November
8, 2007
Goalies
Shine in Northern Minnesota
By
Warren Kozireski
Niagara’s trip to Bemidji State became
a tale of number one goaltenders. Friday, the Purple Eagles'
Juliano Pagliero moved up on the national stat charts with
a 34-save effort in a 3-2 victory. Saturday it was the Beavers'
turn, with senior Matt Climie throwing a 3-0 shutout with
31 saves.
College
Hockey America Notebook
Matt
Climie posted his eighth career shutout for Bemidji
State Saturday night.
For Climie it was the eighth shutout of his
career, pulling him within one of the school record held
by Jim Scanlon and Blaine Comstock. Climie also ended a
91-game Niagara streak of not being blanked.
It also brought to a screeching halt the Purps'
five-game unbeaten streak against the Beavers.
“It was a hard-fought victory, a nice
goose-egg and it wasn’t easy, but we’ll take
it on the road — we’re looking forward to going
on the road,” said Beavers head coach Tom Serratore
on the KKBJ postgame show as he looked ahead to this weekend
at Alabama-Huntsville.
Pagliero and Climie are both among the top
10 in the country in save percentage and the top 15 in goals-against
average.
Niagara freshman Brian Haczyk scored what
proved to be the game-winner in game one with a shorthanded
effort fed by a great cross-crease pass from Vince Rocco.
Earlier Rocco got the Purple Eagles on the
scoreboard with a backhand pass to the stick of sophomore
Egor Mironov, who put it top shelf to tie him for the team
lead with five goals.
“It was a three-on-two with Haczyk and
Rocco and they sucked both defensemen out and Rocco gave
me a backhand pass right in the slot — kind of a gift,”
said Mironov.
“Friday was a real good road effort
in that we played real gritty,” said Niagara head
coach Dave Burkholder. “They carried the majority
of play and had the home crowd, but I thought that overall
we bent but didn’t break. Our fourth line of Taylor
Simpson, Armando Scarloto and Trevor Foster went out there
and a couple of times got the momentum back for us.
“Special teams have been one of the
keys to our start [now 5-2-0]. We’re not clicking
on the power play but our penalty killing has been one of
the bright spots for our team. We don’t give up a
power-play goal and that’s two games in a row our
game-winning goal has come shorthanded.”
Bemidji forward Joey Moggach set a career-high,
assisting on all three Beavers goals in Saturday's 3-0 win
and adding another Friday. His top line with seniors Matt
Pope and Blaine Jarvis accounted for nine points in the
two games.
“This year I came in better shape and
I know the systems a little better," said Moggach on
the KKBJ postgame show. “We know our line can be good
and it was good to get going. We kept telling each other
it was going to come and now that it has, hopefully it will
come in bunches now.”
SEEN AND HEARD IN THE CHA
Shore site: The Bemidji rink/events
center project looks like it leaped another high hurdle
last week with a press conference announcing the location
on the south end of Lake Bemidji.
From the Bemidji Pioneer:
Mayor Richard Lehmann announced Wednesday
that the city of Bemidji has made an offer to purchase nearly
130 acres of land from ShoreQuest owner John Zacher and
neighboring landowners in order to locate the events center
on the south shore of Lake Bemidji.
Negotiation are continuing, so the price
of the offer is not public, Lehmann said.
Officials stressed that the project would
have died had a new location not been chosen.
“If the City Council didn’t
make this decision, (the proposal) was stalled,” said
Rep. Frank Moe, DFL-Bemidji.
Lehmann made the announcement during a
press conference at City Hall, in which Council Chambers
were filled to capacity. Spectators spilled into the hallway.
“The City Council, Bemidji State
University, Headwaters Regional Development Commission,
area legislators and others have come together and agreed
upon a plan to move this project forward,” Lehmann
said.
The City Council is considering a $50
million facility. One-half of the funding for the project
would come from the city’s half-cent sales tax, if
extended by the Legislature. The remaining $25 million would
include the $3 million already received from the state and
an additional $22 in bonding dollars, if approved by the
Legislature. BSU hockey is proposed to be the anchor tenant
of the facility.
Methods for raising the additional needed
funds are not firm and no further meeting dates or timetable
was immediately available.
Great Weekend Getaway
Niagara at Robert Morris (Fri.-Sat.)
Picked 1-2 in the preseason poll, Niagara
has their second tough conference road weekend in
a row at Robert Morris.
While You’re There; See the
Pittsburgh Steelers 75th Anniversary: Treasures from
the Pro Football Hall of Fame Exhibit opening at Sen.
John Heinz History Center. All five Lombardi Championship
trophies and 19 Hall of Fame Busts will be on display
beginning Saturday at 11am.
Stick
Salute
Alabama-Huntsville
sophomore defenseman Brennan Barker
has already doubled his 20-game goal output from last
season in the first six games this year. He has a
pair of goals.
Bench
Minor
The
Chargers' first line of Kevin Morrison, Joe
Federoff and Matt Sweazey were a collective -4 and
were whistled for two minors in a 7-0 loss Friday.
FRIES AT THE BOTTOM
OF THE BAG
• Since opening the
season with a 4-3 win against Canisius, Alabama-Huntsville
is 0-5 and has been outscored 23-5. The Chargers host Bemidji
State this weekend. The Beavers won last season’s
series 4-1-1, but the Chargers swept both games on home
ice during the 2005-06 campaign.
• The Colonials were 3-1 on home ice
against Niagara last season.
• In Bemidji State’s last trip
south to NASA-town, Travis Winter and Joey Moggach both
had four-point weekends.
• Beaver sophomore forward Tyler Lehrke
took a heavy hit from Niagara’s Kyle Rogers in the
first game Friday. He did not return and was not in the
lineup Saturday with an apparent concussion. Bemidji also
played without Tyler Scofield, who is expected to be out
another two weeks with a foot injury.
• Chargers forward Brady Cook played
the first two games of his collegiate career on the fourth
line and picked up his first point — an assist on
Saturday.
• Niagara’s Trevor Foster picked
up his first collegiate point in his 14th game Friday.
• Bemidji freshman defenseman Dan MacIntyre
suffered a broken collarbone Saturday and is expected to
miss 6-8 weeks minimum.
A variety of sources were utilized in
the compilation of this report. Warren Kozireski can be
reached at warrenkozireski@yahoo.com.
