BGSU hockey defeated Northern Michigan 5-1 at the Slater Family Ice Arena in Bowling Green on Friday night.
The series is a non-conference opportunity before the teams meet in late-February in Marquette, Michigan. The win puts the Falcons record at 13-2 this year, while Northern sits at 2-7.
Several milestones were approached in this game as the win places the Falcons program at 999 all-time wins with a chance to net number 1,000 in their Saturday matchup with the Wildcats. Falcon senior forward Brandon Kruse also cruised into 50th place all time for career points, passing NHL veteran Ken Morrow.
The Falcons came out with bad intentions early as four first period goals put the game out of reach. The opening salvo came at 6:59 as junior defenseman Carson Musser fired a puck in from the offensive blue line. The puck redirected off of a falling, senior forward, Max Johnson.
“Coming off of a loss last week to Bemidji where every inch of ice was earned and it was hard to score, to be able to score four early, I think made our guys feel really good,” Falcons head coach Ty Eigner said after the victory.
At 13:18 freshman forward Chrystopher Collin notched his first career goal as a Falcon on a wrap-around. Assists on Collin’s goal came from fellow freshman forward Ethan Scardina and junior defenseman Will Cullen.
Just two minutes later, junior forward Evan Dougherty shoved a puck into the net to put the Falcons up 3-0. Assists on the goal came from Musser and senior forward and captain Connor Ford. This was Musser’s first career multi-point game as a Falcon.
Before the first could come to an end, the Falcons tacked on one more from Kruse on an odd-angle shot that found twine. Johnson and fellow senior forward Cameron Wright were awarded the helpers on Kruse’s goal.
The Wildcats were able to get one back in the second, on the power-play, after Dop made a series of saves but the puck was unable to be cleared. Vincent de May scored the goal from Joseph Nardi.
The final goal of the contest came from Cullen who took the puck from coast-to-coast before depositing it in the Wildcat net. The lone assist on the goal went to netminder Eric Dop for his second career assist.
“Will can be a difference maker when he has the puck on his stick. He can beat people and break defenders down,” Eigner said.
In addition to recording his first assist of the season, Dop stopped a season high 36 shots, one short of his career mark.
The Falcons will go for the sweep against the Wildcats at 7:07 tonight in Bowling Green.
