• Box Score: Bemidji State 6, UNO 4
• Photo Showcase: UNO hockey, Feb. 4

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Just what you least expected.

Not only did UNO get into a high-scoring affair with Bemidji State, it was the low-scoring Beavers who emerged with a 6-4 victory Saturday night before 6,878 at CenturyLink Center, capping a series in which UNO managed to pick up only one point against a team that has become its nemesis.

“It was frustrating to coach with the turnovers and the scoring opportunities both ways,” UNO coach Dean Blais said. “Last night probably had just as many opportunities and it was a low-scoring game (a 1-1 tie). When you get in a shootout, you want to win those.”

Jordan George had a goal and two assists for the Beavers, who overcame a rare less-than-spectacular night from goalie Dan Bakala and survived a second period in which they were outshot 21-5.

Terry Broadhurst broke out of his 12-game goal drought and scored twice for UNO, but the Beavers clinched it with an empty-netter by David Boehm with 14.7 seconds left.

UNO never led and three times sliced two-goal deficits to one. Twice Bemidji State scored almost immediately after the Mavs had — Brance Orban on a turnover to make it 2-1 just 1:02 after UNO had tied it, and Ben Kinne's game-winner at 8:39 of the third period, making it 5-3 just 33 seconds after Broadhurst scored into an open net after the puck took a bad bounce off the boards.

What stuck with Blais most were three third-period penalties taken by second-line center Brock Montpetit. Nearly every answer in Blais' postgame press conference came back to those infractions.

“When you're making comebacks, you can't take three penalties,” Blais said. “Undisciplined penalties by Montpetit, totally. Not that he lost the game for us, but he took any chance of winning it away from us. A sophomore forward, one of our top guys, can't do that. ... Winning is hard enough against that team without taking yourself out of the game.

“Slashing, cross-checking and boarding are the three penalties he took. They're stick penalties. Lack of discipline penalties.”

While UNO (12-11-5 overall, 9-7-4 WCHA) felt fortunate to come from behind to pick up a point in Friday's series opener, Saturday's loss exposed flaws that Blais isn't happy about.

“What I see right now is a little bit of a team coming apart at the seams — when you play like that,” Blais said. “Undisciplined penalties. Not as much attention to detail. Little examples like lack of execution on the power play. You could see it coming in practice, and lo and behold it carries over to the game. So am I upset? You bet. I haven't seen a team in a while that has come apart like that.”

By winning Saturday night, Michigan Tech pulled into a three-way tie for fifth in the WCHA with UNO and North Dakota. The Mavs travel to Michigan Tech next weekend — and only six home-ice berths are available for the first round of the playoffs.

Looking up, though, the teams tied are only three points behind third-place Colorado College and two behind fourth-place Denver.

UNO's résumé for an at-large berth to the 16-team NCAA tournament is shaky at best, so the remaining eight regular-season games take on even more importance. Colorado College, first-place Minnesota and Denver fill out the schedule.

“It's always been in our heads, but right now we just made it tough on ourselves,” forward Matt White said of the NCAA tournament. “So we've just got to worry about the weekend. We've got to worry about our practices. ... We've got a big task this weekend, so we've got to pay attention to that.”

UNO, 0-5-1 against Bemidji State last season counting a playoff sweep, seemed to have at least partially overcome its lack of success against the Beavers by grabbing three points in a road series in November. But Bemidji State (13-12-3, 7-10-3) merely turned the tables in Omaha.

Bemidji State is 4-0-2 in its last six games in Omaha and 6-1-3 overall in the past two years.

“They're a difficult team to play against,” Blais said. “They're very systematic. It's a bit tough when they dump the puck out of the zone and you've got to regroup and attack again.

“We thought we had that fixed. When you score four goals in your own building, usually it's enough to win.”

Bemidji State made it 4-2 on a power play with Montpetit off for cross checking as Shea Walters deposited the rebound of a Brad Hunt shot that hit the post at 4:51.

Broadhurst scored again as Michael Young sent the puck along the boards. The puck took an odd bounce, deflecting directly in front of a wide-open goal as Bakala had left the crease to collect the puck.

Suddenly UNO was back in the game.

And just as suddenly, Bemidji State was up two goals again, this time 5-3 as Kinne scored on a power-play chance.

And then the Mavs were back within 5-4 as White squeezed in a difficult-angled shot from low in the right circle, less than two minutes after the Beavers had taken control. And there was still 9:27 left.

But two more Montpetit penalties — one while UNO was on the power play and had pulled goalie Ryan Massa for a 6-on-4 advantage with more than seven minutes left — were among the reasons UNO could get no closer.

“Our kids work hard,” Bemidji State coach Tom Serratore said. “We've got an identity. We're a little offensively challenged and we're not as deep as some teams. But they play the way we want them to play and they play with a lot of heart and passion.

“We got three out of four points against a great team in a tough building.”

Contact the writer:

402-444-1027, rob.white@owh.com
twitter.com/RWhiteOWH

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