It was South St. Paul’s day at All Seasons Arena in Mankato.
Former SSP high school teammates Maggie Fisher, Felicia Nelson and Amanda Stohr all scored in leading Minnesota State (10-11-3, 7-9-2 WCHA) to a 5-2 win over Bemidji State (6-18-2, 5-15-0).
After trailing for most of the last two months, the Mavericks finally got the lead they were seeking just a minute and a half into the game. Sophomore Kristina Bunker tipped a shot past BSU’s Emily Brookshaw to give the Mavs a 1-0 lead. Shera Vis earned the only assist after her original shot was turned away be the Beaver netminder.
The Mavericks continued their dominance for much of the opening period, as MSU rattled a pair of shots off the post and outshot the Beavers 10-9. But a costly hooking penalty on Fisher allowed Bemidji its first man-advantage of the afternoon. Just 10 seconds into the power play, BSU took advantage when Nikki Eckebrecht tallied her ninth goal of the season on assists from Helena Tageson and Kelly Hart at 15:36 to tie the game.
The first period ended with those goals as the only markers, but the Mavericks would grab the lead again six minutes into the second as Fisher tallied her 11th of the season. Sammy Miller and Brittany Mackley — who had perhaps her finest series as a Maverick- added assists.
“I’m really proud of [Mackley], I’m proud of the way she worked,” said Mavericks coach Jeff Vizenor. “She was great today.”
But the excitement for MSU was short lived as Tageson and the Beavers answered again with yet another power-play goal less than six minutes later.
But from there it was all Mavericks.
Stohr found the net with just under three to play in the second period. Her sixth goal came just seconds after a power-play had been killed by BSU, and was the second game winner of the year for the sophomore. Fisher had the only helper on the play, and the score would remain 3-2 headed to the third.
Just past the halfway point, Bunker found the net again for Minnesota State, finishing off yet another wild scramble in front of the net. The goal gave the Mavericks their first multiple goal lead since a Nov. 19 contest at St. Cloud State.
Nelson scored the Mavericks final goal with an empty net with just 35 seconds remaining to round out the scoring. Stohr earned the only assist on a play when she easily could have shot the puck herself.
“She was the only one [on the line] without a goal, and I’m just one to give it up,” Stohr said. “She did most of the work though.”
For the Beavers, the loss ended their hopes for their first sweep of an opponent this season. Coupled with SCSU’s 9-3 win over North Dakota, hopes of a BSU jump in the standings took a serious hit.
“[The Mavericks] outplayed us today in our own end of the ice,” said BSU interim co-head coach Jim Ingman. “When you let a skilled team with so much speed go up and down the ice like that, especially Fisher… I think Fisher was the key for them today, we couldn’t control her.”
The five goal outburst was a coup for the struggling Mavericks, who were winless in their previous nine contests.
“It was huge, we haven’t been giving up too many goals but we needed to start finishing more,” Stohr said. “It’s up to us to start putting them away for our goalie and for our team.”
Brit Kehler started for the second straight day and stopped 31 to earn her ninth win of the season. Brookshaw added 22 saves of her own in the losing effort.
Both teams will play on the road next weekend as Bemidji will play a pair at top-ranked Wisconsin. The Mavericks will head north for a two-game set against last place North Dakota.
