Down 4-1 in the third period on Saturday night at the BGSU Ice Arena, the Falcon hockey team rallied back to finish the game in a 4-4 tie.
The 11th ranked Falcons have gone nine consecutive games without a loss.
BG trailed 2-0 in the first period before Sean Walker scored on the power play to make the score 2-1. However, Alaska added two goals in the second period to give them a 4-1 lead.
Sean Walker scored again in the third period to move the score to 4-2. Then with less than a minute remaining in regulation, Ben Murphy scored two goals to tie the game for the Falcons.
“I don’t think in games like this, especially for upperclassmen, there’s much panic. There’s a lot of fight in our guys, including the young guys, who understand what it takes to win,” Murphy said.
Neither team could score in the overtime period, and the game ended in a 4-4 tie.
“I’m happy with the fight and the resiliency we showed, that’s something we’ve developed with our team over the last five years,” coach Chris Bergeron said. “We can take a few punches and still remain standing. I’m happy when painted into a corner; we can still fight and we did.”
BG’s penalty kill did not allow a goal on three power play chances. They are now ranked first nationally on the penalty kill.
In Friday’s game, BG scored three goals in the third period to defeat Alaska 3-0. Brent Tate, Matt Pohlkamp and Adam Berkle scored for the Falcons.
“The team that strikes first has the momentum there. The crowd we had, the building erupted after we scored. It was a good momentum push for us — it carried us for the rest of the third,” Berkle said.
BG outshot Alaska 34-18 on the night.
“The third period, we put more pucks and more people towards their net, and we got rewarded for it,” Bergeron said. “That was the main difference between the first two periods and the third period.”
Freshman goalie Chris Nell recorded 18 saves to earn his third shutout of the season. His record is now 6-0-1.
After Saturday night’s tie at home, the Falcons overall record is now 13-3-4 and 9-1-2 in conference play.
BG will be on the road this weekend to face the 8th ranked Michigan Tech Huskies. Friday’s game will start at 7:07 p.m. and Saturday’s game will begin at 5:07 p.m.
