Senior defenseman Lisa Peters scored a goal and added two assists to lead Bemidji State past the Minnesota State, Mankato Mavericks, 4-3, Saturday at the All Seasons Arena.
Peters, who becomes the first defenseman in BSU history to reach 50 career points, scored on a power-play opportunity at 2:48 of the second period to put BSU ahead 2-1 and assisted on BSU’s first goal as well as the game-winner from Alicia Kinsman at 19:44 of the second. Peters improved her career total to 52 points (21 goals, 31 assists), far and away the BSU record for defensemen.
Special teams were the key for BSU. The Beavers converted on three of nine power-play opportunities and scored two goals with five-on-three advantages. BSU’s penalty-killing teams, which entered the weekend as the best in the WCHA, limited Mankato to zero-for-six on power-play opportunities.
“We have a lot of kids with illnesses right now,” BSU head coach Jason Lesteberg said. “We just battled through it and continued to play hard. We didn’t have our ‘A’ game tonight, that’s for sure.
“We didn’t play very well, but it’s a good sign that we fought through this and got the win,” Lesteberg added. “Give Mankato a lot of credit. They played hard, and their goalie played well. We took a lot of shots at her.”
Freshman Nicky Kluck scored her first career goal at 14:26 of the first, assisted by Peters. Freshman Katie Ward picked up her third goal at 14:34 of the second, her first career power-play goal.
Alicia Kinsman’s fourth goal of the year, the game-winner at 19:44 of the second, was her fourth career game-winning goal. Amber Fryklund had two assists to stretch her personal point-scoring streak to nine games dating back to last year. The two assists give her 63 points for her career, moving her into the lead on BSU’s career charts (Kerri McEwen, 61).
Bre Dedrickson picked up the win for BSU. She saved 25 of 28 shots and improved her season record to 4-1-2.
The win by the Beavers continues the best start in the program’s history, both overall and in the WCHA. BSU’s record after eight games is two full games better than its previous best eight-game start of 4-4-0, set during the 1999-2000 season. In WCHA play, the Beavers have eight points after six games, bettering their previous best of six points after six games set last year (3-3-0).
BSU also improved to 6-5-1 all-time against the Mavericks, its best record against any WCHA foe. The Beavers have also won each of the last six meetings in the Mankato series, their longest winning streak against any single opponent.
Bemidji State improves to 5-1-2 with the win, 3-1-2 in WCHA play, while MSU-Mankato’s record for the season falls to 2-8-0, 0-6-0 in the WCHA.
