ANCHORAGE – The Alaska Anchorage Seawolves came back from a 3-1 deficit to forge a 3-3 Western Collegiate Hockey Association overtime tie with the visiting Bemidji State Beavers on Friday evening at the Sullivan Arena.
Following a back-and-forth tie, the Seawolves (5-7-3, 2-6-1 WCHA) and the Beavers (4-10-1, 2-6-1 WCHA) move into a two-way tie for No. 8 in the league standings with five points each. The teams will reunite tomorrow evening – two hours earlier – at 5:07 p.m. AST.
Meanwhile, Friday's game started with a delayed penalty on junior Austin Sevalrud that gave way to a Beaver breakaway that netminder Olivier Mantha was able to turn aside with his pad. Unfortunately, Bemidji State was able to capitalize 37 seconds later with the man advantage to take a 1-0 lead at 11:34, courtesy of co-captain Matt Prapavessis.
After neither team could gain control at neutral ice, junior Blake Tatchell collected the puck and skated it into the offensive zone, firing a wrister that beat a screened Andrew Walsh, unassisted, at 12:56 of the frame.
With 1:20 left in the opening 20 minutes, Charlie O'Connor returned the lead to the Beavers with a low-angled shot. Prapavessis and Gerry Fitzgerald – one of the Beavers' freshmen triplets – each picked up helpers for their second points of the night.
After the intermission, the Beavers extended the lead to two with Fitzgerald's power-play goal at 11:24 of the second stanza, before UAA once again made it a one-goal game at 17:16 with junior Blake Leask's second strike of the season. Leask won the face-off back to Sevalrud, who fired down and around the boards to Austin Azurdia. From below the goal line, Azurida centered and found Leask for the five-hole tally.
The Seawolves would knot the game for the second time when Tatchell won the face-off to the right of Walsh, before finding sophomore Brad Duwe for the backhander, game-tying goal, 35 seconds into the third frame – marking Duwe's first goal of the season.
The teams were scoreless in the final minutes of the third period and in the five-minute overtime for UAA's third tie of the season and first in conference action.
Mantha picked up in28 saves in the tie, while Walsh had 23. The Beavers outshot the Seawolves, 31-26. UAA was 0-for-6 on the man advantage as BSU went 2-for-3.
