jeff Jubinville and John Lee
Radoslav Illo and John Lee
Darcy Findlay and David Makowski
Juho Olkinuora, Jordan George and Drew Shore
Drew Fisher
Jake Areshenko
Shawn Ostrow and Brad Hunt
Dan Bakala
Sam Windle
–
Follow Eric Stromgren on Twitter at @estromgren and on Facebook.
