The BG hockey team finished up its recent five game road trip this past weekend with two losses at Northern Michigan. The Falcons (5-21-1, 3-16-0) fell to the Wildcats (11-14-2, 8-11-1) in two separate 4-1 finals on Friday and Saturday to push their current losing streak to six games, and finish 0-5 on the trip that also included visits to Michigan and Nebraska-Omaha.
The dominant theme of the weekend was UNM goalie Bill Zaniboni’s ability to keep a shorthanded BG team out of the net after gaining an early lead. For the weekend, the senior goaltender stopped 43 of 45 Falcon shots while his team held a lead for all but 7:05 of the 120 total minutes of ice time.
On Saturday, BG found itself trailing 3-0 in the third before forward Derek Whitmore scored goal number 12 on the season on assists from Jonathan Matsumoto and Tomas Petruska on the power play.
The Whitmore goal would be the only offense for the Falcons however, as UNM would add an empty-netter with 1:10 remaining to secure the 4-1 win.
“We had a lot of guys go out with injuries,” said BG coach Scott Paluch following Saturday’s game. “We lost [James] Perkin early, we lost [Tommy] Dee early in the third and Matsumoto was playing extremely hurt, but I like how the guys battled and stayed with it until the end and ultimately gave us a chance to pull the goalie.”
Making his first start since Dec. 2, goalie Eddie Neville (1-7-1) was able to keep the Falcons in the game after surrendering 2 goals in the first 5:42 of action. The freshman saved 17 of the 20 UNM shots he faced.
“I thought Northern came out and played a very good first period,” Paluch said. “I liked the way Eddie Neville held up in goal and gave us an opportunity. Overall Northern played a very good weekend.”
The other part of Northern’s good weekend came on Friday in the series opener in which the Wildcats again held a 3-goal lead in the final period.
CCHA leading goal scorer Mike Santorelli scored the first UNM goal just 3:46 into the first en route to the 4-1 victory. The junior forward provided BG with a first-hand look at the conference’s most dangerous player as Santorelli finished the weekend with two goals (22) and four assists (15).
The Wildcats were playing with a 3-0 lead before Petruska scored his seventh of the season on assists from Mike Nesdill and Matsumoto at the 8:36 mark of the third period. That would be all BG would muster offensively for the night though, as UNM would add a late insurance goal with under five minutes to play for the 4-1 final.
Goalie Jimmy Spratt (4-14-0) made 22 saves on the night.
The Falcons were held scoreless on all ten power-play opportunities for the night and finished the weekend 1-17. UNM converted on two of 14 chances with the man-advantage in the two games.
BG will finally get some home cooking this weekend as Alaska-Fairbanks visit the BG Ice Arena to begin a five-game home stand for the Falcons. Both games between the CCHA rivals begin at 7:05 p.m.
