BEMIDJI, Minn. – For the second time in six days, the University of North Dakota men's hockey team was fit to be tied on the road.

Bemidji State battled back from a pair of two-goal deficits to pull out a 4-4 non-conference overtime tie in front of 4,373 fans at the Sanford Center here.

Last Saturday, UND deadlocked with Maine 1-1 after a scoreless 5-minute overtime on UND's way to capturing the title in the four-team IceBreaker. This time, UND lost starting goalie Cam Johnson after two periods with a lower body injury. Sophomore Matt Hrynkiw, seeing his first varsity action in two seasons, stopped 10 of the 12 shots he faced in playing the entire third period and the overtime.

A power-play goal by Beaver captain Graeme McCormack from the point with Hrnkiw partially screened and a one-time blast from Gerry Fitzergerald at 14:35 of the third period created the tie.

So No. 1-ranked North Dakota, which has a rematch with the unranked Beavers on tap Saturday in Ralph Engelstad Arena, will take a 1-0-2 overall record after three road games into the home opener.

"With a two-goal lead, we just have to keep playing our style of hockey,'' said UND senior wing Bryn Chyzyk, who scored UND's second goal. "I thought we laid back a little bit. When we are most successful, we're attacking. I thought we sat back and gave them a chance to come back in the game.''

Hrynkiw faced more shots (12) in his 25 minutes of action than Johnson did (8) in his 40 minutes of play over two periods. Each goalie allowed two goals.

Penalty killing hurt UND. The Beavers converted on 3-of-5 chances and UND just 1-of-5. UND had 32 shots on goal to just 20 for the Beavers in running its overall record against BSU to 27-3-4.

Johnny Simonson's first college goal at 2:09 of the first period from a sharp angle and Chyzyk's goal off a great zone entry play and feed from defenseman Troy Stecher at 8:34 staked UND to a quick 2-0 lead.

BSU answered with power-play goals by McCormack midway through the first period and by Kyle Bauman at 4:01 of the second period to tie it at 2-2.

Luke Johnson's one-timer on a power play at 7:30 of the second period was followed by Austin Poganski's rebound goal after dominating pressure by UND at 15:06 to stake UND to a 4-2 lead after two periods.

BSU had a goal by Gerry Fitzgerald at the end of the second period disallowed when video review showed the puck didn't cross the goal line until after a fraction of a second after the horn sounded to end the period. But Beavers battled back with two goals against Hrynkiw in the third period to force the tie.

"Matt Hrynkiw is one of our hardest workers,'' Chyzyk said. "All the guys in the locker room have confidence in him, and we were happy to see him get in there.''

In overtime, Chyzyk nearly scored, but a video review resulted in the play being ruled no-goal. Right after that, defenseman Paul LaDue had half the net open to shoot at, but BSU goalie Michael Biltzer (28 saves) slid to his right quickly to take away the chance.

Hrynkiw said he felt some nerves coming in.

"More for the fact I hadn't seen a puck for 50-something minutes or whatever. It's always a little nerve-wracking trying to get the feel for the biscut again right in the middle of the game,'' Hrynkiw said.

His only other action in his two seasons at UND was playing six minutes 28 seconds in the exhibition game against the University of Manitoba to open the season and a little over three minutes in an exhibition game as a sophomore.  

McCormack's second goal of the game and the first allowed by Hrynkiw went off the post and in. Hrynkiw felt he overplayed the shot by Fitzgerald that created the tie, leaving the far side of the net open for Fitzgerald.

UND coach Brad Berry took some positives out of the result.

"I thought our compete level was ultra high and I thought our puck management was just OK at times,'' Berry said. "We had two two-goal leads and I thought we didn't manage the puck the way we wanted to. Overall, I thought we played a strong game.''

UND notes: UND lost freshman forward Joel Janatuinen with an injury in the first period, then goalie Johnson with at the end of the second period. Neither returned to the lineup ... LaDue led UND in shots on goal with 5, followed by Tucker Poolman with 4 ... Brendan Harris had 5 shots on net for BSU, now 1-0-1 on the season after beating Minnesota-Duluth 3-2 six days earlier ...  Game time Saturday at REA is 7:07 p.m.

Virg Foss reported on UND hockey for 35 seasons for the Grand Forks Herald until his retirement in 2005. He's now in his 11th season of reporting on UND hockey exclusively for UNDsports.com.