BGSU hockey (15-11-4, 11-8-4) traveled to Minnesota to challenge the Bemidji State Beavers (12-15-4, 9-11-3) in the penultimate weekend of the CCHA regular season.
With the first round of the Mason Cup playoffs beginning on Mar. 7, it is officially the time of the season when avoidable mistakes can not happen if a team wants to make a deep playoff run.
Unfortunately, avoidable mistakes are exactly what cost Bowling Green the first game of the weekend series against Bemidji State. Penalties and mistakes while on the penalty kill would prove to be especially catastrophic to the Falcons.
BG took a total of four penalties which added up to 11 minutes of Falcons sitting in the sin bin and led to Bemidji scoring two out of their three goals while on power play opportunities. In the end, it would be a penalty that the Beavers didn’t score on that ended the Orange and Brown’s hopes.
With only four minutes and 58 seconds left in the third period, sophomore forward Ben Doran received a five-minute major penalty for cross-checking a Beaver in the face. This power play opportunity allowed Bemidji to hold onto puck possession enough to kill the clock and claim the victory and the three points that were up for grabs.
The first period saw BG outshoot BSU nine to five, but neither team created any particularly dangerous scoring opportunities.
The second period would see a scoring boom as a total of four goals would be scored with each team tallying two.
Bemidji would start the scoring after a Quinn Emerson slashing penalty would lead to sophomore forward Noah Quinn scoring on the Beaver’s powerplay opportunity. Junior forward Reilly Funk and graduate forward Eric Martin both assisted on the goal.
BGSU would respond with a goal of their own to tie the game less than five minutes later. Ben Doran would score after tipping in a point shot from junior defenseman Eric Parker with an additional assist being awarded to senior forward and co-captain Ryan O’Hara.
Bemidji State would reclaim the lead not long after when junior forward Kirklan Irey tipped in a shot for a goal of his own. Funk and Martin would team up once again and collect both assists on the goal.
Back-to-back penalties against Bemidji, one being a cross-checking given to Jere Vaisanen and the other being a bench minor for too many men, set Bowling Green up for a five-on-three power play opportunity.
Ben Doran made short work of this opportunity, scoring a mere 27 seconds after the second penalty was called for his second goal of the contest. O’Hara picked up his second assist of the game on the play with an additional assist being awarded to junior defenseman Dalton Norris.
The third period would see Bemidji score one last goal that would stand the test of time and prove to be the game-winner. After BGSU took their own too-many-men penalty, Bemidji’s captain and graduate forward Jackson Jutting scored while on the power play with freshman forward Isa Parekh and sophomore forward Kasper Magnussen being credited the assists on the play.
BG continued to play hard, outshooting BSU nine to five in the final frame, but were never quite able to bury another goal and Doran’s five-minute major penalty late in the game served as the final nail in the coffin for the Falcons.
The win for Bemidji State marked a milestone for coach Tom Serratore who has now amassed 400 career wins throughout his time with the Beavers.
Goaltending certainly played a factor as senior goaltender Mattias Sholl (younger brother of BG alumni Tomas Sholl) played fantastic for Bemidji and made 22 saves while recording a .917 save percentage.
Cole Moore, on the other hand, had an off game as the sophomore goaltender was only able to muster a .842 save percentage while making 16 saves. The 16-save performance is the lowest amount of saves Moore has made in a game that he started all season.
Coach Dennis Williams will look for Moore and the rest of the Falcon’s roster to bounce back as Bowling Green will be back at the Sanford Center to complete their away series against Bemidji State tonight, Feb. 22.
Falcon Media Sports Network’s Ben Corak and Sean Connelly will have the call starting at 6:45 on WBGU 88.1 FM.
