MARQUETTE, Mich. — Bowling Green is headed to the quarterfinals of the Central Collegiate Hockey
Association playoffs.
Freshman Bryce Williamson scored 34 seconds into the second 20-minute overtime Sunday night to give the
Falcons a 2-1 win over Northern Michigan in the deciding game of their best-of-3 first-round series.
Williamson’s goal provided the Falcons with their second victory in as many nights after they forced Game
3 with a 2-0 win Saturday.
The right wing scored from the crease area after freshman Jake Sloat’s shot from the left point was
stopped by NMU’s Reid Ellingson.
The Falcons, last in the league during the regular season, visit champion and fifth-ranked Michigan in a
best-of-3 quarterfinal series that starts Friday.
BG improved to 10-25-4 overall, while Michigan is 23-9-4. The Wolverines received a first-round bye. NMU,
sixth in the league, finished 15-19-5.
The Falcons were out-shot by a 45-34 margin in Game 3, but sophomore goalie Andrew Hammond made 44 saves
to send BG to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2008.
Ellingson also played well with 32 saves.
BG won the series, even though it was without senior captain and forward David Solway, and sophomore
defenseman Ian Ruel with concussions. Solway is one of BG’s best players, while Ruel sees a regular
shift on defense.
“I’m extremely proud of our guys for staying resilient,” said BG coach Chris Bergeron, whose team opened
the series with a poor performance Friday in a 6-3 loss. “We got hit right in the face Friday and picked
ourselves up, and had two really good efforts for the most part on Saturday and Sunday.
“There were times we had to scramble and get a big save. But for the most part, we stuck to the gameplan,
we stayed poised, we stayed disciplined and played the game the way we want to play it. As a program, we
grew up this weekend. It was a good learning process. We all grew up this weekend.”
BG opened the scoring on freshman Chad Sumsion’s goal with just 1:35 remaining in the second period, but
NMU’s Andrew Cherniwchan tied the game with 13:20 to play in regulation.
Although Cherniwchan scored 5-on-5, the goal came just 11 seconds after BG failed to score during a
26-second two-man advantage in a bid to take a 2-0 lead.
“We really stuck to the small little details and stayed focused,” Bergeron said. “We were hard to play
against for the most part. We did a good job with the process.”
The back-to-back wins were BG’s first since Oct. 22-23 when it swept Alabama-Huntsville.
Hammond, who allowed four goals in 25 shots in Game 1 Friday, played well in the final two games.
On Sunday, he had 12 saves in each of the first two periods, 11 saves in the third period and nine in the
first overtime.
He stopped 73-of-74 shots in Games 2 and 3, and helped BG hold NMU scoreless on all seven of its
power-play attempts.
“He made some big saves and that’s what we expect,” Bergeron said.
On Saturday, BG received goals from sophomore Jordan Samuels-Thomas at 7:44 of the second period and
freshman Ryan Viselli into an empty net with 1:03 left in the game.
NMU out-shot BG, 29-20.
The win was BG’s first since Jan. 29, a 2-1 win against Lake Superior. The Falcons were 0-7-2 since.
“I wasn’t overly thrilled with our first period,” Bergeron said. “But in the second and third periods,
the attention to the details of our game was really good. Ultimately, our execution, especially
defensively, was very good. There were plays to be made and we made them in all three zones for the most
part. We stuck to it pretty well.”
The playoff shutout was BG’s first since March 11, 1994 when Bob Petrie made 16 saves in a 3-0 win over
Ferris in Game 1 of a first-round series at the Ice Arena.
SUNDAY
BGSU 2, NMU 1, 2OT
GOALS BY PERIOD
BGSU 0 1 0 0 1 —2
NORTHERN MICHIGAN
0 0 1 0 0 —1
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: None.
Penalties: Shea, BG, high-sticking, 5:06; Shea, BG, tripping, 8:16; Ludwig, NMU, roughing, 15:06;
Samuels-Thomas, BG, roughing, 15:06; Brown, NMU, roughing, 20:00.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 1, BG Sumsion 5 (Mohler, Shea) 18:25.
Penalties: Mohler, BG, kneeing, 1:43; Higby, NMU, hooking, 5:29; Ludwig, NMU, interference, 14:15.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 2, NMU Cherniwchan 9 (Macaulay) 6:40.
Penalties: Samuels-Thomas, BG, tripping, 4:00; Gron, NMU, slashing, 4:26; Epp, NMU, high-sticking, 4:29.
FIRST OVERTIME
Scoring: None.
Penalties: None.
SECOND OVERTIME
Scoring: 3, BG Williamson 4 (Sloat, Samuels-Thomas) 0:34.
Penalties: None.
SAVES BY PERIOD
Hammond, BG 12 12 11 9
0—44
Ellingson, NMU
6 6 9 10
1—32
Goalie statistics (goals against/minutes played): (BG) Hammond 1/80:34; (NMU) Ellingson 2/80:34.
Penalties-Minutes: BG 5-10, NMU 6-12. Power plays: BG 0-5, NMU 0-4. Attendance: 1,088.
