SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Beavers stuck with it.
After Simon Falk tied the game for Augustana with 19.9 seconds left in the second period, the Bemidji State men’s hockey team found an answer.
ADVERTISEMENT
And then another one.
The No. 7 Beavers scored twice in the third and held on in the final minutes to pull out a 4-3 win over the second-seeded Vikings at Midco Arena. It was a win that extended BSU’s season at least one more day in a best-of-three series in the Mason Cup Playoffs quarterfinal.
“We showed a lot of toughness,” head coach Tom Serratore said. “You can call it grit, toughness. But you know what, today I used the word stick-to-itiveness. I don’t even know if that’s a word but you hear it in sports all the time. You stick with it. We stuck with it. We won a lot of battles in front of the cage, and that’s what you have to do.”
Sometimes it’s the unlikeliest of candidates that make the biggest difference in the postseason.
That’s the case for senior defenseman Tony Follmer. He entered Game 2 with just two goals and nine assists in 126 games played during his four years at Bemidji State. However, four minutes into the third period, Follmer sniped the top-left corner of the goal to give the Beavers a 3-2 lead.
“We were just doing a D air force,” Follmer said. “We had our best guy on the faceoff. He won it back with the cleanest win. I was just focusing on getting it through. Luckily, it went in.”
Fifty-one seconds later Flammang gave the Beavers their second two-goal lead of the evening with assists from Jaksen Panzer and Patrik Satosaari.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Vikings got some life with 10:40 left in regulation when freshman Nace Langus maneuvered his way through the BSU defense before shelving home AU’s third goal.
“We were chasing it down by two for the second time in the game,” AU head coach Garrett Raboin said. “When he scored, it brings the crowd to life, and there was plenty of time left on the clock. We just missed some nets and fanned on some pucks in grade-A areas. Those are the chances we had that we didn’t execute on.
“They had a few where they were in the slot area with some pretty good intention to put that baby home. They were just a little bit stronger tonight. It meant a little bit more to them in those areas, and here we sit.”
Augustana goaltender Josh Kotai was pulled for an extra attacker with two and a half minutes left. Without a stoppage, Bemidji State fended off the Vikings’ push in their defensive zone for nearly the entire end of the game.
The Beavers, however, were stout. Goaltender Mattias Sholl made three of his 23 saves while BSU skaters blocked three shots to stave off elimination.
“We just focus on staying tight, especially when the shift gets a little long,” Follmer said. “It’s eating every shot you can. When the puck’s loose, go get it. The guys had good sticks, good blocks and we sacrificed.”
After another 0-0 first period, Bemidji State opened the scoring two and a half minutes into the second on the power play. From his knees, Reilly Funk sled the puck around Josh Kotai’s outstretched lef to put the Beavers ahead.
ADVERTISEMENT
“I think we’ve been doing that in the second half,” Funk said of BSU simplifying its power play. “We’ve just been building and trying to get pucks to that area. I read the play, (Eric Martin) brought it up and just threw it in (the netfront) like we’ve been trying to do the whole second half. I found it and put it in the back of the net.”
Four minutes later, Jackson Jutting made it 2-0. Vince Corcoran made a strong move at the hashmarks to fend off two Augie defenders to hold the zone. He fed Noah Quinn, who dished a no-look pass to Jutting on the back door.
Augustana needed just 52 seconds to get the goal back. Quinn Rudrud was left all alone on the doorstep, and Simon Falk found him to cut the lead in half seven and a half minutes into the middle frame.
With 19.9 seconds left before the intermission, Falk struck again. He paid off a defensive breakdown behind the BSU net. Colton Friesen fed another one-time pass to an unmarked Falk at the netfront to level the score.
“It was deflating, who’s kidding?” Serratore said. “We had a 2-0 lead, and with 20 seconds to go, we all realize that you don’t (want) to give up a goal in the last two minutes of a period or the first two minutes. That’s a staple in hockey. We did that, and it was preventable as well. That’s what’s even more frustrating for me because it was self-inflicted.”
After Friday’s game, Raboin said he expected the most desperate version of Bemidji State.
He got it.
ADVERTISEMENT
“I think everyone in the building knew that Bemidji was going to have a pushback,” Raboin said. “I think the word we used yesterday was desperation. We saw it. I thought our guys fought back, but it’s the fine line of the playoffs.
“It came in the form of a power-play goal. It came in the form of a lost faceoff that ended up in the back of our net and a turnover coming up out of our zone that we needed to keep on the strong side and just play simple hockey. But those are all correctable things. We’ve got a chance to play the rubber match on Sunday.”
As for Serratore, correcting the Beavers’ zero-shot third period from Friday night to keep their season alive was paramount. BSU and Augie will square off at 5:07 p.m. with a chance to advance to the semifinals. It’s the only quarterfinal series that needed a third game. Minnesota State, St. Thomas and Bowling Green all swept their respective opponents at home.
“Last night, we played 40 good minutes, and the last 20 minutes you know what happened,” Serratore said. “There was a snow storm the last 20, but I thought our guys played 60 pretty good minutes of hockey tonight. We played with a lot of desperation, the guys showed a lot of resiliency. Hats off to Augustana because they keep fighting, they keep competing. It’s one of those battles where it’s playoff hockey and we’re very happy to stay another night in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, that’s for sure.”
No. 7 Bemidji State 4, No. 2 Augustana 3
BSU 0 2 2 – 4
AU 0 2 1 – 3
ADVERTISEMENT
First period – No scoring.
Second period – BSU GOAL: Funk (Martin, Corcoran) PPG, 2:43; BSU GOAL: Jutting (Quinn, Corcoran) 6:45; AU GOAL: Rudrud (Falk, Friesen) 7:37; AU GOAL: Falk (Friesen, McIntyre) 19:41.
Third period – BSU GOAL: Follmer (Jutting) 4:05; BSU GOAL: Flammang (Panzer, Satosaari) 4:56; AU GOAL: Langus (DelGreco, Mobley) 9:20.
Saves – Sholl (BSU) 23; Kotai (AU) 30.
The Trust Project
