March
13, 2005
College Hockey America Championship
Beavers
Claim First Bid
Gervais, Climie lift Bemidji State in its third
straight CHA title appearance
| Bemidji
State 3,
Alabama-Huntsville 0 |
| Team |
Goal |
Str |
| Time |
Assists |
| First
Period |
| No
Scoring |
| Second
Period |
| No
Scoring |
| Third
Period |
| 1-BS |
Jean-Guy
Gervais (13) |
EV |
| 0:28 |
B.
Cook, P. Jonsson |
| 2-BS |
Brendan
Cook (18) |
PP |
| 5:05 |
P.
Jonsson, R. Sirianni |
| 3-BS |
Luke
Erickson (11) |
EN |
| 18:41 |
J.
Haider |
| Goaltending |
| AH:
Scott Munroe (59:27, 29 saves, 2 GA) |
| BS:
Matt Climie (60:00, 19 saves, 0 GA) |
| Penalties:
AH 7/14; BS 9/18 |
| Power
Plays: AH 1-9; BS 0-7 |
| Attendance:
1,300 |
Bemidji State's
third straight trip to the CHA championship resulted in the Beavers'
first conference title, and their first bid to the NCAA Division
I Tournament.
Jean-Guy Gervais
snapped a scoreless tie 28 seconds into the third period and Matt
Climie posted his second straight shutout, lifting the Beavers
to a 3-0 win over Alabama-Huntsville at the IRA Civic Center in
Grand Rapids, Minn.
With the win
the Beavers also become the first team to qualify for the 2005
NCAA Tournament, claiming the CHA's automatic bid.
"We have
worked very hard all year and faced a lot of adversity,"
Bemidji State head coach Tom Serratore said. "Our guys have
overcome that. These guys won the league and they won the conference
championship and that's a hard thing to duplicate, to win two
championships within a week and we accomplished that."
Gervais, centering
the first line in place of injured CHA Player of the Year Andrew
Murray, beat Scott Munroe after his initial shot missed wide but
bounced back to him off the end boards. That touched off a running
celebration and a joyous reaction from the pro-Beaver crowd in
Grand Rapids, which is about two hours from Bemidji.
That goal
was the first to beat Munroe or Climie after two hard-checking,
penalty-filled periods of hockey. Munroe was the busier of the
two goalies, as Bemidji had eight power play chances through two
periods and a 17-9 shot advantage. Beaver Rob Sirianni had a couple
of the best opportunities denied by Munroe.
Brendan Cook,
who set up Gervais' goal with a nifty pass for his 100th career
point, made it 2-0 on the power play.
Climie, a
freshman who took over as Bemidji's starting goaltender in the
second half of the season, faced his toughest challenges once
staked to a 2-0 lead. He stopped all 10 Charger shots in the third
period. He's the first goalie ever to post back-to-back shutouts
in the CHA Tournament. He has not surrendered a goal since 7:54
of the first period in BSU's 4-1 win at Air Force on March 5,
a span of nine periods and 171:06.
"Our
defense went the extra mile," Climie said. "They were
all working really hard back-checking and we probably had more
blocked shots tonight that they had shots so that make my job
easier. I have not had to make very many rebound saves in the
last four games. Our defensive core is doing an amazing job and
in front and that makes my job easier. This has definitely been
a team effort."
Luke Erickson
finished the scoring while Munroe was pulled for an extra attacker.
UAH's loss ends the Chargers' bid for their first NCAA Tournament
appearance, and ends their season at 18-10-4.
SEEN
AND HEARD AT THE IRA CIVIC CENTER
• Frank
Murphy, who spends most of the year officiating in the ECACHL,
was the game's referee.
• Alabama-Huntsville
missed an opportunity to become the Southern-most team to reach
the NCAA Tournament. Colorado College retains that distinction.
• The
Beavers are the third regular season champion to win the CHA's
tournament title in six years of the league, joining Niagara (2000)
and Wayne State (2002).
• The
All-Tournament Team consisted of:
F: Ryan Miller, BSU; Brendan Cook, BSU; Brett McConnachie, UAH
D: Peter Jonsson, BSU; Brian Gineo, AFA
G: Scott Munroe, UAH
MVP: G, Matt Climie, BSU
