Beavers take Sioux through OT 1-1; BSU wins shootout

Posted - Sunday, November 14, 2010 1:15 am
PHOTO COURTESY OF BSU PHOTO SERVICES

The Bemidji State University women's hockey team pulled off a shootout victory over the No. 8 North Dakota Fighting Sioux on Saturday afternoon at the Sanford Center. After the game ended in a 1-1 tie, the Beavers claimed the extra point winning the shootout 1-0 in three rounds.

Sadie Lundquist (So., Fwd., Cloquet, Minn.) was the star of the game for the Beavers as she netted the lone goal in the game while also scoring the only goal in the shootout.

The BSU goal came with five minutes remaining in the first period. Lundquist and her linemates, Erin Cody (Sr., Fwd., Roseville, Minn.) and Emily Erickson (R-So., Fwd., Coleraine, Minn.), teamed-up to produce the goal. Erickson had the puck down low in the Sioux zone before making a pass to Cody who was crashing the net on the left side. Cody's shot was turned aside by UND tender Stephanie Ney, but the rebound landed to Ney's right as she continued to slide left. Lundquist followed up behind Cody and put in the loose puck for her fifth goal of the season.

The trio of Lundquist, Cody, and Erickson has been on fire for the Beavers this season. Between the three of them they have scored 20 of the total 23 goals Bemidji State has this season and have accounted for 64 percent of the total offensive production.

Continuing to pressure the net, Bemidji State wanted a second goal, but would not find the back of the net for the rest of the game in part of Ney's performance in net for the Sioux.

Alana McElhinney (Jr., G., Calgary, Minn.) made her third start of the season coming off an astounding 56-save victory over then No. 1 Mercyhurst on Oct. 16. The BSU defense limited her work to just making 17 saves in the contest as the defense blocked 23 shots from UND.

However, while the Beavers controlled most of the play and continued to hold onto a one-goal lead, the Sioux would capitalize on a BSU penalty to tie the game with eight minutes left in the game. On the penalty kill McElhinney made a great save on a back door attempt from UND's Ashley Furia. However, the resulting shot from the rebound went wide of the net, bounced off the boards behind the net and then ended up on the other side of McElhinney. Kelsey Ketcher scored on the broken play for the Sioux, forcing an eventual overtime.

In the overtime period, the Beavers continued to pressure Ney and the UND defense. Unfortunately the No. 8 Fighting Sioux didn't break and the game would end as a 1-1 tie. A shootout was then used to decide which of the two teams would walk away with the extra point in WCHA standings.

North Dakota shot first with Allison Parizek. Parizek came down on the left side, made a move to left and pulled back across the net. McElhinney bit on the first move, but recovered sliding over to get her left leg pad on the shot.

Lundquist shot first for the Beavers and came in on net down the middle. She made a move to her left before pulling back hard to her right. Ney slid to her right and Lundquist found herself with an open net to shoot at, giving the Beavers a 1-0 lead after the first round.

Margot Miller went second for the Sioux and found nothing but the pads of McElhinney. Cody shot second for the Beavers and looked to snipe Ney instead of making a move. Trying to beat Ney over the glove, Cody got a little too much on the shot and hit the post.

McElhinney made the last save on UND's Sara Dagenais to win the shootout for the Beavers 1-0.

The women's hockey team has the next weekend off from play. The Beavers will return to action over Thanksgiving weekend when they travel to Columbus, Ohio to take on Ohio State.