Going into the weekend, the Falcons had only scored 13 goals on the year in their first five games as the team struggled to find the net.
That changed this weekend as the Falcons (2-4-1, 2-2-1) scored 11 goals and picked up their first two wins of the season finishing a sweep of the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks (2-4-0, 0-4-0) on Saturday night with a 4-3 win at the Ice Arena. The Falcons won the night before 7-3.
“It’s a big win for our team to get a sweep against a very good team in our league,” BG coach Scott Paluch said. “Four points on a CCHA [Central Collegiate Hockey Association] weekend is real big no matter where you’re playing. To get four early on in the year to get us back to .500 – it was important for our team from a mental standpoint.”
Goaltender Jimmy Spratt, freshman, picked up the first two wins of his collegiate career, starting in both games and making big plays at big times to give his team a chance after having a rough go of it in his first two starts of the year.
“I cleared my head after those first couple rough starts and went out with confidence through practice,” Spratt said of what made the difference for him on the weekend. “Confidence is everything at this level. Everyone can play, everyone is fast and all the goalies are good. It’s just a matter of confidence and that’s what separates the best from just the average players.”
Coach Paluch saw how Spratt’s new found confidence paid dividends for his team throughout the weekend.
“All weekend long he was solid,” Paluch said. “He made the necessary saves and gave us a chance to win the game.”
Ryan Barnett finished that chance as he notched his first goal of the season at the 7:03 mark of the third period which proved to be the game-winner. His shot in front beat Maverick goaltender Jerad Kaufmann off a pass from Jon Erickson on the left side. Don Morrison picked up the other assist on the play as BG took a 4-3 lead.
It was only the second lead of the night BG got as right off the bat Omaha came after the young Falcon netminder. Bryan Marshall gave the Mavericks a 1-0 lead when he knocked home a shot in front of the net just 28 seconds in.
The Falcons answered back then at the 7:13 mark of the first as James Unger knocked home a pass from Alex Foster to tie it at 1-1.
Ben Geelan gave BG their first lead with 5:12 left in the first when he knocked in a one-timer off a pass from Brett Pilkington to make it 2-1 in what was pretty evenly played period as a goal by Omaha’s Bill Bagron tied it up again at 2-2 just 2:05 later.
Omaha picked it up in the second though and started to take control of the game.
Mick Lawerence gave the Mavericks the lead on the power-play as he poked the puck under Spratt’s left pad to bring the score to 3-2. It marked Omaha’s only power-play goal of the weekend as the Falcons killed off 15-of-16 power-play opportunities.
After being out-played in the second where they were out-shot 10-8, the Falcons came out in the third and put the clamps down.
Spratt continued to be a force in net making critical saves to keep BG within a goal and the Falcons responded by notching the game up for the third time on the night. John Mazzei knocked in his second goal of the weekend on a pass from Unger on the right side boards to tie the game at 3-3 just under four minutes before Barnett’s winner as the Falcons out-shot Omaha 13-7 in the final period. They out-shot the Mavericks 35-30 on the game.
“Tonight I thought we played well enough to win a hockey game,” UNO coach Mike Kemp said. “In the third period we had two major breakdowns and both of those breakdowns ended up in the back of the net.”
BG’s Foster ended up with seven points in the two games after recording a goal and four assists on Friday.
“For us having a little bit of a slow start, this is just huge for us,” he said. “Not just to have one big game, but build off and being down a goal in the third to come back and get a sweep was fantastic for us in lifting our spirits a bit.”
Other players who scored on the weekend for BG were Mike Falk, Jonathan Matsumoto and Brandon Svendsen. The Falcon power-play went 2-12 on the weekend.
BG will travel to Notre Dame on Thursday night for game one of a two-game league series in South Bend, Ind.
