Tyler Lehrke turned in the first multi-goal game of his career and goaltender Matt Climie ran his personal unbeaten streak to 11 consecutive starts as Bemidji State handed head coach Tom Serratore the 100th victory of his coaching career with a 3-2 win over Wayne State Friday in a College Hockey America contest.
The win helped BSU run its unbeaten streak in CHA play to eight consecutive games, one shy of its longest in the league since its inception in 1999.
Serratore, who also coached his 200th game at Bemidji State Friday, becomes the second coach in BSU history to reach the 100-victory plateau. The victory also helped the 2006-07 BSU senior class become just the fourth group of seniors in College Hockey America history to record 50 conference victories during their careers.
Bemidji State scored the lone goal in the first period, but the Warriors rebounded and outscored BSU 2-1 in the second stanza to take a 2-2 draw into the third.
Lehrke scored the first of his two goals on the evening at 16:16 of the first period. Joey Moggach found Matt Pope at the red line, and Pope fed Lehrke in the offensive zone. Lehrke made a nifty move on Wayne State goaltender Will Hooper, and gave BSU the early lead with his third goal of the campaign.
That one-goal lead held through the end of what was a slow-paced first period, and Wayne State solved Climie early in the second to draw the scoreboard even at a goal apiece.
Shortly after the Beavers had successfully skated off a penalty which had been issued in the final seconds of the first period, Mark Nebus picked up a loose puck for Wayne State. He found Matt Boldt, who unleashed a rocket from just inside the blue line and beat Climie over the right shoulder into the corner of the net at the 2:28 mark of the second to tie the game at a goal apiece.
BSU recaptured the lead at the 7:42 mark on Lehrke’s second goal of the night, matching his season total in 10 games entering the contest. Moggach again assisted, finding Chris Peluso, who fed Lehrke at the left circle to help stake the Beavers to a 2-1 lead.
A flurry of penalties in the final minutes of the second period proved costly to the Beavers, as Wayne State took advantage with a rare power-play goal against BSU. Jake Bluhm and Ryan Bernardi were issued roughing penalties at 16:40 to leave the teams skating four-on-four, and during that penalty BSU’s David Deterding picked up a hooking call to put the Warriors on the power play at 17:11.
Shortly after the matching minors expired, leaving BSU still a man down on the Deterding penalty, Jason Bloomingburg unleashed three shots on Climie. Climie managed to save the first two, but Bloomingburg muscled the second rebound home with 55 seconds remaining on the clock to help the Warriors take a 2-2 draw into the second intermission.
The Beavers recaptured the lead midway through the third period as Rob Sirianni and Blaine Jarvis each extended their lengthy scoring streaks. Ryan Miller won a draw from Stavros Paskaris and found Jarvis, who fed Sirianni for what ultimately was the game-winning goal.
The goal was Sirianni’s fourth in his last three games and helped push his scoring streak to seven consecutive games, while Jarvis shoved his scoring streak to eight with an assist, marking his fifth consecutive outing with a helper.
The Warriors played the game’s final 50 seconds with Hooper on the bench in favor of an extra attacker, but could not find the game-tying goal.
Climie’s unbeaten streak reached 11 starts with the victory, as he saved 22 of 24 shots in 59:56 of work. Now 8-0-2 over his last 10 starts, Climie improved to 9-2-3 on the year and is 6-1-3 with a 1.89 goals against average against CHA foes. Climie has never lost to Wayne State; he is 5-0-1 in seven all-time appearances against the Warriors.
Climie outdueled Hooper, who dropped to 1-10-0 on the year with a 25-save setback. He allowed all three BSU goals in 59:10.
The teams combined for just 11 minor penalties. BSU went 0-for-3 on the power play while Wayne State went 1-for-4. The Warriors have a power-play goal in each of their last two games against BSU after assembling a streak of 57 consecutive failed power-play chances in their series with BSU, which began in November of 2004. Even so, the Warriors are now 9-for-130 (.069) against BSU on the power play since the start of the 2001-02 season.
Bemidji State improved to 11-5-3 overall and moved into a tie with Niagara atop the College Hockey America standings at 6-2-3 against the loop for 15 points. Wayne State saw its season record dip to 4-15-0, 1-6-0 in CHA play.
The Beavers and Warriors wrap up their two-game College Hockey America series Saturday night. Opening faceoff is slated for 7:05 p.m. Central time at BSU’s John S. Glas Fieldhouse.
