• Box Score: Bemidji State 4, UNO 2
• Photo Showcase: UNO hockey, March 11

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The last time UNO had seen Bemidji State in person, the Beavers were celebrating in a mob on the Qwest Center ice following an overtime win.

Compared with what happened at the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s home rink Friday night, that regular-season result two months ago probably feels like a happy memory for the Mavericks and their fans.

In true kick-to-the-gut fashion, Bemidji State opened its first-round WCHA playoff series against the 12th-ranked Mavs with a had-to-see-it-to-believe-it 4-2 win. Jordan George, Ian Lowe, Jamie MacQueen and Matt Read all scored for the Beavers — who improved their record against the University of Nebraska at Omaha to 4-0-1 this season.

Meanwhile, Dan Bakala — Mr. Kryptonite for a UNO offense that ranked third in the WCHA — again had all the answers against the Mavs. The junior goalie made a career-high 46 saves on a night his team was outshot 48-17.

“We certainly had enough pucks at the net to score more than two goals,” UNO coach Dean Blais said. “But it’s like Groundhog’s Day — ‘Here we go again.’ ”

As painful as those earlier defeats against BSU might’ve been for the Mavs, their fellow WCHA newcomers had a fresh kind of agony to deliver to open the best-of-three series.

The Beavers scored twice on only six second-period shots to take a 2-0 lead. Ryan Walters and Terry Broadhurst then buried goals to complete UNO’s frantic comeback, with Broadhurst’s score 6:44 into the third period knotting the game.

But Bemidji State, which managed only three third-period shots — that’s right, three shots during the final 20 minutes — scored twice inside the final 113 seconds to leave the Mavs and the crowd of 7,219 in shock.

And MacQueen’s game-winner — which broke the 2-all deadlock with only 1:53 left in regulation — came when the junior forward simply flung an attempt from the half boards toward John Faulkner’s net. The puck angled in sharply and quickly off a UNO defenseman’s skate, with Faulkner having no shot at even making an attempt at a save.

“One of our plays is just basically a funnel — I mean, throw it on net, and as you see, anything can happen,” MacQueen said. “There’s so many skates in front of there, and as you guys saw, it bounced off I think one of their D’s skates and into the net.”

The teams play again at 7 p.m. Saturday, with the Beavers needing one more win to advance to the Final Five in St. Paul, Minn. If UNO wins Saturday, the deciding game would be at 7 p.m. Sunday.

“It’s frustrating, obviously,” UNO captain Joey Martin said. “It’s do or die now. There’s no second chances anymore.”

UNO mostly controlled the play early and outshot the Beavers 15-8 during the opening period. But, no surprise here, Bakala stood his ground and kept the Mavs from cracking the ice. His biggest first-period save came when he robbed Zahn Raubenheimer on a breakaway.

During the second period, UNO dominated the play while Bemidji State did the biggest damage. The Beavers clicked twice, while the Mavs scored one goal while peppering Bakala with 21 pucks.

Both George and Lowe scored unassisted goals on turnovers they created. On Lowe’s goal, he harassed UNO defenseman Eric Olimb into giving up the puck at the Bemidji blueline and created his own breakaway. Faulkner got a piece of Lowe’s shot but couldn’t get all of it as it floated into the net.

Walters finally chipped in UNO’s first goal during a Mavs power play, redirecting the puck after Matt White had centered the puck out of the corner. But White earlier whiffed on a potential goal during a 2-on-1 rush with Broadhurst. Bakala made all variety of impressive saves during the period as UNO again and again threw everything it had at the net.

“Danny played very well, no question,” Beavers coach Tom Serratore said. “I said it the other day — he’s been our best player the last couple months, and he showed why tonight.”

And once, even when the Mavs did get the puck past Bakala, they still couldn’t score. Olimb’s blast from the point trickled through Bakala’s pads. The puck slowly glided toward the net but stopped right short of the goal line at the post. Ryan Adams quickly pushed the puck away from danger for BSU to prevent the Mavs from knocking it in.

The Mavs poured on the pressure early in the third, and another Olimb shot from the point clanked off the post. UNO ended up knotting the play, oddly enough, on a fluky goal, with Bakala kicking the puck into his own net as it trickled through his legs. The goal 6:44 into the period went to Broadhurst, who put the initial attempt on net.

The Mavs kept coming at the Beavers during the next 12 minutes, but they couldn’t break down the wall that Bakala had built in front of his net.

Then after MacQueen’s pinball-style goal gave Bemidji the late lead, Read’s highlight-reel score 21 seconds later proved to be the final dagger. The Mavs pressed hard entering BSU’s zone on the faceoff, but that overaggressiveness quickly led to a 2-on-1 rush the other way. Read stopped in front of Faulkner, almost taunting the goalie while deciding whether to shoot or pass, then zipped a shot into the high corner right before the Mavs arrived on the backcheck.

“Tomorrow night, hopefully we’re going to break that jinx,” Blais said. “Give them credit — give Dan Bakala credit. But there was some bad luck, too.”

Contact the writer:

402-444-1207, chad.purcell@owh.com
twitter.com/CPurcellOWHzv

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