Senior Erin Cody (Fwd., Roseville, Minn.) became the first player in Bemidji State University women’s hockey history to record two 20-goal seasons on Friday afternoon as her efforts helped the Beavers claim a 4-1 victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Sanford Center. The win also marked the most conference wins (11) and home wins (9) in a single season.
With a fifth-place finish already secured, the Beavers looked to snap a six-game losing skid. Bemidji State struggled offensively against Minnesota last weekend, but that wasn’t a factor tonight as BSU jumped out of the gate recording 17 shots on goal in the first period alone. The Beavers actually kept the Buckeyes from recording any shots for the first 14 minutes of play. The Beavers tallied a blistering 44 shots on goal in the game and it was the first time four years that BSU has recorded more than 42 shots on goal. In program history, the 44 shots ranks as the 11th most shots on goal in a single game.
Emily Erickson (R-So., Fwd., Coleraine, Minn.) started the scoring off for the Beavers at the 9:48 mark. Cody created a turnover that caused an odd-man rush for BSU. Erickson skated down the left side of the ice and fired the puck on net, beating OSU’s Lisa Steffes five-hole to score her 14th goal of the season.
Just over a minute later, the Beavers would be back on the score sheet again, this time from the other redshirt-sophomore Abby Williams (Fwd., Alexandria, Minn.). Annie Bauerfeld (Sr., Fwd., Woodbury, Minn.) made a pass in the neutral zone to Sadie Lundquist (So., Fwd., Cloquet, Minn.) who was advancing into the Ohio State zone. Lundquist then cut across the slot and fired a puck on net and the rebound was bobbled by Steffes and the puck ended up behind her in the crease. Williams then came crashing into the net and knocked in the loose puck to score her second goal of the season.
The Beavers would walk away from the first period having completely dominated the Buckeyes in the first period, outshooting them 17-3. However, Bemidji State knew the Buckeyes would come out stronger in the second period and that’s just what they did. OSU would close the gap in shooting, with the shots going 11-10 in favor of BSU for the period.
Bemidji State would get up by three goals almost eight minutes into the period on a beauty of a goal by junior forward Lauren Williams (Eagan, Minn.). After stealing the puck in the Ohio State zone, L. Williams circled through the high slot and walked in on net. Forced to cut to the left side of the net on her backhand, L. Williams fired off a shot that went to the far side top corner beating Steffe’s glove. The goal was her second of her career and of the season.
The Beavers couldn’t keep that pesky Buckeyes off the board forever and in late in the period while on the power play, Ohio State would score its lone goal of the game off the stick of Jenna Kilpatrick. The goal was technically scored after BSU’s player had gotten out of the box, but the play developed while OSU was still a man up.
Later in the game, at the 9:20 mark, the Beavers would score their fourth goal off the stick of Cody to gain back their three-goal lead to secure their 11th conference win of the season. The play started with a tenacious battle behind the Ohio State net. Erickson broke a puck loose to Marlee Wheelhouse (Jr., Def., Crooktson, Minn.). From the left side of the net, Wheelhouse made a crisp tape-to-tape pass to Cody at the back door for a easy tap-in goal.
Zuzana Tomcikova (Jr., G., Bratislava, Slovakia) picked up her 12th win of the season, the most by any BSU goaltender in a single season. She made 20 saves on 21 shots in the contest, including five on the power play helping the Beaver penalty-kill unit kill off all four penalties in the game.
The Beavers will finish the regular season tomorrow afternoon, paying homage to seniors Erin Cody, Annie Bauerfeld and Erin Johnson (Fwd., Farmington, Minn.) in a rematch against Ohio State. In other scores around the conference, if Minnesota defeats North Dakota or if Minnesota Duluth defeats St. Cloud State, the Sioux will finish no higher than fourth, locking up the first-round playoff opponent for the Beavers.
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