Bowling Green State University sophomore forward Brody Waters (29), who had his first career three-goal hat trick, skates away after a BGSU score. (Hailey Pettit-Mastroianni | BGSU Athletics)
By Ben Shanahan
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
Bowling Green State University earned their first second sweep of the season and first of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association campaign in an absolute war, but leave the weekend with six points.
BG would earn their first second sweep of the season and first of the CCHA campaign in an absolute war but leave the weekend with six points by defeating Ferris State, 5-4, in a nailbiter at the Slater Family Ice Arena. The game not only was tied on multiple occasions, the two teams split faceoff wins, each getting nine.
“It is tough in this league to get points if you look around in the CCHA the majority of the teams split. If you look years past, it has been tight that way. We did not make it easy; they scored late in the second. We told them we would have a desperate team against us; they wanted a split, and we wanted the sweep,” said BGSU coach Dennis Williams.
With the victory, BGSU recorded their first conference sweep in the first opportunity since Jan. 3, 2021, when the Falcons swept Ferris State 6-1 and 4-2 to start WCHA play.
The Falcons did it behind the play of 6-foot-2, 203-pound sophomore forward Brody Waters, who scored his first career three-goal hat trick off another career-high 10 shots on goal, but the Bulldogs struck first. BGSU junior defenseman Dalton Norris had three assists and sophomore goalie Cole Moore had 28 saves.
It took just less than three minutes for Ferris to score their first goal of the series after being shut out Friday night. Junior Criden Gault beat Moore. The crease was crowded with lots of both red and white jerseys but Gault’s score put the Bulldogs up 1-0 with 17:03 left in the opening period.
The first penalty of the game saw both teams send a player to the box setting up two minutes of four-on-four hocke. After the media timeout whistle at 9:15, BGSU freshman Maxwell Martin and FSU’s Caiden Gaut’s scrum earned them both a roughing penalty, but both teams got their man back before anyone scored.
BGSU got their first major opportunity to tie the game as they went on a 5-on-3 because FSU committed two penalties in 19 seconds. First, Matt Corbet headed to the box for a hold, followed up by Ferris junior Jacob Badal getting called for a slash with 6:37 left in the first period.
The Falcons did not capitalize on the five-on-three but did capitalize in the 19 seconds of the five-on-four hockey as transfer sophomore Matvei Kabanov fired a pass out in front, standing aligned with the goal line, that was tipped past FSU goalie Noah West to make it 1-1, which remained for the rest of the first period.
BGSU immediately went onto the power play on the opening faceoff of the second period because FSU redshirt sophomore Cole Burtch was called for clearing the puck with his hand off of a faceoff and sit for two minutes. Ferris converted on the penalty kill, keeping the game tied at one with 17:57 left in the second period.
Ferris State got their first opportunity on the power play about five minutes later as Bowling Green fifth-year senior Seth Fyten was called for a hook. FSU capitalized on that power play 19seconds later as Badal beat Moore from the left faceoff dot to make it 2-1 with 12:31 left in the middle period.
Two minutes and fifteen seconds later, BG got their chance to match the Ferris goal with another power play as Gault headed to the box for a high stick. BG capitalized as sophomore defenseman Gustav Stjernberg, parallel to the goal line, fired a puck and somehow find the back of the net, making it 2-2 with 9:13 left in the second period.
Ferris State got a chance on the five-on-three one minute later as first, Stjernberg was called for an interference, followed up two seconds later with fifth-year senior Ethan Scardina called for a hand pass off the faceoff.
Ferris took the lead back on a Zach Faremouth goal as his initial shot was stopped by Moore, but then the puck trickled past him to make it 3-2 with 7:08 left in the second.
Ferris State headed back to the penalty kill about a minute later as Gault was whistled for interference. BG again capitalized on the power play with Brody Waters scoring his second of the night on a tip-in with 5:44 left in the middle 20 minutes of regulation to make it 3-3.
BG got another chance on the power play as Ferris redshirt sophomore Cole Burtch was called on a hook with 4:03. Twenty-one seconds into the powerplay, Waters finished off his hat trick, scoring his second of the period and giving BG their first lead of the night with 3:42 left in the second, making it 4-3.
“It is obviously cool to have a hattrick, but none of that would have happened without the powerplay. I was sitting back door, and they were getting me the puck, which made it really easy on me,” said Waters.
Ferris got another second period penalty thanks to Trevor Taulien, who headed to the box for a hook, but the game remained 4-3 in favor of BGSU.
Eight seconds before the second period buzzer, Ferris State tied the game on a Gavin Best goal, capping off a wild second period, and sending both teams to the locker room tied at four.
Ferris got the first major chance in the tied third period as two minutes into the period BGSU transfer Jackson Niedermayer headed to the box for a trip, but the Falcons killed off the penalty, leaving the game tied at four with 16 minutes left in regulation.
With 9:53 remaining in regulation, the tie was finally broken. With his first goal as a Falcon, senior Jackson Niedermayer’s third shot in a row after West stoned him twice in a row, found the net and getting the game winner by making it 5-4 in the third.
“It came at a good time. The first couple games I was fighting, but things weren’t going my way. The group in there told me to keep with it, and I did. First one off the post, then (senior forward Owen) Ozar had one saved sitting in the paint to (senior defenseman Ben) Wozney, and I am fortunate for it to come to me. It felt good,” said Niedermayer.
Ferris State was not done yet. They got a chance on the powerplay with 5:24 left because BGSU sophomore Ben Doran was called for a trip, but the Falcons killed it off.
Ferris pulled their goalie to go six-on-five, then they would draw a penalty and go six-on-four with fifty-four seconds left because Tommy Pasanen was called for a crosscheck, and even with all the late Ferris chances, Moore held up and the Falcons prevailed, 5-4.
Bowling Green recorded their largest goal tally in regulation since Mar. 9 2024 in a 5-6 loss to Michigan Tech in the CCHA Mason Cup quarterfinals.
