Bowling Green’s Ethan Scardina (17) makes a move on a Lake Superior State defender in the Falcons’ 4-2 win Saturday. (Lee Welch|Sentinel-Tribune)
By Ben Shanahan
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
Bowling Green State University hockey defeated Lake Superior State, 4-2, at The Slater Family Ice Arena on Saturday to conlude the Falcons’ second straight sweep over a Central Collegiate Hockey Association opponent.
BG skyrocketed up the CCHA starting this weekend in seventh place and ending it tied for a home playoff series in fourth place with games in hand on two of the four teams above them.
“Obviously, we are very happy with the result as far as coming into the weekend and getting six points,” said BGSU coach Ty Eigner.
“We all know how difficult it is. We are really proud of our team for doing what was necessary to get six points because of how big they are at this point in the year.”
Bowling Green improves 12-16 overall and for the first time this season, have a winning record in the conference at 10-8. Lake Superior State Lakers falls to 12-16-1 and 9-11-1.
Lake Superior State actually outshot the Falcons, 39-26, but the Falcons won 33-of-60 faceoffs. Each team had 11 penalties, but for BGSU, 33 minutes were served while the Lakers served just 22 minutes. The Falcons managed to win, despite the disparity of many stats not in their favor.
Bowling Green’s power play got a chance to take an early lead a minute and twelve seconds into the game when Lake Superior State freshman Evan Bushy got caught holding a Falcon. The Falcons took advantage.
The Falcons power play got an early goal as senior Ethan Scardina, playing in his 100th career game, finished fellow senior Spencer Kersten’s initial shot from the point, putting the Falcons up 1-0 with 18:20 remaining in the opening twenty.
“It felt good. Our power play is heating up. It has been the past couple of games and definitely felt good,” said Scardina.
BG would add to their lead with 11:08 remaining in the first period when freshman Brandon Santa Juana’s spin-o-rama pass found Scardina open in front, and he scored his second goal of the period.
Less than a minute later, Lake Superior State got a chance on the power play as BG freshman defenseman Michael Bevilacqua sat for a tripping penalty in his defensive zone.
The BG penalty kill stood tall in the two minutes, keeping the score 2-0 and getting Bevilacqua out of the box with 8:35 left in the first.
With just about two and a half minutes left, tons of skaters were out in front of Lake Superior State goalie Ethan Langenegger, battling for the puck until it squeaked out to wide open BG sophomore Brett Pfoh, who buried it on the top shelf, giving the Falcons the 3-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
The Lakers made a goalie change to start the second period after Langenegger gave up three goals on 11 shots. Junior Easton Hesse took over, making his fifth career appearance, averaging a .971 save percentage in his two games played before this one.
Both teams battled back and forth with nothing to show until 12:46 left in the second, when Bushy would head back to the box, sending BG on their third power play of the game.
Forty-six seconds into that power play, the Falcons sent Bushy out of the box early once again when freshman Ben Doran found Seth Fyten out in front of the net, tapping it home and making it 4-0 in favor of the Falcons.
The Falcons were back on the power play soon after as Lake Superior State captain Harrison Roy was called for boarding. This time, the LSSU penalty kill unit killed off the penalty two minutes later, keeping the game 4-0 with 6:29 left in the middle frame.
Tempers boiled over with 28 seconds left in the second period, sending two Falcons, junior Tommy Pasanen and senior Spencer Kersten, to the penalty box for roughing. The Lakers also had two players sent to the box by alternate captain Grant Hindman for roughing, but both teams would play 5-on-5 into the second intermission, with BG leading 4-0.
The chippiness boiled over into the early parts of the third, resulting in both teams playing 4-on-4 hockey for two minutes until both guys left the box with 15:30 left in regulation.
With 11:52 left, BG found themselves with the man advantage for the fourth time in the game, as junior Jordan Venegoni was called for a slash. Fortunately for the Lakers, the game would remain 4-0 as they killed the penalty.
LSSU got a chance on the man advantage about a minute later, as Pasanen would be sent to the box for interference. On that power play, Lake Superior State got on the board with 8:37 remaining as freshman Carter Batchelder scored, breaking up the shutout.
Tempers continued to boil over as two Lakers headed to the box, senior Jared Westcott and junior Nate Schweitzer, both for roughing, and BG sent three to the box, including freshman Brandon Santa Juana and Brody Waters for roughing, with Scardina being ejected for roughing, and the Lakers on the man advantage for a five-minute major.
During the five-minute major, the Lakers cut into the Falcons’ lead as Harrison Roy scored, making it 4-2 with six minutes remaining.
“It was a little nerve-racking,” Pfoh said. “Scardina was a big killer, and he was not out there to kill. I don’t really like penalty kills, so I was sitting there gritting my teeth and hoping to get it done. Moore stood up big, and the penalty kill got it done.”
Falcons were able to burn off the remainder of the five-minute major and regulation, completing the weekend sweep.
Bowling Green will travel to Mendota Heights, Minnesota where they will face St.Thomas for the second time this season. The action will begin on Friday, Feb.16, puck drop set for 8:07 p.m. ET. The series will continue on Saturday, Feb. 17 at 7:07 p.m. ET.
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