OXFORD — Bowling Green’s hockey team didn’t play very well Saturday night.
But the Falcons’ competition level enabled them to earn two points in the Central Collegiate Hockey
Association standings.
Ryan Carpenter scored with 1:12 remaining in regulation to give the Falcons a 4-4 tie against Miami.
The Falcons then earned an extra point by winning a shootout 1-0 in three rounds after the teams played a
scoreless 5-minute overtime.
The game counts as a tie on the record of each team and the tie earned each team one point in the league
standings.
BG received a second point for winning the shootout.
Bryce Williamson scored for the Falcons in the shootout on the team’s second attempt.
Miami held a 32-16 edge in shots on goal and owned four one-goal leads before the Falcons gained the tie
on Carpenter’s goal.
The freshman center scored from the left faceoff dot with a weak wrist shot. Miami goalie Cody Reichard
whiffed on the shot and the puck trickled through the senior’s pads.
BG worked hard for 60 minutes, a night after Falcon coach Chris Bergeron questioned his team’s work ethic
following Miami’s 4-0 win.
“The effort was good tonight, Bergeron said, adding the team’s work ethic in practice has been
consistently good this season. “There were mistakes made out there, but we played hard from start to
finish which we wanted to do at the very least.”
The tie snapped the Falcons’ six-game losing streak in league play. BG is 6-6-2 overall and 1-6-1-1 in
the CCHA. The Falcons won their league opener at Lake Superior Oct. 21, but hadn’t won or tied since.
Miami, which was 4-0-1 in its last five games overall and in the league, dropped to 6-6-2, 4-4-2-1.
Miami’s last lead came at 4-3 on Tyler Biggs’ goal just 1:49 into the third period. He scored from the
right circle off the rush as the puck trickled through BG goalie Andrew Hammond.
“We came out with a gutsy effort tonight,” Williamson said. “We just decided to stay positive and give
ourselves a chance to win.
The RedHawks were ranked nationally in the top five earlier this season.
“It’s huge and should give us a little bit of confidence, knowing that we can go out and play with any
team, and go nose to nose with one of the best teams in the country,” Williamson said.
Carpenter, Williamson’s linemate, had a goal and two assists for BG, and Mike Fink, Dan DeSalvo and
Williamson had the other goals. Cameron Sinclair added two assists for the Falcons, and Hammond stopped
28 shots. He also made two saves during the shootout.
The Falcons were 2-of-6 on the power play, and held Miami to one goal in seven attempts. Both teams were
guilty of too many unnecessary penalties. The teams combined for 15 penalties, all minors.
“We won the special teams battle,” Bergeron said. “I felt this weekend was going to come down to special
teams and it helped us win tonight.”
The RedHawks appeared headed for a power play with 2:24 left in overtime when BG’s Connor Kucera was
called for boarding, but Miami’s Bryon Paulazzo retaliated and was penalized for roughing after the
whistle to keep the teams at even strength.
The Falcons played the game with just 11 forwards as Brett Mohler and Ryan Viselli sat out after
suffering injuries during Friday’s game. The extent and nature of the injuries was still being
determined.
BGSU 4, MIAMI 4, TIE
GOALS BY PERIOD
BGSU 1 2 1 0 —4
MIAMI 2 1 1 0 —4
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1, MU Smith 8 (Czarnik) 6:17. 2, BG Fink 2 (Sullivan, Carpenter) 16:26 (5-4 pp). 3, MU Czarnik 4
(C. Wideman, Weber) 18:02.
Penalties: Sloat, BG, tripping, 1:23; Coleman, MU, elbowing, 4:14; Coleman, MU, high-sticking, 16:02.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 4, BG DeSalvo 4 (Sinclair, Berkle) 4:27 (5-4 pp). 5, MU Hirschfeld 3 (C. Wideman, Smith) 9:42
(5-4 pp). 6, BG Williamson 6 (Carpenter, Sinclair) 17:57.
Penalties: Paulazzo, MU, cross-checking, 4:06; Williamson, BG, high-sticking, 5:15; Berkle, BG, tripping,
9:02; Spinell, MU, tripping, 14:37; Hartman, MU, tripping, 19:04.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 7, MU Biggs 3 (McKenzie, Hirschfeld) 1:49. 8, BG Carpenter 6 (Kucera) 18:48.
Penalties: Williamson, BG, slashing, 2:08; Kennedy, MU, boarding, 6:02; DeSalvo, BG, slashing 6:36;
Berkle. BG, slashing, 12:53; McIntosh, BG, cross-checking, 16:18.
OVERTIME:
Scoring: None.
Penalties: Kucera, BG, boarding, 2:36; Paulazzo, MU, roughing after the whistle, 2:36.
SHOOTOUT
MU: Czarnik, no goal; Smith, no goal; Paulazzo, no goal.
BG: Wojtala, no goal; Williamson, goal.
SAVES BY PERIOD
Hammond, BG 8 10 9 1 —28
Reichard, MU 5 2 4 1 —12
Goalie statistics (goals against/minutes played): (BG) Hammond 4/65; (MU) Reichard 4/65.
Penalties-Minutes: BG 8-16, MU 7-14. Power plays; BG 2-6, MU 1-7. Attendance: 3,158.
