For the Bowling Green hockey team to crack Bemidji State’s top-ranked defense, it needed to get bodies in
front of the net.
It succeeded with that Friday night.
The Falcons fought back from a sluggish start to defeat No. 17 Bemidji State, 4-2, in a Western
Collegiate Hockey Association contest in the Slater Family Ice Arena.
Brett D’Andrea and Mark Friedman scored for the Falcons in what ended up being a decisive second period.
“At 2-0 it didn’t look like it was going to be our night,” said Falcons head coach Chris Bergeron. “A
couple goals that were questionable, as far as I’m concerned, but on the bench it was alive. It wasn’t,
‘Woe is me,’ and it was almost to a man, that we’re going to stay with it.”
The Falcons struggled creating consistent pressure for much of Thursday’s series-opening loss against the
Beavers. In the first period it looked like more of the same.
Bowling Green (11-12-2, 9-8-1-1 WCHA) had some pep in its step the first few minutes of the game, but the
Beavers had a solid counter that left the Falcons stung.
Kyle Bauman scored midway through the first period with a wrist shot on the rush that snuck through
Bowling Green goalie Ryan Bednard’s arm. Five minutes later, Justin Baudry hammered a shot off the end
boards the T.J. Roo snuck past Bednard.
As the Falcons struggled to find their footing, with only four shots in the opening period, it looked
like it would be another long night in the offensive zone. But Bowling Green’s last shot of the period
ignited the offense.
Sean Walker threw a pass into the slot that found Lukas Craggs, who buried his sixth goal of the season
to get the Falcons on the board.
“I think you don’t get that goal if guys are defeated,” Bergeron said. “It ended up being a huge goal,
but I think that started as soon as they scored the second goal that our guys didn’t quit on.”
The Falcons offense awoke, but at the same time so did their goalie. Bednard settled in and found a
groove. He was tracking the puck well and rebuffed everything Bemidji State (15-8-3, 15-3-2-2 WCHA) had
the rest of the game.
“I think coming off a loss it’s always tough for the goalie because I think they feel like they need to
win the next game,” said D’Andrea, who tallied a goal and an assist in the game. “He came in and he
played really well and made some big saves. That jumps starts the bench when he’s making big saves.”
As Bednard was finding his footing the Falcons began to take a foothold in the Bemidji State zone. They
managed 26 shot attempts in the second period, and while only 10 of those made their way on Beavers
goalie Michael Bitzer, the increased pressure paid dividends.
It started with D’Andrea’s game-tying goal at 5:05 on a quick wrist shot from the left faceoff dot that
sailed over a screened Bitzer’s shoulder. Four minutes later, Friedman laced a shot from the point that
snuck past a screen from Mitch McLain and into the net.
“We obviously needed more pucks at the net,” Bergeron said. “We had good net presence by McLain, and
(Friedman) has a great shot from the point. We over-simplified it. I thought as a whole tonight we did a
better job of getting pucks and people to the net.”
McLain added an empty-net goal late in the third period, his 14th of the season, to seal the victory, but
the Falcons did anything put a hold on in the final frame.
They dominated the pace of play in the third period, and out-attempted Bemidji State 23-5. With Bowling
Green controlling the puck, the Beavers weren’t able to mount a serious threat at the lead.
“We knew there was going to be a push early in the third (from Bemidji) and that energy, if we could kind
of stave it off and push back, we’d be fine,” Bergeron said. “I think we did a great job of that. I
think the third period was maybe our best of the weekend. I feel it was important for us to not play the
third like we were just hanging on. I really like the way we finished the second half of that game.”
BGSU 4, BEMIDJI STATE 2
GOALS BY PERIOD
BSU 2 0 0 —2
BGSU 1 2 1 —4
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1, BSU, Bauman 8 (Heller, Baudry) 10:41; 2, BSU, Roo 2 (Baudry, Whitecloud) (5-4 pp) 15:30; 3,
BGSU, Craggs 6 (Walker, McDonald) 19:09.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 4, BGSU, D’Andrea 6 (Letourneau) 5:05; 5, BGSU, Friedman 6 (D’Andrea, Baylis) (5-4 pp) 9:16.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 6, BGSU, McLain 14 (unassisted) (5-6 en) 19:46.
SAVES BY PERIOD
Bitzer, BSU 3 8 10 —21
Bednard, BGSU 5 10 2 —17
Goalie statistics (goals against/minutes played): (BG) Bednard 2/60; (BSU)
Bitzer 3/58:45. Penalties-Minutes: BG 7-22, BSU 10-31, Power
plays: BG 1-7, BSU 1-4. Attendance: 1,717.
WESTERN COLLEGIATE
HOCKEY ASSOCIATION
W L T 3/SW Pts GF GA
Bemidji State
15 3 2 2 49 49 26
Michigan Tech
11 3 2 1 36 44 26
BOWLING GREEN
9 8 1 1 29 57 42
Minnesota State
8 5 2 0 26 46 34
Alabama Huntsville
7 8 2 0 23 44 56
Ferris State
6 7 1 1 20 41 40
Alaska
5 9 2 2 19 41 58
Lake Superior State
6 8 1 0 19 43 47
Alaska Anchorage
3 9 2 1 12 25 38
Northern Michigan
2 12 1 0 7 27 50
OVERALL RECORDS: Alabama Huntsville 7-14-2, Alaska 6-14-2, Alaska Anchorage
4-1143-2, Bemidji State 15-8-3, BOWLING GREEN 11-12-2, Ferris State 7-12-2,
Lake Superior State 9-11-1, Michigan Tech 13-9-3, Minnesota State 12-7-2, Northern Michigan 4-17-2
Friday’s Games
BOWLING GREEN 4, Bemidji State 2
Lake Superior State 3, Northern Michigan 2
Minnesota State 3, Alabama Huntsville 0
Ferris State at Alaska Anchorage, late
Notre Dame 3, Michigan Tech 1
Saturday’s Games
Lake Superior State at Northern Michigan
Minnesota State at Alabama Huntsville
Ferris State at Alaska Anchorage
Michigan Tech at Notre Dame
