On Saturday, the Falcons (5-4-1, CCHA 2-1-2) continued their fight against the University of St. Thomas (3-5-3, CCHA 2-2-2) at the Saint Thomas Ice Arena after a successful overtime win the previous night. Unfortunately, this success would not follow the Falcons with a 6-3 loss.
Tensions were high on the ice coming into the first period, with penalties on both teams, resulting in the first goal of the night from St. Thomas junior forward Cooper Gay, with an unassisted goal on the power-play eight minutes into the period.
With the Falcons now trailing behind by two, senior forward Ryan O’Hara passed the puck to sophomore defense Breck McKinley, who would find sophomore forward Ben Doran at the blue line, scoring his second goal of the season and the first Falcon goal of the night, making it 2-1 near the end of the first period.
Coming into the second period, tensions still lingered on the ice as BG and the Tommies got back on the ice. Seventeen minutes into the period, senior forward Matthew Gleason of St. Thomas would score against BG on the power play, making it 3-1 on the board.
With nine minutes and 58 seconds on the clock, Falcon forward graduate Ville Immonen would make an impressive slapshot goal on the Tommies, helping BGSU catch up to St. Thomas by 3-2. Junior forward Brett Pfoh and Immonen enter the zone on a two-on-two to make this goal happen, with Pfoh passing Immonen the puck from the left-hand side.
Entering the second half of the period, defense evidently lacked within the Falcons as St. Thomas junior forward Lucas Wahlin would score on the Falcons, BGSU falling behind 4-2.
Not even a minute later, Gay would make his second power-play goal of the night, the score now 5-2 by the end of the second period.
The start of the third period would look well for Falcons junior forward Quinn Emerson and Pfoh, Emerson scoring his first goal of the season against the Tommies 16 minutes and 54 seconds into the period, making it 5-3. Pfoh would take the puck behind the net after a pass from Emerson, passing it back to the junior forward, who would shoot the puck into the net.
Defense would continue to lack in the third period for the Falcons, which didn’t stop the tension between the teams. Both teams would find themselves getting rough, with hard hits on both teams.
The crowd fell silent as St. Thomas junior goaltender Aaron Trotter took a hard hit, leading the player to be down for a vast amount of time. Ultimately, he stayed in the game, causing the tension between BGSU and St. Thomas to rise.
By the end of the third period, the Tommies’ junior forward Ryan O’Neill would make the last goal of the game, doubling the score to 6-3. This would lead BGSU to an upsetting loss.
Next, BGSU plays against Michigan Tech. The weekend series starts Friday, Nov. 29, at 7:07 at the home in the Slater Family Ice Arena.
