It was expected to be a low scoring weekend in Marquette, Mich., but Northern Michigan managed to get seven shots past Bowling Green’s Jordan Sigalet to earn a 3-1, 4-2 sweep over the Falcons in a battle for fourth place in the league at the Berry Events Center.
Tuomas Tarkki made 51 saves on 54 shots for the Wildcats on the weekend as he held the Falcons, who averaged 3.3 goals a game coming in to just three goals all weekend. The games brought his ranked third nationally goals against average of 1.82 to 1.79.
Sigalet countered Tarkki on the weekend, making 58 saves on 65 shots to keep the Falcons close in each game.
The BG power-play, which came in ranked 10th nationally at 21 percent, only managed one extra-man goal on 15 opportunities. Northern’s sixth ranked penalty-kill killed off all nine of the Falcons’ power-plays on Friday and 5-of-6 power-plays on Saturday, as special teams proved to be big in another weekend series this season.
The Falcons had four power-plays in the first period on Friday to open the weekend, but couldn’t manage to find the net, only getting a total of four shots off.
Andrew Contois gave Northern an early 1-0 lead just 9:53 into the first on a pass from Mike Santorelli that found its way past Sigalet. Northern took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission despite the Falcons out-shooting them12-10.
Santorelli then found the net just 30 seconds into Northern’s first power-play at 9:48 of the second period to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead.
Despite being out-shot 26-18 through the first two periods, the Falcons came out and put up 15 shots in the third.
Finally, with just 9:58 remaining, Mike Falk brought the game to 2-1 on his fourth goal of the season. Alex Foster got his 12th assist of the year on the play by Falk.
Contois then added his second goal of the night with just 4:13 left to clinch a 3-1 win for Northern.
The Wildcats’ power-play was 1-of-5 on then night, as they out-shot BG 35-33 and got 32 big saves out of Tarkki.
“Both teams worked extremely hard,” head coach Scott Paluch said. “We just didn’t convert any power-play chances. I thought their penalty kill was the key to the game. Going 0-for-9 on the power play was a big factor.”
“They took away the shooting lanes, and when we did break them down their goalie was outstanding, he added.”
On Saturday, the Wildcats again took a 2-0 lead by scoring a goal in each of the first two periods.
BG would battle back in the third to tie the game at 2-2, but a power-play goal by Pat Bateman at 14:08 of the period to give Northern a 3-2 lead proved to be the game-winner.
Northern out-shot BG 9-8 in the first period; however the Falcons would out-shoot Northern on the night 31-30.
Santorelli gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead just 5:36 into the game and it would be increased to 2-0 on a power-play goal by Jamie Milam at 9:19 in the second period.
Michael Hodgson got the Falcons back in just 57 seconds into the final period scoring his third goal of the season to bring it to 2-1. Jonathan Matsumoto and Mike Falk got assists on the play as Hodgson knocked a loose puck in that was just outside the crease.
Just three minutes later, Ryan Minnabarriet would tie the game on the only power-play goal for the Falcons on the weekend.
Jonathan Sigalet and Matsumoto got the assists on Minnabarriet’s second of the year.
Following Bateman’s winner at 14:08, Dirk Southern would get his fifth goal of the season to add insurance on a 4-2 Northern win, which gave them four points on the weekend and a seven point lead over the Falcons in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association Standings.
The Falcons’ power-play was 1-of-6 on the night and Northern’s power-play was 3-of-9 for the night.
Mike Nesdill made his first appearance of the season in Friday’s game and played his first two collegiate games on the weekend.
It was doubtful he would play again this season after a shoulder injury he experienced in the team’s exhibition game against Windsor.
BG will return home on Friday to face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the first game of a home-and-home series before playing a stretch of five straight games on the road.
