The Falcon hockey team traveled to Fairbanks, Alaska and swept conference opponent, the University of Alaska Nanooks. The Falcons won both games by a score of 3-2.
On Friday night, BG received goals from forwards Mark Cooper, Brandon Hawkins and Matt Pohlkamp. Goaltender Tommy Burke made 26 saves in the victory.
“We’re a group that scores by committee. We can all go up a level,” BG head coach Chris Bergeron said. “It’s just a matter of finding our consistent level for 60 minutes.”
The Falcons scored the first goal of the game in the middle of the first period, with a goal from Mark Cooper and an assist from Mitchell McClain.
BG’s second goal of the game came late in the first period with a goal from Brandon Hawkins to give them a 2-1 lead going into the intermission.
However, the Nanooks answered with a goal in the second period to tie the game at two. Matt Pohlkamp’s goal at the 12:56 mark gave the Falcons the lead for good, as BG won Friday’s game 3-2.
“It’s huge that we are getting consistency from everybody,” Pohlkamp said. “It isn’t one or two guys. It gives us a lot of depth and confidence to
win games.”
In Saturday night’s game, the Falcons completed the weekend sweep with another 3-2 victory, as Tommy Burke made 36 saves. Ben Murphy, Mark Cooper and Pohlkamp scored BG’s goals.
BG got off to another early 1-0 lead with a goal from Murphy 2:12 into the game. Late in the first period, the Falcons added to their lead with a goal from Pohlkamp and assists from Kevin Dufour and
Mike Sullivan.
BG continued its offensive attack early in the second period with another goal from Cooper to give them a 3-0 lead. Cooper had two goals and one assist on the weekend. The Nanooks scored two goals in the second period, however BG finished with a 3-2 victory over Alaska.
“We came up to Alaska and gave ourselves an opportunity to win two games and that’s what we did,” Bergeron said.
Alaska outshot the Falcons 38-30, but the Falcons were 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.
With the sweep, the Falcons improve their overall record to 7-2-1 and 5-1-0 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Alaska is now 5-5-0 overall and 0-4-0 in the WCHA.
The weekend sweep is the second time the BG has swept a conference opponent this season, and the Falcons now have a record of 5-1-1 record on the road.
The team will return to the BG Ice Arena this Friday night in a home-and-home series against Ohio State. The puck will drop at 8:07 p.m.
