| BG’s Ryan Viselli (18) and Ferris’ Scott Czarnowczan battle for the puck (Photo: Andrew Weber/Sentinel-Tribune) |
On paper, Bowling Green’s 4-1 loss Friday to Ferris State was the result of a poor four-minute stretch
early in the third period.
In reality, the Falcons were beaten long before Ferris scored three times in a 244-second span to erase a
1-0 deficit.
BG didn’t play well and was deserving of its Central Collegiate Hockey Association loss at the Ice Arena.
Meanwhile, Ferris turned in a solid performance to provide coach Bob Daniels with his 300th career
victory.
Kyle Bonis had two goals and one assist for the Bulldogs, while Todd Pococke and Matthew Kirzinger scored
the other goals, and Pat Nagle made 15 saves.
The Bulldogs improved to 10-8-4 overall and 7-6-3-2 in the league. BG, last in the CCHA, is 7-14-2,
2-11-2-0.
“That result tonight was what it should have been,” BG coach Chris Bergeron said. “I don’t think it came
down to truly four minutes. I don’t think we were good most of the night.
“Credit to (Ferris). They were honest. They had speed. They created (offense) through the neutral zone.
For the most part, they were able to take it to us most of the night.”
The Falcons held a one-goal lead going into the third period for the sixth time in their last seven
games, but are only 1-3-2 in those six games.
“Our third periods haven’t been good,” Bergeron said. “We’re in shape. We condition hard. We can’t finish
off games.”
Even though the Falcons didn’t play well, they took a 1-0 lead on Jordan Samuels-Thomas’ goal from the
left circle off a 3-on-2 rush with 4:23 to play in the second period.
Ferris finally was rewarded for its solid play in the third period. Bonis tied the game from the
hashmarks at 3:01, while Pococke gave the Bulldogs the lead from the left circle at 6:31 and Kirzinger
added an insurance goal from the left side of the crease 32 seconds later.
Bonis closed out the scoring at 17:42 with a 4-on-6 short-handed, empty-net goal on a major penalty to
the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs finished with a 17-16 edge in shots. Good penalty-killing by both teams played a large role
in both teams going 0-of-5 on the power play.
“We were full marks for that win,” said Daniels, who is 300-342-73 in 18 seasons, all at Ferris.
The milestone wasn’t the first in BG for Daniels, whose team clinched the 2003 CCHA title in the Ice
Arena.
“Five-on-five, we were pretty good,” Daniels said. “We were rock solid. We didn’t give up a lot of
chances.”
The Bulldogs set the tone quickly, dominating from the start and not allowing BG a shot on goal during
the first 11:14.
BG’s Nick Eno had seven of his 13 saves in the first period.
“We weren’t ready to play and they took it to us pretty good,” Bergeron said.
The Falcon power play continued to struggle as it had just seven shots in 10:04.
Trailing 3-1, BG received its 5-minute power play when Ferris’ Scott Czarnowczan was penalized for
checking from behind. BG then pulled Eno for a two-man advantage, but Ferris scored short-handed.
The Falcons also failed to score on three power plays in the first period.
BG is scoring at just 11.2 percent (12-of-107) with the extra man, while Ferris is seventh nationally in
penalty-killing at 12 percent (95-of-108). Ferris is third nationally in goals allowed (2.0 per game).
“Again, the power play is a disappointment,” Bergeron said. “The power play, that’s supposedly our best
players. We’re down two goals and we get a shot blocked. We need guys to make hockey plays on the power
play and we don’t have enough guys doing it.”
BG hosts Ferris again tonight.
“We’re going to continue to give this message to our guys,” Bergeron said. “It’s not a threat. It’s real.
If you don’t want to be a part of the solution, then you won’t be with us long term. We need guys to
prove they are part of the solution, and not just being OK with being on this hockey team and being in
11th place. That’s completely and absolutely unacceptable. Until we start to live that on an individual
basis and collectively, we’re going to continue to get the results we’re getting.”
FERRIS STATE 4, BGSU 1
GOALS BY PERIOD
FERRIS STATE 0 0 4 —4
BGSU 0 1 0 —1
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: None.
Penalties: Peltoma, BG, slashing, 2:18; Ouellette, FS, hooking, 6:55; Embach, FS, hooking, 10:44; Kane,
FS, cross-checking, 14:13.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 1, BG Samuels-Thomas 6 (Krelove, Viselli) 15:37.
Penalties: Samuels-Thomas, BG, elbowing, 1:30; Kirzinger, FS, cross-checking, 5:56; Peltoma, BG,
obstruction-tripping, 10:13; Rodriguez, BG, interference, 18:14.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 2, FS Bonis 4 (Billins, Redmond) 3:01. 3, FS Pococke 1 (Bonis) 7:05. 4, FS Kirzinger 4 (Embach,
Johnson) 7:05. 5, FS Bonis 6 (unassisted) 17:42 (4-6 sh,en).
Penalties: Mohler, BG, tripping, 13:18; Czarnowczan, FS, major-checking from behind and game-misconduct,
16:03.
SAVES BY PERIOD
Nagle, FS 7 2 6 —15
Eno, BG 7 3 4 —13
Goalie statistics (goals against/minutes played): (FS) Nagle 1/60; (BG) Eno 57:32, Empty net 2:28.
Penalties-Minutes: FS 6-23, BG 5-10. Power plays: FS 0-5, BG 0-5. Attendance: 1,379.
