MINNEAPOLIS — The first goal is always important, especially when it turns out to be the game’s only goal.
Ivana Bilic scored at 15:44 of the first period, and that was all Bemidji State needed in a 1-0 win over top-ranked Minnesota Saturday night.
“I’m just really proud of our effort again tonight,” Beavers’ coach Jim Scanlan said. “Overall, it was just a real gutty performance and obviously, once again Brittni Mowat in goal was just outstanding for us.”
Mowat stuffed Minnesota’s offense with a 36-save shutout.
“I think as the game went on, I kind of got more confident,” Mowat said. “Once you see all the pucks, you’re seeing everything, it just kind of comes easy after that.”
After a shootout win on Friday night, the Beavers (5-4-1, 1-4-1-1 WCHA) return home with five of six league points.
Bilic capitalized on a rare four-on-three power play.
“We really didn’t practice that much,” Bilic said. “Out there, we did really good. We moved the puck and just happened to throw a shot on net and it went off one of their players and it went in.”
She showed good poise with the puck, moving to her left and looking for an opening.
“There was a lot of people in front,” Bilic said. “Definitely I waited. There was a girl in front of me, so I tried to get around her and I shot it, and I don’t think the goalie saw it at all.”
Kaitlyn Tougas and Madison Hutchinson earned the assists.
“It was a great job of Rachael Kelly, net-front presence,” Scanlan said. “It turned out to be the winner, but at the time, it was just a real momentum changer.”
Minnesota (7-1-2, 5-1-2-0 WCHA) was unable to get a full change on the kill.
“You can tell that they’re getting tired once they can’t the get puck out, and that’s when you have to capitalize, and that’s what we did,” Bilic said.
Bilic also scored in the shootout on Friday night to extend it to a fourth round where Stephanie Anderson scored the winner.
“She was unbelievable this weekend, just phenomenal,” Scanlan said. “Obviously, Brittni will get the headlines, but Ivana Bilic was just outstanding.”
The Gophers struggled to score when they had all hands available in the series opener, and without forwards Hannah Brandt and Dani Cameranesi, they proved unable to solve Mowat.
“Those guys account for over 40 percent of our offense, I think,” coach Brad Frost said. “They’ve been the story of the first month. Those guys have been scoring, but we haven’t been getting a lot of secondary scoring.”
Still, the story of the weekend was the team effort of BSU.
“I’ve never seen our team play like that, and I think it’s just taking a step forward for our program,” Mowat said.
Both teams head into a bye week.
“I know our kids are tired and they’re banged up,” Frost said. “It’s a good time for a weekend off.”
