BG Hockey defeated the St. Thomas Tommies 3-2 at Slater Family Ice Arena last night.

The first half of the first period started as a feeling-out process for both teams. That was until St. Thomas’ Luc Laylin was called for a trip. On the Falcon powerplay, sophomore Austen Swankler fired a shot from the right dot that was deflected into the net by Ethan Scardina to put BG up 1-0.

St. Thomas tied it as time expired in the first frame. With seven seconds left in the first, Jake Braccini fired a shot that deflected right back to him, and he found Mack Byers, tying the game at one.

At the start of the second period, it appeared that the Tommies would take the lead when Stoever became disoriented in front of the net and the puck trickled in. That was until Falcons head coach Ty Eigner won his challenge for goaltender interference, and the game remained tied.

The Falcons would go back on the power play with five minutes left in the second period. Bowling Green went back to the power play after STU’s Braiden Simmons-Fischer got caught with interference. On the man advantage, Chase Gresock, a fifth-year senior, fired a puck that was blocked by the St. Thomas goaltender. His rebound found Ryan O’Hara’s stick, giving the Falcons the lead once again, 2-1.

BG made it a two-goal lead in the final period. Freshman forward Brett Phof had the puck in the offensive zone and passed the puck to another freshman who was crashing the net, Jaden Grant, who found the back of the net to take a commanding 3-1 lead.

With around nine minutes remaining, former teammates were sent to the box together, as St. Thomas transfer Garrett Daly, who played for the orange and brown last year, and Swankler, who were both penalized separately.

The four on four would help the Tommies make things a one-goal game as Nolan Sawchuck, breaking towards the net, would drop the puck on a platter behind him to Josh Eernisse, whose firing shot found the top shelf, beating Stoever and making the game 3-2.

Even though St. Thomas pulled their goalie with a minute left, Bowling Green escaped with the 3-2 win.

Head coach Ty Eigner was happy with the result, just not as happy with the execution.

“We’re not going to apologize for how Christian Stoever played and winning the game, but we need to clean things up tomorrow if we want to have the same opportunity to win,” Eigner said.

With this win, BG remains tied for first place in the CCHA. The Falcons will look to take these back-to-back wins and build their winning streak up to three against the Tommies once again on Nov. 12, with puck drop scheduled for 7:07 p.m.

For more information, visit bgsufalcons.com.