On Friday night, BGSU hockey (14-9-4,10-6-4) required an overtime game-winning goal from senior forward Jackson Niedermayer to claim victory and two crucial points over the Northern Michigan Wildcats (4-23-1, 3-16-1). Saturday night was a much different story for BG.
BGSU won-handedly, 5-2, over NMU, and at no point after their first goal did the Falcons surrender their lead.
The scoring (seemingly) started early when sophomore forward Brody Waters tipped in a point shot from senior forward and co-captain Ryan O’Hara while on a power play opportunity. The goal would have extended Water’s lead as the NCAA’s leading power-play goal scorer. Unfortunately, due to the puck being tipped by an egregiously high stick by Waters, the goal was disallowed after a challenge from Northern Michigan.
While frustrating, the disallowed goal did not slow down the Falcons’ momentum. They scored within that same powerplay when junior forward Jaden Grant slid a tight-angle shot past NMU goaltender Ryan Ouellette after receiving a pass from junior forward Brett Pfoh.
Pfoh would once again provide an assist later in the first period when sophomore forward and former Wildcat Matvei Kabanov scored in his return to the Berry Events Center. The play started when Kabanov received a drop pass from Pfoh directly after he entered the offensive zone. Kabanov then deked to his backhand to beat a Northern Michigan defender before deking back to his forehand and firing the puck in short side past Ouellette. Graduate student Seth Fyten also assisted in the play.
The Falcons would continue their goal-scoring into the second period as O’Hara ripped a one-timer past both a Wildcat defenseman and Ouellette. Pfoh picked up his third assist of the game and an additional assist was awarded to graduate defenseman Tommy Pasanen.
Three consecutive goals were enough to convince NMU’s coaching staff to pull Ouellette for the night, allowing freshman goaltender Julian Molinaro to make his collegiate debut.
The goaltending change stopped the bleeding for Northern Michigan and they were able to finally respond with a goal of their own when freshman defenseman Rasmus Larsson ripped a shot past Christian Stoever with freshman forward Grayden Slipec providing an assist on the play.
The Orange and Brown were able to tack on another additional goal before the end of the second frame when junior defenseman Eric Parker took a quick shot from the point that found its way past Molinaro. Graduate forward and co-captain Ethan Scardina set up the play and was rewarded an assist.
Terrible luck struck the Falcons halfway through the third period when star goaltender Christian Stoever had to leave the contest due to injury. The senior netminder had made 32 saves up to that point and was running with a .970 save percentage in the game.
Sophomore goaltender Cole Moore was forced to step in for Stoever and had a less-than-ideal start as he conceded a goal on the first shot he faced.
Sophomore forward Tanner Latsch tapped in a goal that was set up by freshman forward Medrick Bolduc and freshman defenseman Anthony Cliché.
Moore was only challenged by two additional shots the rest of the game, but he stood tall for both, ensuring the Falcon victory.
Scardina was able to score the final goal of the game via a shot he took from his defensive zone that found the back of NMU’s empty net after they pulled their goalie for an extra attacker.
Other Bowling Green players whose play is worthy of mentioning despite not making it onto the score sheet include sophomore forward Ben Doran and sophomore defenseman Gustav Stjernberg. Doran recorded five shots on goal, only being outshot by Ryan O’Hara who had six. Meanwhile, Stjernberg had four shots on goal while blocking two Northern Michigan shots. Only Tommy Pasanen, who had three, had more blocked shots than Stjernberg.
Despite being on the losing side of the contest, NMU’s Molinaro had an impressive performance for his collegiate debut. In just 33 minutes of play, the freshman goalie made 22 saves and only conceded a single goal. He finished the night with a .957 save percentage.
The win allowed BG to claim not just the weekend sweep, but also the season sweep over Northern Michigan due to them previously sweeping the Wildcats in the teams’ series at the Slater Family Ice Arena back in December.
The win also helped solidify BG’s position in the CCHA standings. The Falcons currently sit at fourth in the conference and the weekend series against NMU put some breathing room between them and the fifth-place team of St. Thomas.
Speaking of St. Thomas, the next challenge for BGSU hockey will be next weekend at the Slater Family Ice Arena when they will take on the St. Thomas Tommies on Feb. 7 and 8.
Falcon Media Sports Network’s Ben Corak will have the call for both games on WBGU 88.1 FM and will be joined by color commentators including Falcon Media Sports Network’s Tyler Kavalecz. The broadcasts will start at 6:45 p.m. each night.