For 40 minutes Friday night, the Bulldogs looked like they would start the 2018 portion of their schedule off on the right foot.  Unfortunately for the University of Minnesota Duluth, the other shoe dropped in the third period.

Bemidji State overcame a 2-0 deficit and scored four unanswered goals — including three in the third period — to knock off the Bulldogs at AMSOIL Arena 5-3.  The Western Collegiate Hockey Association contest also proved costly for UMD, who now trails the Beavers, currently in fourth place, by six points in the league standings.

"I give credit to Bemidji, especially after we took the 2-0 lead," said assistant coach Laura Bellamy.  "We shot ourselves in the foot.  We had a good lead and when we needed to stick to our game plan, we got away from it and didn't protect the front of our net and it cost us.  That's really the story of the game for us."

After a scoreless first period, UMD finally opened up the game midway through the second period on sophomore Ryleigh Houston's first goal as a Bulldog.  Houston was at the top of the crease and redirected the puck just enough for it to beat BSU goaltender Lauren Bench's skate and in off the left post at 12:23.  Then at the 17:29 mark, senior defenseman Jessica Healey, back in the line-up after skating with the Canadian Development Team last weekend, was on the doorstep to bury a behind the net pass that skipped through traffic from Houston on the power play.  The Beavers finally got on the board 34.1 seconds before the second intermission, but it was UMD that carried a 2-1 lead into the final 20 minutes of play.  

Just when it looked like the Bulldogs had control of the game, the third period swung offensively to BSU.  In a matter of just under six minutes, the Beavers had scored three unanswered goals and taken a 4-2 lead by 11:12 of the stanza.  Healey stopped BSU's offensive onslaught with her second goal of the night — and second on the power play — at 13:17.  Healey one-timed a deflected shot by Jalyn Elmes from her knee just under the face-off dot, and like that, the Bulldogs trailed BSU by just a single goal at 4-3.

With renewed energy, UMD battled back and pulled goaltender Jessica Convery with 53 seconds remaining in the contest, but the empty net favored the Beavers on this night.  Reilly Fawcett iced the game for BSU with 15 seconds left for the 5-3 league win.

Convery had 32 saves for UMD, while Bench had 32 for the Beavers, who improve to 12-11-2, 7-7-1-1).  UMD had three players post multiple point nights, including Houston, who led the team with one goal and two assists for three points.  Healey, along with Michelle Lowenhielm (two assists) had two points each for the Bulldogs, who fall to 9-12-1 and 5-9-1-1 in the WCHA.

UMD — which is now 1-3 against the Beavers this season — will host BSU for one final regular season tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 p.m. at AMSOIL.

BULLDOG NOTES:  UMD was without head coach Maura Crowell, who is in Dmitrov, Russia with the Under-18 U.S. squad that will play for a World Championship gold medal tomorrow.