The BG hockey team won 3-0 Friday night and lost 3-4 in overtime against WCHA opponent University of Alabama-Huntsville Chargers at the Ice Arena.
The Falcons saw three different skaters score goals on Friday and sophomore goaltender Tommy Burke saved all 18 shots he faced to earn his first collegiate shutout victory.
BG received goals from sophomore forward Ben Murphy, freshman forward Pierre-Luc Mercier and junior forward Ted Pletsch. The Falcons earned two power-play goals on the night and were a perfect 4 for 4 on the penalty kill. The Falcons scored one goal in each period throughout the night and ended their three-game losing streak.
“It was good to get a win,” BG forward Ben Murphy said. “We needed a win tonight. We needed to get back on track. It was good to be back at home.”
The hockey team has been looking to improve their performance on the ice, head coach Chris Bergeron said.
“The more depth you have at every position, the more it brings internal competition and the more it brings out the best in each person,” Bergeron said.
In the weekend series finale on Saturday night, BG received goals from sophomore forward Mark Cooper, Brent Tate and freshman Sean Walker. Freshman goaltender Tomas Sholl made 22 saves. The Falcons scored one goal on the power play and were 4 for 5 on the penalty kill. BG outshot Alabama-Huntsville 44-26 in the overtime loss.
BG entered the third period with a 3-2 lead. The Chargers scored the final two goals in the game, including the game winning goal with 3.4 seconds remaining in overtime for their first win of the season.
“We failed again,” BG forward Brent Tate said. “It has to stop. We’re looking at each other. Our leaders stood up today and said look in the mirror; be a difference maker. We’re getting sick of it. We’ve had the same talk the last four weekends in a row. It’s got to stop and it takes everybody, including myself.”
The loss drops the Falcons record to 7-8-3 overall and 5-6-1 in conference play. With the overtime victory, the Chargers earned their first points of the year and improved to 1-15-0 overall with a 1-9-0 record in conference play. BG now has a record of 1-2-3 in overtime this season.
BG will be on the road this weekend (Dec. 13-14), when they face Michigan Tech Huskies. This will be the seventh consecutive week that the Falcons will play a WCHA conference opponent.
