BEMIDJI – Fans who turned off or left the game after the first period wouldn’t believe the final score if you told them.
The Bemidji State men’s hockey team was dominant in the first period. Patrik Satosaari and Eric Martin scored to give the Beavers a 2-0 lead in a frame where they allowed just eight Michigan Tech shot attempts.
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The Huskies won the game 9-5.
“It was a weird game, I don’t know the last time we gave up nine goals or six in a period,” BSU head coach Tom Serraotre said. “It was a weird game from that standpoint. That team over there, it’s a testament to those guys. They came back a lot during the game, they finished us off in the third.”
MTU scored thrice in the second. It was only the beginning.
Tied 3-3 heading into the third period, Satosaari scored his second goal of the game to give the Beavers a 4-3 lead. Then Michigan Tech scored six times.
Elias Jansson tied the game before Isaac Gordon gave the Huskies the lead. Max Koskipirtti and Logan Morrell made it 7-4 with five and a half minutes left, ensuring the Huskies left the Sanford Center with four CCHA points in its last series before Christmas break.
Jackson Jutting added a fifth goal for the Beavers before Jansson scored an empty-netter and Alex Nordstrom potted MTU’s ninth tally.
“It’s hockey,” Serraotre said. “How many games do you go to where a team wins the first period and doesn’t win the second and third? It’s not even necessarily about goals for or goals against, it’s about possession, speed, crispness. You expect it, but you also don’t expect to give up three in the second as well.”
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Trailing 2-0, the Huskies woke up in the middle frame.
After Rhys Chiddenton took a tripping penalty, Jack Works converted Isaac Gordon’s rebound to make it 2-1 on the power play just under three minutes into the period. Logan Morell tied the game midway through the second period with his third goal on the weekend.
Jutting found a response for Bemidji State, scoring a 4-on-4 goal six and a half minutes before the intermission, but MTU’s leading scorer, Stiven Sardarian, tied the game again two minutes later.
Michigan Tech outshot Bemidji State 13-5 in the middle frame and took 25 shot attempts to the Beavers’ 13.
“At the end of the day, it was tied going into the third, we had a lead in the third and we gave it up,” Serraotre said. “That’s on us.”
Satosaari went 20 games between goals, dating back to Feb. 3 last season against Augustana. Then he scored against Lake Superior State last weekend.
The junior defenseman out of Lahti, Finland, stayed hot offensively on Saturday by scoring the game’s first goal. He banged home a rebound with five and a half minutes left in the first period to put BSU ahead.
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“Happy for Patty,” Serraotre said. “He’s a great kid, he got two tonight. He gets that fourth one and puts us in a good spot, but it’s hard for me to talk about it like that when we gave up nine and lost the game.”
Bemidji State allowed nine goals in a game for the first time since Feb. 20, 2016, which was also against Michigan Tech at the Sanford Center.
“You have to flush it,” Serraotre said. “Does it give you a sour taste? Of course, it does. How doesn’t it? You had leads, you felt good about yourself. We felt good about ourselves after the first, we didn’t feel good about ourselves after the second but it’s still a tie game. Then we get a goal at the start of the third … then we find a way to lose it. But again, you have to move on. It demoralizes you if you don’t move on.”
The Beavers are off until Dec. 31. Minnesota Duluth will play at the Sanford Center at 7 p.m., finishing the second half of the home-and-home series.
“They don’t need to think about hockey for a while,” Serraotre said. “They don’t need that motivation, we’ll worry about that when we get back. They don’t need to worry about or think about hockey. They just need to get home to their families and enjoy the holidays.”
Michigan Tech 9, Bemidji State 5
MTU 0 3 6 – 9
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BSU 2 1 2 – 5
First period – BSU GOAL: Satosaari (Chiddenton, Vaisanen) 14:34. BSU GOAL: Martin (Jutting, Irey) 16:27.
Second period – MTU GOAL: Works (Gordon, Sardarian) PPG, 2:43; MTU GOAL: Morrell (Jansson) 11:21; BSU GOAL: Jutting (Magnussen, Wolfe) 5:54; MTU GOAL: Sardarian (unassisted) 16:02.
Third period – BSU GOAL: Satosaari (McLean, Lawson) 2:25; MTU GOAL: Jansson (Sardarian, Pietila) 3:08; MTU GOAL: Gordon (unassisted) 5:37; MTU GOAL: Koskipirtti (Gordon, Raiman) 6:59; MTU GOAL: Morrell (Sardarian) 14:37; BSU GOAL: Jutting (Irey, Roelofs) 15:39; MTU GOAL: Jansson (Morrell) ENG, 16:09; MTU GOAL: Nordstrom (Kukkonen) 17:15.
Saves – Sholl (BSU) 22; Mullahy (MTU) 23.
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