Ryan Miller had a hat trick, Matt Allen and Rob Sirianni both had a goal and assist, and Matt Climie made 27 saves en route to a 6-1 Beaver victory over the Western Michigan Broncos (6-21-4 overall, 6-16-3).
“I thought we played well,” said Bemidji State head coach Tom Serratore. “Anytime you win the game 6-1 on the road you play pretty good. We are very happy with our play.”
Miller started the scoring at 3:53 of the first period. Reid Yantzi took a costly penalty leading to the Beaver’s goal. Set up the zone, Tyler Scofield fed Luke Erickson, who found a wide open Miller cross ice. Miller one-timed the back into the back of the net beating Bronco net minder Eric Marvin.
Bemidji State added another goal later in the first period when Blaine Jarvis found himself one on one with Marvin. Jarvis found the back of the net, beating Marvin 5-hole. Allen and Cody Bostock were credited with assists, giving each of them 4 on the season.
Western Michigan found a bit of life midway through the second period when Brian Bicek won a face off back to Yantzi. Yantzi fired a shot, and Bicek deflected it into the back of the net.
Bemidji added another goal, giving them a 3-1 lead at 12:45 of the second period. Allen found himself face to face with Marvin as he came in on a breakaway. Erickson and Rob Sirianni were given the assists on the goal.
The Allen goal came just after Bronco forward Brent Walton jumped out of the penalty box and found the puck with wide open ice. Climie made a huge save and sent his team back up the ice to score the goal.
“It gives an extra boost of confidence for your opponent. For us, Wally (Walton) jumped and got a break but it didn’t go in for us,” Bronco head coach Jim Culhane said.
Miller got his second tally of the night at 16:54 of the second period. Miller was waiting on the doorstep for a pass from behind the net. Ryan Huddy made the pass and Miller buried it.
Sirianni scored his 12th goal of the season at 1:01 of the third period, giving the Beavers a commanding 5-1 lead. Shane Holman started the play by feeding Riley Weselowski, who then sent the puck down low. Sirianni tried putting the puck out front of the net but it deflected off of Marvin and into the back of the net.
Miller got his hat trick goal while the Beavers were short handed. He and Jake Bluhm broke in on a two-on-one, and Miller sent to puck to the top shelf beating Marvin over his stacked pads.
The Broncos outshot the Beavers 28-26, but the difference in the game was the play of Climie.
“Matt is seeing the puck real well, and we are playing very well defensively,” Serratore said.
Bemidji State finished 1-5 on the power play while Western Michigan was held scoreless in 5 chances.
“We need to start scoring on our power plays. We did a nice job killing penalties after they scored their first power-play goal,” Culhane said.
The rematch is set for Saturday at 7:35 p.m. at Lawson Ice Arena.
