Coming off a weekend where the team lost both games at home, the BG hockey team will travel almost 4,000 miles to face the University of Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves this weekend. This will be the Falcons final road trip of the regular season, as the team has four games left before the Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs.
BG needs one more win to clinch home ice and a three seed for the WCHA tournament. However, the Falcons currently have a three-game losing streak despite leading or being tied in all three of those games.
“We are two points away from a home ice, third-place finish. We need to play better. Our leadership needs to be able to handle situations and move forward,” said head coach Chris Bergeron.
BG enters the series at Alaska-Anchorage ranked 11th in the nation in the USCHO poll after being ranked in the top 10 for six consecutive weeks. The Falcons have an overall record of 18-9-5 and 14-7-3 in conference play.
The Seawolves have an overall record of 7-19-4 and 4-18-2 in the WCHA this season and enter the weekend with an eight-game losing streak.
Alaska-Anchorage has been outscored 38-11 during that span and have scored more than two goals once during their losing streak. Also, they are ranked second in the nation in penalty minutes averaging 16.5 penalty minutes per game.
The Falcons are 4-1-1 all-time against the Seawolves, and four of those matchups occurred last season. BG forward Brent Tate has two career goals against Anchorage.
Last weekend, the Falcons led in the third period against Northern Michigan on both nights; however, BG ultimately lost both games.
In Friday’s game, Brandon Hawkins scored the game’s first goal to give BG a 1-0 lead in the second period. Northern Michigan scored on the power play in the third period to tie the
game 1-1.
Pierre-Luc Mercier scored with less than 2:30 left in regulation to give BG a 2-1 lead. But the Wildcats scored less than 30 seconds later and went on to win the game 3-2 in overtime.
BG goalie Tommy Burke recorded 21 saves in the loss. BG outshot Northern Michigan 39-24 on
the night.
During Saturday’s action, the Falcons had a 3-0 lead in the second period with a goal from Mitch McClain and two power play goals from Brent Tate and Mark Cooper. But the Falcons surrendered four consecutive goals and lost the game 4-3.
BG goalie Chris Nell recorded 18 saves in the game, and Pierre-Luc Mercier tallied two assists in the loss.
BG will face Alaska-Anchorage in their final road series this weekend. Both games will begin at 11:07 p.m. Eastern time.
