Phillip Marinaccio scored twice in the first three minutes of the game, once on the power play, to spark No. 13 Bemidji State to a 5-2 win over Northern Michigan and a sweep of their weekend series. The Beavers struck four times in the first period and never looked back.
“It’s good to make a fast start and try to get the lead right away and make them come from behind,” said Marinaccio. “We just kept rolling and the guys stepped up and scored. It’s an overall good game.”
After Marinaccio scored with an assist from Brendan Harms at three minutes of the first, the power play came through again as Gerry Fitzgerald scored what ended up being the game-winner at 6:15.
Not to be out done, the penalty kill unit helped as well, as Nate Arentz scored a short-handed goal at 8:30.
“We had a great first period,” said Beavers coach Tom Serratore. “Obviously we score a minute into the game on the power play, and that kind of jump-started things. We backed it up with a goal a couple minutes later. We definitely were feeling it. We had some good momentum going there. We had good speed, were making a lot of plays, and our seniors really stepped up.”
Myles Fitzgerald added another power-play goal for the Beavers at 5:10 of the second. However, Northern Michigan did get two late third-period goals to ruin Michael Bitzer’s shutout bid. Philip Beaulieu ended the shutout at 14:46, and Casey Purpur then scored at 16:56 to bring Northern Michigan within three. Bitzer finished with 26 saves.
The Beavers are unbeaten in their last eight, and have won seven of those, all in conference. They host Princeton this coming weekend.
“We’ve started out good here, and we just want to keep it rolling,” said Marinaccio. “I don’t think there’s any reason why we can’t the way we are playing. We’re playing well and we just keep want to keep moving upward and get better every week.”
Northern Michigan will host former CCHA rival Omaha over Thanksgiving. The Wildcats have lost their last five.
WCHA roundup
No. 7 Minnesota, No. 15 Minnesota State
Eric Schierhorn made 23 saves and a Justin Kloos power-play goal at 2:46 of the second gave Minnesota the only lead it needed as the Gophers earned a split with Minnesota State in a home-and-home. Jason Pawloski made 37 saves for the Mavericks in the loss.
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Ferris State 7, Lake Superior 5
Ferris State scored four of the game’s last five goals to rally from a 4-3 deficit and defeat Lake Superior. Corey Mackin scored two goals, Jared VanWormer scored a goal and an assist, and Andrew Dorantes had two assists. Gerald Mayhew scored what proved the game-winner at 3:54 of the third. Justin Kapelmaster made 33 saves in the win. J.T. Henke and Kris Bindulis had two assists each for Lake Superior.
Bowling Green 8, at Alabama-Huntsville 3
Tyler Spezia’s power-play goal at 3:45 of the third period sparked Bowling Green, which rallied from a 3-2 third-period deficit to score the game’s last six goals, all in the third, as Bowling Green defeated Alabama-Huntsville. Chris Nell made 25 saves for the Falcons in the win. Mitchell McLain had a hat trick and Kevin Dufour notched two goals for Bowling Green.
Michigan Tech at Alaska-Anchorage
Late game
