WOMEN'S HOCKEY: St. Cloud State tops Beavers 3-2 in overtime

Austin Monteith, The Bemidji Pioneer, Minn.
·4 min read

Feb. 27—BEMIDJI — An overtime goal sunk the Bemidji State women's hockey team Friday afternoon at the Sanford Center. Jenniina Nylund struck with 52.8 seconds remaining in 3-on-3 overtime to secure St. Cloud State a 3-2 victory in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association series opener.

The Beavers (2-15-2) outshot the Huskies (5-12-1) by a 33-21 margin, and had plenty of scoring chances to show for it, but were unable to eke out a win.

"I told the group hockey can be a cruel game sometimes," head coach Jim Scanlan said. "You do a lot of things well and you come up on the short end. I thought today was one of those games."

BSU has played nine overtime games this season, more than any other WCHA team, and are 2-5-2 in such contests. Four of the team's five meetings with SCSU have required an extra period. St. Cloud State owns a 2-1-1 advantage in those games.

"I liked how we played. We generated some chances, we had some great looks," Scanlan said. "Unfortunately, we just couldn't get one by their goalie, or just miss, and then they make a play to get one past us. (Overtime games) are always exciting, always entertaining. It would just be nice to come out on top a few more times than we have."

The Huskies' Olivia Hanson snuck a backhander five-hole past netminder Kerigan Dowhy for the opening goal only 1:20 into the contest.

Bemidji State answered in the period's final minute.

Tina Kampa ripped a shot far-side on Sanni Ahola from the top of the left faceoff circle for her first goal of the season. The senior blue-liner's tally, with assists from Paige Anderson and Lydia Passolt, sent the teams to the locker room tied 1-1 at the first intermission.

The teams remain deadlocked until late in the second period.

Senior Clair DeGeorge swept home a rebound at the goal mouth to lift the Beavers to a 2-1 lead with 4:01 remaining in the frame, the team's first lead since Jan. 22. Reece Hunt and Taylor Nelson earned assists on the goal. DeGeorge and Hunt are the team's leaders in goals (5) and assists (8), respectively.

"We've seen that from Clair for four years," Scanlan said. "She's just a warrior, a competitor. She had a couple of really good looks in the overtime. Unfortunately, we just couldn't get one in."

SCSU had just eight seconds left on a power play when Emma Bigham knotted the game back up at 2-2 two minutes into the third period during a scrum in front of the net.

Neither side could find a go-ahead goal in the final 18 minutes, sending the game to 3-on-3 overtime. Nylund scored the overtime winner in the final minute of play as her shot caught a piece of Dowhy's stick and wound up in the back of the net.

Dowhy finished with 18 saves, while Ahola made 31 saves at the other end.

St. Cloud State converted on one of two power-play chances and held BSU 0-for-2 on the advantage.

The Beavers will take the ice for the final time this season at 1:07 p.m. for the series finale inside the Sanford Center. The team's nine seniors will be honored on Senior Day.

"This one's disappointing, but we've got an opportunity tomorrow to finish with a W," Scanlan said. "You don't get that opportunity very often to be honest with you. And the fact we know it's our last game, the last time here in the Sanford Center for our seniors, we'll be ready."

St. Cloud State 3, Bemidji State 2 (OT)

SCSU 1 0 1 1 — 3

BSU 1 1 0 0 — 2

First period — 1, SCSU, Hanson (Lind, Bates), 1:20; 2, BSU, Kampa (Anderson, Passolt), 19:08.

Second period — 3, BSU, DeGeorge (Hunt, Nelson), 15:59.

Third period — 4, SCSU, Bigham (Bates, Nylund), 2:00, PP.

Overtime — 5, SCSU, Nylund (Hymlarova), 4:07.

Goalies (saves-shots) — BSU, Dowhy (18-21); SCSU, Ahola (31-33).