Bemidji, Minn. --- Minnesota State used a potent power play to score four times in the third period in upending #4 Bemidji State, 5-1, in a nonconference contest played in Bemidji Friday night.
The Mavericks owned a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period on a goal that came after sophomore forward Tyler Thompson collected a rebound off of a shot by Zach Harrison and put it past BSU sophomore netminder Dan Bakala at 10:22 for his first goal of the season.
The teams battled through a scoreless second frame before combining for five third-period goals. The Beavers evened the score at 4:11 when Ian Lowe rifled a wrist shop past MSU’s Phil Cook high on the glove side for a power play tally. After BSU forward Matt Read took a five-minute major for elbowing, senior forward Jerad Stewart’s rebound goal at 8:40 gave the Mavericks a 2-1 lead. Senior forward Kael Mouillerat scored at 10:11 in a scramble from in front of the net and when freshman forward Tyler Pitlick scored at 10:39 on a nice individual rush, MSU found itself owning a 4-1 advantage. Stewart got his team-best ninth goal of the year with the Mavericks on the power play at 16:04 to cap off the offensive surge.
Freshman netminder Phil Cook, who was starting his first game for the Mavericks, was credited with 30 saves in picking up his first career win.
For the game MSU was successful on four-of-five power play chances with the four PPGs standing as a season single-game high. The Mavericks put 31 shots on goal and BSU, which had not lost at home this year and now is 8-1 in games played in Bemidji, went one-of-three in power play opportunities and had 31 shots on goal.
MSU junior defenseman Ben Youds had three assists in a game for the third time this year and has a team high 15 assists on the year. Cook picked up his first career assist when he was credited with a helper on Pitlick’s goal.
Mavericks are 7-8-1 overall for 2009-10 and the two teams are scheduled to square-off again Saturday with a 7:05 p.m. face-off slated at BSU’s John S. Glas Fieldhouse.
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