BEMIDJI, Minn. — Before this season, Bemidji State had gone four years without a player scoring a hat trick.
It only took Jay Dickman a month to get two.
The Bemidji State junior, who had a hat trick in an 8-6 loss to Minnesota State on Nov. 11, scored three times Friday night as the Beavers beat Alaska Anchorage 5-1 at the Sanford Center.
“This one was fun, especially since we got the win,” said Dickman, who had a helper in addition to his 7th, 8th and 9th goals of the season. “That first one, the first time was fun, but it really took away from it since we didn’t win that game.”
Myles Fitzgerald also scored a pair of goals for the Beavers (6-6-5, 3-4-4 WCHA), who earned their first conference victory in more than a month. They’d been held without a win in regulation since Nov. 4, when they beat Alaska 3-1 in Fairbanks.
“It was nice playing with a lead,” BSU head coach Tom Serratore said. “We’ve only scored the first goal three games out of our first 16. We’ve been playing a lot from behind… when you factor in the fact that we scored the first goal 27 times last year, it’s nice to play with a lead and increase the cushion.”
Fitzgerald didn’t waste any time giving the Beavers a lead to work with. He beat UAA goaltender Olivier Mantha (35 saves) with a nifty crossover move that dinged in off the crossbar just 42 seconds into the game.
Later in the period, Dickman scored twice in the span of two minutes to give the Beavers a 3-0 cushion going into the first intermission.
The first came with 3:52 left, when the 6-foot-6 winger utilized his massive wingspan to reach for the puck and backhand it past Mantha after he was denied by the goaltender’s blocker the first time. The next came at the 1:52 mark. Dickman stole the puck and, despite being bodied by two Seawolf defenders, slid a soft forehand between Mantha’s five-hole.
Dickman completed the hat trick late in the second frame, redirecting a shot from Carter Struthers that snuck past Mantha.
The Seawolves (1-12-4, 1-7-3 WCHA) were outshot 40-22 and only managed to sustain much offensive pressure early in the second period.
Senior defenseman Jarrett Brown scored 20 seconds into the second period and the Seawolves had several good chances on BSU goaltender Michael Bitzer (21 saves) in the first five minutes but nothing came of it.
UAA head coach Matt Thomas thought the Seawolves put themselves in a tough position after giving up the game’s first goal.
“The first shot of the game goes in, not the way you want to start and obviously, we didn’t respond,” UAA Matt Thomas said. “As a whole, we struggled to play our game. When we did play our game, we generated some stuff, but we couldn’t cash in on it. (BSU) played hard in front of their net and we didn’t play hard in front of ours.”
Fitzgerald scored BSU’s final goal 1:01 into the third period. The line featuring Dickman, Fitzgerald and senior forward Kyle Bauman (four assists) were responsible for all five Beaver scores.
“That line played well,” Serratore said. “Obviously getting all five goals, they were opportunistic, and that was nice to see.”
National roundup
Michigan Tech 3, Lake Superior State 0
Three different players scored and Robbie Beydoun stopped 25 shots as the Huskies blanked the visiting Lakers at MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton, Mich. Brent Baltus had a power play goal and added an assist for the Huskies (9-7-4, 7-6-4 WCHA).
Baltus scored in the first period and assisted on Jake Lucchini’s goal less than a minute into the third. Alex Smith added Tech’s third goal, also early in the final frame. The Huskies had a 40-25 shots advantage on the Lakers (4-12-3, 3-8-2 WCHA), who were shut out for the second consecutive game.
Mareks Mitens made 37 saves for Lake Superior State in a losing effort.
Northern Michigan 6, Ferris State 1
Robbie Payne and Jordan Klimek scored two goals apiece as the Wildcats topped the visiting Bulldogs 6-1 in Marquette, Mich. Payne, who leads the league in goalscoring, netted his 14th and 15th of the year for NMU (9-8-2, 7-4-2 WCHA). Klimeck’s goals were his first two of the year. Adam Rockwood and Philip Beaulieu also scored for the Wildcats; both finished with a goal and two assists.
The Bulldogs (9-11-1, 6-6-1 WCHA) trailed just 2-0 when Andrew Dorantes netted a second-period power-play tally to pull Ferris to within one less than four minutes into the second frame. However, the Wildcats scored four unanswered goals — two more in second and two in the third — the for the big win
In all, the Wildcats scored three times on the power play and outshot Ferris 37-15. Atte Tolvanen stopped 14 shots for NMU. Darren Smith started for the Bulldogs and made 21 saves on 34 shots before Justin Kapelmaster came in to relieve him midway through the game; he stopped 10 of 13 shots.
No. 7 Minnesota State 5, Alabama Huntsville 1
C.J. Suess scored twice and Ian Scheid added a pair of assists as the seventh-ranked Mavericks beat the Chargers 5-1 at Verizon Wireless Center in Mankato, Minn.
The Chargers (6-11-2, 5-6-2 WCHA) held the Mavericks (12-5-0, 10-3-0 WCHA) off the scoreboard until the second period, when MSU got three pucks past UAH goaltender Jordan Uhelski (36 saves). The Mavericks’ Josh French broke the tie exactly five minutes into the frame. Suess added his tallies at 12:43 and 17:24 — the latter on the power play.
In the third period, Nicholas Rivera and Walker Duehr also scored for the Mavs, while Tyler Poulsen netted the Chargers’ lone goal.
Jason Pawloski made 14 saves for the Chargers.
No. 2 Denver 1, Dartmouth 0
Dartmouth’s Devin Buffalo stopped 31 shots, but Jaakko Heikkinen’s goal powered the second-ranked Pioneers to a 1-0 win at Magness Arena in Denver.
Heikkinen scored on the power play with four minutes left in the second period. The Pioneers (10-3-4) outshot the Big Green 32-23 and went just 1-for-5 on the power play. Tanner Jaillet had 23 saves to earn the shutout for Denver.
The Big Green (2-7-1) had three power play chances but couldn’t cash in.
