A CCHA win and some much-needed offense has the BGSU hockey team feeling a little better going into its upcoming 20-day layoff.
The Falcons (4-13-1, 2-10-0 CCHA) ended a nine-game losing streak on Saturday against No. 19 Alaska-Fairbanks (7-5-4, 5-4-3 CCHA) with an impressive 6-4 win following a 4-3 loss on Friday.
BG jumped out to a 4-0 lead on Saturday and held off a late Alaska comeback for its first victory since Nov. 4 against Lake Superior State.
An offensive explosion that included first period goals by Brandon Svendsen (2) and Todd McIlrath (3), and scores in the second from Jonathon Matsumoto (6) and Josh Boyd (1) provided the Falcons with the huge lead.
Alaska closed the gap to 4-2 before BG’s James Perkin notched his second goal of the season at the 7:59 mark of the third. The Nanooks rallied again to bring the game within one score at 5-4, but an empty-net goal by Tomas Petruska (5) clinched the win for BG.
Goalie Jimmy Spratt (3-7-0) stopped 34 shots by the Nanooks, holding off Alaska’s offensive attack throughout the night.
On Friday the Falcons found themselves down by a considerable margin, 4-1, late in the third period. BG rallied with goals from McIlrath and Matsumoto but ran out of opportunities, resulting in the 4-3 defeat.
Spratt was able to keep the Falcons in the game again, making 35 saves in a losing effort.
“Us battling hard, that’s not an exception for us,” said coach Scott Paluch on Friday’s loss. “That’s a big staple of our team and who we are. I was very proud of the way we hung in here and gave ourselves a chance to get the win.”
Matsumoto also scored the first goal of the night for BG, making it three goals and two assists for the forward on the weekend.
The Falcons will not play again until Dec. 29-30 when they head to Nationwide Arena in Columbus for the Ohio Hockey Classic. BG is slated to play No. 4 Miami while Ohio State and Minnesota-Duluth square off in the other semi-final.
