Bemidji State recovered well from a poor start Friday, eventually tying Nebraska-Omaha 3-3 and continuing the Beavers’ chokehold on UNO in the teams’ meetings at the CenturyLink Center.<\/p>\n
The Mavericks (2-2-1, 0-0-1 WCHA) are now winless in their last seven games at home against the Beavers, who feel that they picked up a solid point in going to 1-1-1 and 0-0-1 in both teams’ first game in league play this season.<\/p>\n
“All you want to do is get points on the road and we got a point on the road on the Friday night and I couldn’t be happier,” BSU head coach Tom Serratore said. “I just thought it was an extremely gutty game by our guys. We came back from two two-goal deficits and the guys showed a ton of character and a ton of resiliency.”<\/p>\n
That resiliency was needed after UNO flew off the blocks Friday and the Mavericks took an early lead as a result of their early supremacy. Sophomore forward Josh Archibald did the honors, shooting high over BSU goaltender Andrew Walsh’s glove 2:43 into the game.<\/p>\n
The host’s slim lead lasted through to the second period and the Mavericks scored again soon after the restart. Matt White’s third goal of the season at 1:51 of Friday’s middle frame doubled UNO’s advantage and it was beginning to look as though UNO might be able to cruise to victory against a team the Mavericks hadn’t been able to crack in Omaha since Feb. 27, 2010.<\/p>\n
Bemidji’s Radoslav Illo halved UNO’s lead with his second goal of the season – and his third in as many games all-time against UNO – at 9:03 of the same period. The Mavericks’ two-goal cushion was restored 34 seconds later, though, when Johnnie Searfoss beat Walsh from close range on the rebound from a failed attempt by Archibald.<\/p>\n
UNO’s third goal was one the Beavers knew they shouldn’t have conceded, though, and the moment provided seemed to provide the spark BSU badly needed.<\/p>\n
Nebraska-Omaha’s lead was brought back down to a single goal once more at 14:21 of the second period. Senior Beavers’ forward Aaron McLeod’s first goal of the season did the trick, with McLeod pushing a rebound past UNO goaltender John Faulkner.<\/p>\n
Just over three minutes later, Bemidji equalized. The visitors had amassed enough momentum that a third Beaver goal had been coming. It came at 17:23 with Jordan George capitalizing on a UNO turnover in its own end before feeding the puck to Markus Gerbrandt, who shot low past a sprawling Faulkner and into the net.<\/p>\n
Gerbrandt’s first goal as a Beaver capped a remarkable turnaround for the visitors and Serratore praised his team for its refusal to give up over the course of the game.<\/p>\n
“When you’re down two goals and they get the third, it’s game-over and our guys just kept fighting back and fighting back,” Serratore said. “They chipped away and they found ways to score and once we found a few ways to score, that really elevated our bench.”<\/p>\n
The deadlock lasted through to the end of regulation, and despite Bemidji State going on a power play 1:04 into overtime, neither team found a winner in the extra frame.<\/p>\n
UNO head coach Dean Blais rued the Mavericks’ missed opportunities on a night where, with a 3-1 second-period lead and what ended up as a 42-25 shot advantage, UNO probably ought to have won.<\/p>\n
“They kind of had momentum,” said Blais. “It’s 3-1 and they go to 3-3, and all of a sudden, we didn’t panic, but I didn’t think we had great intensity on the puck until the third period. Guys were working hard, but too many times we missed passes, a lot of turnovers, and pucks hitting sticks and bouncing off. That’s all we do in practice – try and produce offense. We certainly work hard defensively, but there’s a lot of drills that we do that are game-like situations and it didn’t show it at times tonight.”<\/p>\n
UNO and BSU will meet again Saturday night in Omaha.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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