March
12, 2006
College Hockey America Tournament Championship
Beavers
Are Back in the NCAAs
| Bemidji
State 4,
Niagara 2 |
| Team |
Goal |
Str |
| Time |
Assists |
| First
Period |
| No
Scoring |
| Second
Period |
| 1-BS |
Ryan
Huddy (8) |
EV |
| 13:37 |
L.
Erickson, R. Miller |
| 2-BS |
Ryan
Miller (17) |
SH |
| 19:31 |
J.
Bluhm |
| Third
Period |
| 3-BS |
Jean-Guy
Gervais (11) |
EV |
| 1:07 |
T.
Scofield, A. Martens |
| 1-NIA |
Vince
Rocco (11) |
EV |
| 1:48 |
T.
Madsen |
| 2-NIA |
Ted
Cook (20) |
PP |
| 14:54 |
J.
Cross, S. Bentivoglio |
| 4-BS |
Jean-Guy
Gervais (12) |
EV |
| 18:13 |
T.
Scofield, D. Deterding |
| Goaltending |
| BSU:
Layne Sedevie (60:00, 31 saves, 2 GA) |
| NIA:
Jeff Van Nynatten (58:44, 19 saves, 4 GA) |
| Penalties:
BS 7/14; NIA 4/8 |
| Power
Plays: BS 0-3; NIA 1-6 |
| Attendance:
752 |
All-Tournament
Team |
G:
Layne Sedevie, Bemidji State
D: Andrew Lackner, Niagara
D: Andrew Martens, Bemidji State
F: Logan Bittle, Robert Morris
F: Ted Cook, Niagara
F: Ryan Miller, Bemidji State
MVP: Jean-Guy Gervais, Bemidji State |
Bemidji
State’s Jean-Guy Gervais scored the game-winning goal
1:07 into the third period and added an insurance marker
with 1:47 left in regulation, leading the Beavers to their
second straight College Hockey America playoff championship
with a 4-2 against top-seed Niagara at the Michigan State
Fairgrounds Coliseum in Detroit Sunday.
With
the win, Bemidji State (20-13-3) becomes the first team
to earn a berth in this year’s NCAA Tournament. The
Beavers are also the first CHA school to win the league’s
postseason title in back-to-back seasons since Wayne State
accomplished the feat from 2001-03.
Gervais’
first goal capped a span during which the Beavers broke
a scoreless tie by scoring three times over a 7:30 stretch
of the second and third periods. Senior forward Ryan Huddy
extended his current point streak to seven straight games
on a goal with 6:23 remaining in the second period. The
senior forward corralled a rebound off a shot by linemate
Ryan Miller and tapped the puck past Niagara goaltender
Jeff Van Nynatten for his eighth goal of the season. Miller
gave BSU a 2-0 edge just prior to the second intermission
with his 16th goal of the season, a shorthanded tally on
a play started by Jake Bluhm, who forced a turnover in the
neutral zone.
Gervais
scored his first goal of the third period off a feed from
Tyler Scofield on a two-on-one break, but Niagara (20-15-1),
the CHA regular-season champion, had an answer for the Beavers’
offensive prowess this team. Just 41 seconds after BSU took
the three-goal lead, the Purple Eagles’ Vince Rocco
scored his 11th goal of the season, beating Layne Sedevie
with a quick wrist shot from the right doorstep.
CHA
Co-Freshman of the Year Ted Cook cut the Bemidji State lead
to 3-2 with a power-play tally with 5:06 left in regulation,
converting a nifty cross-ice feed from Justin Cross, stationed
at the right point, for his 20th goal of the season. Gervais,
a senior forward from Winnipeg, Manitoba, sealed the victory
for the Beavers a little more than three minutes later,
once again scoring on an assist from Scofield.
Sedevie
made 31 saves for Bemidji State, outdueling the conference
co-player of the year, Van Nynatten, who stopped 19 of the
23 shots he faced.
WHAT'S
NEXT
Twelve
of Bemidji State's top 13 scorers and both goaltenders were
on the team that gave Denver a scare last year. It's easy
to forget how close the Beavers came to an upset of the
eventual national champions that afternoon in Amherst, Mass.,
when they held a pair of leads and eventually sent the game
into overtime.
Bemidji
will likely get another tall order in terms of an opponent,
with No. 1 Minnesota as one possibility. Regardless of who
they play, the Beavers will head in with confidence gained
from their trip East last spring.