All good things must come to an end and BGSU hockey (18-14-4,12-10-4) had their season end after losing 3-1 to St. Thomas (19-13-5,13-9-4) who booked a ticket to the Mason Cup final against Minnesota State on March 21.
The first period didn’t see any scoring despite the Tommies outshooting the Falcons 10-6.
A major reason for the Falcons’ lack of shots is the defensive effort from St. Thomas who blocked 14 shots throughout the game including nine in the first period alone. Sophomore defensemen Cole Miller and Chase Cheslock each individually blocked three shots apiece. Graduate forward Ethan Gauer and junior forward Lucas Wahlin also had impressive defensive performance as they each recorded two blocked shots of their own.
On top of blocking many of BG’s chances, St. Thomas also did a good job of forcing the Falcons to take a majority of their chances from the perimeter and rarely allowed chances from within the slot or blue paint.
“I thought (in) the first period we had hard time fighting, getting into a rhythm,” said coach Dennis Williams.
Freshmen forward Casy Laylin would snipe a shot past senior goaltender Christian Stoever in the second period to kick off the scoring. Gauer and junior defenseman Carson Peters were awarded the assists on the play.
Bowling Green would respond with a goal of their own late in the second frame when graduate forward and co-captain Ethan Scardina scored on one of BG’s rare shots from the slot. The defensive pairing of junior Dalton Norris and sophomore Gustav Stjernberg both assisted on the play.
The third period would see senior forward Liam Malmquist take advantage of a defensive breakdown by the Falcons to score the eventual game winner and Malmquist’s sixth goal of the playoffs. Wahlin was awarded the lone assist on the play.
Despite the Falcons best efforts, including finally overtaking St. Thomas in the shots on goal race in the final minutes of the contest, junior forward Cooper Gay would put the game on ice after he scored on an empty net while shorthanded and while BG was on a six on four opportunity. Malmquist assisted on the play.
St. Thomas’ senior goaltender Jake Sibell made 32 saves throughout the contest and finished with a .970 save percentage.
Stoever, playing in his final career game of college hockey, made 26 saves and posted a .929 save percentage.
“He’s (Stoever) always given us a chance,” said coach Williams. “Tonight he was solid . . . Kept us alive and gave us some hope.”
Narrowly losing an opportunity to make the conference championship game is heartbreaking for all players, but especially for Bowling Green’s large group of graduates and seniors, the game carried extra emotion.
“We have a good group of men in there that like anybody at this time of year when you don’t get to move on, seniors and grad students are pretty emotional,” said Williams. “They put a lot of time and effort in. They’ve been great all season.”
Despite the emotional loss, the Falcons still accomplished a lot in their first year under coach Williams including making the Mason Cup playoffs, having a winning record for the first time in three seasons and winning a playoff series for the first time in five seasons.
Minnesota State will host St. Thomas for the Mason Cup championship game in Mankato, Minn. on March 21. This will be St. Thomas’ first time in the championship game, and it will be the third trip to the championship game for MSU since the revival of the CCHA having previously won the Mason Cup in both 2022 and 2023.
