Despite leading 2-1 with less than three minutes left in regulation, Bowling Green lost to Northern Michigan, 3-2, in overtime. The loss brings the eighth ranked Falcons’ overall record to 18-8-5 and 14-6-3 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
“Our mistakes tonight were just colossal mistakes and they ended up in our net,” said head coach Chris Bergeron.
After a scoreless first period with no penalties from either team, Brandon Hawkins scored to give BG an early 1-0 lead in the second period. Ben Murphy and Braden Pears recorded assists on the play.
This was Pears’ first collegiate assist and Murphy’s 10th assist of the season. BG finished the second period with a 1-0 lead and a 25-13 shot advantage.
In the third period, with 13:06 left in regulation, Northern Michigan went on the power play and scored to tie the game, 1-1. The Falcons finished the night one-for-three on the penalty kill.
With 2:23 left in the regulation, Pierre-Luc Mercier scored his seventh goal of the season to give the Falcons a 2-1 advantage. Mitchell McLain and Sean Walker each recorded their ninth assists of the season on the goal.
“I feel like Mitch McLain did a really good play down low. We worked hard all game long,” Mercier said.
However, 27 seconds later the Wildcats scored to tie the game 2-2.
“The way we handled the rush on their second goal was so laughable. It was like we’ve never been in that situation before,” Bergeron said.
Then in overtime, Northern Michigan scored on a 2-on-1 breakaway opportunity to win 3-2 with 1:24 left in the game.
“It was a bad pinch by our defensemen at the blue line and then we didn’t handle the 2-on-1 at all,” Bergeron said.
BG finished the game with a 39-24 shot advantage. Tommy Burke recorded 21 saves in the loss as his record drops to 9-4-3 on the season.
“We tried to really emphasis getting back to that relentless style of play that we have when we’re at our best. We just don’t think we’ve had it as of late,” Bergeron said.
The Falcons were also held scoreless on the power play going 0-for-2. BG will be back home tomorrow night in a rematch against Northern Michigan.
“We let one slip away tonight, there’s no doubt about it. If we’re disappointed to the point where we feel sorry for ourselves, tomorrow night is going to be a long night,” Bergeron said.
