Bemidji State posted its biggest win ever over a Western Collegiate Hockey Association foe, as eight different BSU players scored goals in an 8-1 rout of the St. Cloud State Huskies Friday afternoon in John S. Glas Fieldhouse.
“This was one great team effort,” BSU head coach Jason Lesteberg said. “We played hard, smart hockey.”
St. Cloud State scored the game¹s first goal as Abby Cooper found the net from just outside the crease after BSU goaltender Bre Dedrickson had left the crease to chase a loose puck and failed to get back into position with just 4:10 elapsed in the first. From there, the game was all BSU.
The Beavers evened the score at one goal each on Amber Fryklund¹s fourth goal of the season, an unassisted tally which extended her personal point-scoring streak to six games, tying her career best, at 12:26 of the first. Kristie Hofer hammered home what would be the game-winner a little over seven minutes later, as Lill Raynard and Fryklund helped her on an even-strength goal at 19:34.
BSU opened the floodgates in the second, netting four goals including tallies just 13 seconds apart at 12:51 and 13:04 of the period. Kerri McEwen and Lisa Peters scored unassisted on BSU¹s third and fourth goals of the frame, giving the Beavers a 6-1 lead at the second intermission. St. Cloud State pulled starting goaltender Laura Gieselman with 14:03 elapsed in the second and BSU ahead 5-1, and replaced her with Ellen Brinkman, who allowed the unassisted goal to Peters on the first shot she faced.
The Beavers tacked on two more goals in the third off the sticks of Raynard and Guylaine Hache to complete the blowout.
“The team has been blocking shots,” Dedrickson said. “There haven¹t been many one-on-one, two-on-one breakaways and I can see the shots coming in. This is a team deal; each player had to set three goals for the weekend and mine were to show heart, hustle and pride.”
BSU improved to 5-7-2 all-time against St. Cloud State with the win and the seven-goal margin of victory was its biggest ever in the series. BSU had beaten St. Cloud State by three goals on three previous occasions. It was also BSU’s biggest margin of victory ever over a WCHA conference opponent; BSU had previously never beaten a conference foe by more than three goals.
The eight goals scored in the game by BSU were its most ever against St. Cloud State, topping the previous high of seven set in a 7-4 BSU win on Jan. 29, 1999 and is also the most goals BSU has ever scored against a conference foe.
Overall, the eight goals scored are the most scored by a BSU team since a 9-0 win over Concordia College on Jan. 7, 2000, the third-highest single-game scoring total in BSU history behind only a 15-3 win over Wayne State on Dec. 4, 1999 and the 9-0 win over Concordia, and represents the most goals ever scored by BSU in John Glas Fieldhouse.
Bemidji State improves to 3-1-1 with the win,1-1-1 in WCHA play, while St. Cloud State’s record for the season falls to 2-3-0 (2-3-0 in the WCHA). The teams wrap up their two-game series Saturday afternoon at 2:05 p.m. in Bemidji’s John Glas Fieldhouse.
