Heading into Bowling Green hockey’s (17-9-7, 14-7-4) weekend series against No. 16 Michigan Tech (21-11-3, 16-6-3) in Houghton, Michigan, BG needed to take a minimum of five out of the possible six points in order to claim home ice during the first round of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) Mason Cup playoffs.
On Friday night, BG started the weekend on a positive note by grabbing three points towards the CCHA standings after defeating the Huskies 1-0.
While BG remains in fifth place in the CCHA standings, they are now only one point behind fourth place Minnesota State (17-9-7, 13-7-5), third place Michigan Tech and second place St. Thomas (18-11-4, 15-7-3), while only being three points behind first place Augustana (20-10-4, 14-8-3).
Friday night’s game saw only one goal scored between the two teams as Falcon freshman forward Dominik Rymon scored four-and-a-half minutes into the second frame after winding up for a slap shot from the left faceoff dot.
Senior defenseman and Falcon captain Dalton Norris, junior defenseman and alternate captain Gustav Stjernberg were credited with the assists on the lone goal of the contest.
Despite the losing effort, Michigan Tech’s Owen Bartoszkiewicz still put forward a strong effort between the pipes as the junior goaltender saved 21 of the 22 shots he faced to finish the game with a .955 save percentage.
Not to be outdone, BGSU’s Tyler Palmer, who was making his first start since Dec. 5, held the Huskies off the scoreboard for the entirety of the game en route to a 30 save shutout performance. This marks Palmer’s first career NCAA shutout and fourth career collegiate shutout, as the sophomore netminder recorded three shutouts last season while playing with the University of Alberta of the Canadian USports ranks.
While they couldn’t find a way to record a goal on the game, the Huskies did outshoot the Falcons 30-22 and created multiple dangerous scoring chances, including a particularly close call in the first period when a backhand shot by sophomore forward Tom Leppa beat Palmer but struck the right post and slid across the length of the goal line before being cleared away by a Falcon defender.
Other impressive efforts from the Huskies’ ranks included senior defenseman Jack Anderson, freshman forward Brayden Boehm and sophomore forward Carson Latimer.
Anderson led the team with five shots on goal as Boehm and Latimer followed behind with four apiece. On top of recording five shots on goal, Anderson also blocked a team leading five shots while contributing to the Black and Gold’s effort on both sides of the puck.
Freshman defenseman Ty Higgins, junior forward Brody Waters and senior forwards and alternate captains Jaden Grant and Quinn Emerson led the Falcons in shots and goal with all four recording four apiece.
The Falcons also sacrificed defensively as the team blocked a total of 12 shots while Breck McKinley (three), Emerson (two) and Stjernberg (two) blocked multiple over the course of the game.
If head coach Dennis Williams and the Falcons want to secure home ice for the first round of the CCHA Mason Cup playoffs, they will need to capture a minimum of two points from tonight’s game against the Huskies as they close out their weekend series at the John Macinnes Student Ice Arena.
Falcon Media Sports Network’s Ben Corak will have the call live from Houghton, Michigan, on WBGU 88.1 FM with puck drop scheduled for 6:07 p.m.
