Icecats salvage weekend split

They had already lost 8-7 on Friday night to No. 6 Minot State (10-2) and were trailing 5-2 in the second period.

Seventh-ranked Arizona (7-3) had just surrendered a short-handed goal to the Beavers and starting goalie Mike Tesi was already out of the game after surrendering four goals in the first period

Then something happened.

The Icecats woke up.

"It was coach in the locker room between periods," Icecat left-wing Paul Dorn said. "It was both coaches. They got on us and made us realize we were being embarrassed in our own building."

Freshman Marc Harris' power-play goal with only 17 seconds remaining on the power play was the beginning.

Dorn then blasted in two goals of his own, the second coming unassisted, tying the game 5-5 with 8:10 left in the second period.

"We just shut them down. (Because of) our forecheck they couldn't do anything but put the puck down in the neutral zone," Dorn said.

The Beavers pulled starting goalie Peter Fiske and replaced him with sophomore Anthony Aspaas, who held off the Icecats for the remainder of the period, despite two more Arizona power-plays.

Freshman left-wing Ed Carfora smacked a shot into the Beaver goal off a rebound just 1:31 into the third period to give the Icecats their first lead of the night.

Then things started to spin out of control for both teams.

Penalties began mounting as both teams became more and more frustrated. Icecat senior defenseman and co-captain Chad Dyjak was given a 10-minute game misconduct for roughing, taking him out of the contest.

The Icecats responded with another goal by Harris, who caught an errant pass in mid-air with his glove, dropped it and slammed it home to give Arizona a 7-5 lead.

Another fight sent Icecat freshman defenseman Rodney Glassman to the locker room, and Minot State took advantage and cut the lead to 7-6 on a breakaway goal by sophomore Jeremy Asheim.

Freshman Jordan Bolton, who came in to replace Tesi, then held off a furious Beaver assault in the last two minutes of the game.

"Maybe because he's not our number one goalie our other guys rallied around him," Icecat head coach Leo Golembiewski said, crediting his defense with the victory more so than Bolton.

Bolton allowed only two goals in 26 shots.

Icecat senior co-captain Ben Ruston snagged the puck in the neutral zone with nine seconds left and blasted a shot into the Beavers' empty net, as they had pulled their goalie for another forward, giving the Icecats an 8-6 victory.

"We're very proud of this team," Golembiewski said. "This game was almost a flip-flop of yesterday's."

Friday's game saw the Icecats lose 8-7 despite leading at one point 5-2 in the second period.

"We knew that if we don't win this one and we ain't going anywhere this year," Harris said.