The St. Thomas men’s hockey team fell short 7-2 Saturday after besting Bemidji State the night before at St. Thomas Ice Arena.
The Beavers (13-14-5 overall, 11-10-3 CCHA) awoke after Friday’s match, lighting the Tommies (10-20-2, 9-13-2) up with four goals in the second period and two in the third period.
“They wanted home ice,” coach Rico Blasi said. “They deserve to win tonight. They’re just a little bit better than us in every aspect.”
Pushing into the first period, the Tommies had a starting lineup featuring senior goaltender Henry Baribeau, graduate center Jarrett Lee, 5th-year wing Matthew Jennings, graduate defender Nolan Sawchuk, senior defender Trevor Zins and senior forward Andrew Kangas.
Twelve minutes in, junior center Mack Byers scored the first goal of the evening assisted by first-year wing Lucas Wahlin during one of two Tommie power plays in the game.
About five minutes later, Bemidji scored on first-year goaltender Aaron Trotter leaving the teams tied 1-1 at the end of the period.
Tensions were high going into the second period, even more so when the Beavers scored less than a minute in. Bemidji quickly scored again, increasing its lead to 3-1 under five minutes into the second.
About halfway through the second, junior defender Ethan Gauer gave the Tommies their second goal of the night assisted by senior center Luke Manning.
By the end of the second, Bemidji’s senior defenders Elias Rosén and Will Zmolek each managed a goal on Trotter.
Trotter was pulled in the third period after allowing 5 goals, the most since Dec. 2, the last time the Tommies took on the Beavers. Fellow first-year Ethan Roberts took over in net.
Roberts allowed two more goals before the final whistle.
“The way we finished the regular season, the last 20 games, I think – pretty proud of the way the guys played,” Blasi said.
St. Thomas will play in the CCHA quarterfinals against Michigan Tech starting on March 3.
Annabelle Wiskus can be reached at wisk9881@stthomas.edu.