By Ben Shanahan
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
COLUMBUS — Ohio State University scored two first period goals and went on to defeat Bowling Green State University hockey, 3-1, at the Schottenstein Center Friday.
Ohio State improves to 4-0-1 while the Falcons fall to 3-2. The same two teams meet tomorrow night at Slater Family Ice Arena with faceoff scheduled for 7:07 p.m.
BGSU Athletics will recognize the passing of Falcon hockey legend Mark Wells during pregame of Saturday’s game vs. Ohio State.
BGSU still leads the series all time with a 94-80-9 record overall. The last time these two teams met on Jan. 6, 2024, Ohio State came away with 4-2. The Falcons currently are winless in the last seven games.
Ohio State was in the national polls this week at No.19 in the USCHO rankings and tied for No.17 in the USA Hockey/The Rink Live Top 20. Two Buckeyes, Max Montes and Logan Terness, earned Big Ten Star of the Week awards
On Friday, both sides played shutout defensive hockey for the first 12½ minutes with only four shots combined from both sides, three for the Buckeyes and one for the Falcons.
That eventually changed as OSU lit the scoreboard first with 7:23 left in the opening frame on a bouncing puck and tons of players slapping away at it in front of the Falcons’ net. That puck squeaked out and found Washington Capitals’ prospect Brent Johnson slapping it past BGSU goalie Cole Moore to make it 1-0.
Ohio State got a chance to double their lead four minutes later as BGSU freshman Adam Zlnka headed to the penalty box for a tripping penalty at 3:43 left in the opening frame, giving the Buckeyes a powerplay.
The Bucks capitalized on the penalty 11 seconds into it as graduate transfer Aiden Hansen-Bukata scored his first in a Scarlet and Gray uniform, making it 2-0, which would last through the end of the first period.
The Buckeyes got back on the powerplay in the early minutes of the second period as Bowling Green defenseman Gustav Stjernberg laid an OSU player out at center ice and was called for charging. Luckily for the Falcons, they killed the minor penalty, bringing both teams back to even strength with 12:07 remaining in the second period.
Even strength would not last long as the Falcons got their first powerplay of the evening with 11:39 to go in the middle period as Ohio State sophomore Sam Deckhut headed to the box for a hook. ‘
BG ended their own power play 50 seconds into it as senior defenseman Ben Wozney headed to the box for interference, giving both sides 4-on-4 hockey for one minute and 10 seconds. Both teams played strong defensively through the eight-man skate, ending the four-on-four with nothing to show on the scoreboard.
Ohio State got yet another opportunity on the powerplay as junior Quinn Emerson was sent to the box for a trip to sit for two minutes, but the Falcons killed off that penalty, too.
In the waning seconds of the second period, the Falcons got a powerplay still down two as OSU’s Nathan McBrayer sat for interference. The Buckeyes killed off the last 47 seconds of the second period, but the Falcons still started the third period on the powerplay for one minute and 13 seconds.
It appeared the Falcons would cut the lead in half 15 seconds into the third period as Ben Doran’s baseball swing hitting the puck out of the air and into the net was called a good goal on the ice, but after review it was reversed, keeping the game 2-0 with 19:45 left in regulation. After the review, the Buckeyes killed off the rest of the penalty, bringing both teams back to even strength.
The Falcons finally got on the board with 17:52 left in regulation when freshman Max Martin scored his first goal of his college career with a shot point-blank that flew over OSU goalie Logan Terness’s left shoulder, bringing BGSU to within one goal.
Both squads later played four-on-four hockey again with 8:41 remaining as Ben Doran was called for a crosscheck and Aiden Hansen-Bukata was called for a hold of the stick.
With one second left on the four-on-four, Damien Carfafna extended Ohio State’s lead back to two as his shot from the right dot zoomed past Moore to make it 3-1, Ohio State.
BGSU called timeout and pull their goalie with 3:06 remaining down two looking to draw up a comeback plan, but the plan failed.
