Bowling Green hockey (18-9-7, 15-7-4) completed a sweep over No. 16 Michigan Tech (21-12-3, 16-7-3) after a 4-3 overtime win Saturday night.
Bowling Green scored one goal in each of the three periods of regulation Saturday, while the Huskies scored their three in the second period. Bowling Green junior forward Brody Waters had a second goal called back in the first period due to a successful Michigan Tech challenge for goaltender interference.
BG’s offense still outplayed the Huskies. Bowling Green won shot attempts, 61-44, and shots on goal, 35-21.
Saturday’s score sheet varied with only one player tallying more than a single point: BG junior forward Ben Doran. Doran had two assists, including an assist on senior defenseman Jackson Niedermayer’s game-winning goal.
Both goaltenders had a performance that lowered their save percentage. Michigan Tech junior Owen Bartoszkiewicz had a save percentage of .882 and BGSU sophomore Tyler Palmer had a percentage of .857.
Palmer’s start marks only the 10th time he has entered into a game this season. This win is his fifth on the season, putting his goalkeeping record at 5-2-1.
Due to Saturday’s game entering overtime, the Falcons were only able to add two points toward the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) standings. With the Huskies taking a point as well, the two teams tied with 49 points on the regular season.
After the Falcons only took five of the six series points, the Huskies were still able to secure home ice advantage for the CCHA Mason Cup quarterfinals, finishing fourth in the conference standings. Bowling Green was the first team out of having home ice advantage, finishing fifth in the conference standings.
The first tiebreaker between two tied CCHA teams is the head-to-head regular season record. Bowling Green would have held the head-to-head tiebreaker after winning the series 5-1 in points.
However, if two teams were to have played an uneven amount of home and away CCHA games, the tiebreaker goes to whichever team won more games in regulation. The Huskies finished with 16 regulation wins and the Falcons finished with 15.
The top three seeds belong to Minnesota State, St. Thomas, and Augustana.
The Falcons will return to Houghton, Michigan for the quarterfinal round. The rematch between Bowling Green and Michigan Tech will be a best-of-three series to advance to the semifinals. The series begins Friday, March 6.
