Having played the Gophers close three times this season in a losing effort, Bemidji State was not denied in the fourth and final attempt Saturday afternoon at Ridder Arena.
A night after defeating the Beavers in the final minute of overtime, Minnesota could not find the energy to push past and get a sweep in the two-game series. Jacqueline Kaasa and Emily Bergland scored third period goals 46 seconds apart to put the visiting Beavers ahead 4-2 for a series split
The loss snapped Minnesota’s nine game winning streak.
“I was really proud of our group after suffering a really, really tough loss last night. To come back tonight, I’m really proud of them,” said Bemidji State head coach Jim Scanlan.
Kaasa finished with two goals and an assist, including the game-winner 5:16 into the third period. Her first was matched 23 seconds later in the first period by Alex Woken, whose effort led to Minnesota fans throwing stuffed animals over the boards during the team’s annual Teddy Bear Toss.
The Gophers, once again icing four defenders, had several opportunities during the first period that went wide of Bemidji State goaltender Lauren Bench.
Those efforts uncharacteristically dwindled as the afternoon went on until eventually the Beavers (6-10-2, 4-7-1 WCHA) started to pick up the pace of play. Bench only faced seven shots by the midway point of the game and 12 during the first two periods.
“They were wanting to work hard, but the appearance was that Bemidji had an extra little jump in their step compared to ours,” Minnesota head coach Brad Frost said about his team. “You could just tell as the game was going on that if something drastic didn’t change on our end that it was probably going to end up the way it ended up.”
Grace Zumwinkle, who scored Minnesota’s game-winning goal Friday night, came through in the second period with her ninth goal of the season 2:17 into the second period.
Sidney Peters, who finished with 24 saves, kept the Gophers (14-5-1, 9-4-1-1 WCHA) ahead until Bailey Wright tied the game towards the end of the second period. After Mak Langei’s shot hit the post and just missed going in, Wright was there to dive and poke it home for what Scanlan called the most important goal of the game.
“Over the years the second period has really been a tough one here (at Ridder Arena). I credit Minnesota for that,” he said. “I thought our group did a nice job getting pucks out of the zone and a great effort by Bailey on the goal. She dives and manages to get a stick on it. No question to tie it there was huge.”
Any chance for Minnesota to get a double digit win streak disappeared when Kaasa and Bergland doubled the Beavers’ goal total six minutes into the third. Bergland’s goal was initially waved-off on the ice before being overturned on video. In the interim, 34 seconds went off the clock before Kippin Keller was called for a tripping penalty.
The clock wound back 34 seconds with the goal. Unfortunately for the Gophers, the penalty stood.
“When you’re within one with a team like that, you always have a shot. With how quickly they scored it to get up two and on top of that, the penalty it was some bad luck there,” Frost said.
Bench finished with 24 saves Saturday. Fourteen of those came in the third period.
With an opportunity to start a new winning streak, the Gophers close out the first half at home next weekend against Minnesota Duluth. Puck drops are Friday at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday at 4:00 p.m.
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