Any weekend with more than three points is a true success, even though Bowling Green didn’t move up in the standings with their five-point sweep over Northern Michigan.
There were three great things to see and one very unfortunate thing over the two-game set.
Starting with the unfortunate, star senior goaltender Christian Stoever went down in the third period of the Saturday game with a right leg injury. In an attempt to make a save, the puck hit his knee, and he immediately fell on his side gripping his right knee before he was supported skating off the ice on only his left leg.
He did not return to the bench or the game, and no update has been made on his condition or availability for the rest of the season. Yet he still recorded 54 saves and only three goals allowed.
On a brighter note, there weren’t many things BG could improve on over the weekend.
Offensively they were dominant, with 76 shots on goal and eight goals scored to NMU’s 61 shots on goal and four goals scored (I believe the shots number is highly inflated but that is a different story).
Not only was their offense dominant but the players who scored were even more intriguing. Three defensemen scored points, Dalton Norris had an assist with Eric Parker and Tommy Pasanen’s first goal of the season, Pasanen also dropped an assist on the game-winning goal on Saturday.
Some more “defensive” forwards also had great offensive production, Ethan Scardina and Jackson Niedermayer scoring a goal and assist on Friday, Scardina also landed another assist and empty-net goal on Saturday, his most in a series since Feb. 10, 2024.
To go along with the offensive dominance, the defense was superb. 15 blocks on Friday is a top-five blocking defensive performance this year from BG, four goals allowed (one with the goalie pulled) is one of the lower numbers they’ve allowed this season.
To the eye test, it seemed like the Falcon defenders were nearly always in the right place at the right time, with very few defensive turnovers to speak of. They also went eight-for-eight on the penalty kill, and 14-for-14 on the penalty kill over the season series against NMU (four games).
The third great aspect, that has not been mentioned as much this season, is coaching.
Head coach Dennis Williams put on a masterclass behind the bench in multiple ways. In one, the personnel BG had on forward and defensive lineups has remained together over the last few weeks and has stepped up to be some of the best line combinations they’ve had all season.
In addition, on Saturday’s game, the staff played Brett Pfoh as an extra skater after scratching him Friday. They elected to give him time early on the first power-play of the game and he promptly scored an assist. A few shifts later he scored another and yet another four minutes into the second period, an assist hat trick through the first three goals BG scored.
Through more coaching prowess, Willy saw shots for rebound and tip-ins weren’t working against NMU in the first game as they had much of the season. BG abandoned it in the second game and prompted three unanswered goals, five total, none from rebounds or tip-ins.
Bowling Green’s next opponent, St. Thomas at home, serves to be a much better offensive team and a pretty superior defensive team to Northern Michigan. BG will need to put the offense, defense, and coaching together again to stunt a red-hot Tommie team.
