Falcons Clipped by Wildcats, 6-0

Friday, January 15

Marquette, Mich.

7:35 PM

Bowling Green State University

Northern Michigan

January 15, 2010 | Ice Hockey

By: by Ryan Gasser, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

Box score

MARQUETTE, Michigan -- The Bowling Green Falcon hockey team took to the road for the fourth consecutive weekend to close out a seven-game road trip against Northern Michigan University. Bowling Green coming into Marquette, Mich. had most recently been swept by the Ohio State Buckeyes but had earned their third win of the season against Clarkson in the consolation game of the Dodge Holiday Classic by a score of 4-3. NMU and BGSU avoided meeting at the Classic but renewed their rivalry in conference play Friday night. The Wildcats hadn't lost a game in their last four contests (3-0-1) and had most recently tied Michigan Tech, 1-1, after winning the Dodge Holiday Classic after wins over Clarkson (4-0) and the host institution, Minnesota (4-2). They kept that streak alive after shutting out the Falcons, 6-0 on Friday night.

Much of the first period was controlled by NMU as they possessed the puck in the Bowling Green zone for the opening 3:39 before the Falcons made a run at the NMU net. Momentum stayed with the Wildcats where soon after NMU would jump into the scoring column with a goal at 4:08 of the first period.
With a scrum along the boards for a loose puck in the BGSU zone, Northern Michigan forward Ray Kaunisto forced the puck into near-side faceoff circle where his linemate, Tyler Gron, went stick-side on Andrew Hammond (Fr., G) beating him with his shot to create a 1-0 lead.

The Wildcats continued their offensive run, this time on the power play after Jordan Samuels-Thomas (Fr., F) was whistled for a holding penalty at 12:17 in the first period. With 15 seconds left on the man advantage, Northern Michigan's Kyle Follmer took a shot from the blue line that was redirected from between the faceoff circles by Andrew Cherniwchan. Hammond could not adjust quickly enough to the redirection and Cherniwchan was credited with the second Wildcat goal of the period to make the score 2-0. They would take that lead into the first intermission.

Northern continued their special team success against the Falcons when they scored their second power-play goal of the game near the five-minute mark of the second period. Following a BGSU penalty, the Wildcat power play unit went down the ice where Hammond made a save on a shot by NMU defenseman Erik Gustafsson. The rebound was kicked out to the far-side post where Wildcat left winger Greger Hanson shot a one-timer past Hammond to create a 3-0 lead for NMU with 14:55 remaining in the middle frame.

The Wildcats tacked on their second goal of the period when Hanson struck again at 10:09 when from the far faceoff circle he wristed one past a diving Hammond to make the score 4-0, Northern Michigan.
Northern centerman Mark Olver put his name in the scoring column when he scored NMU's second power-play goal of the period at 7:38 in the second period. Hanson took the initial shot but the rebound left a wide-open left side of the net that Olver shot the loose puck towards, increasing the lead to five. The fifth Wildcat goal prompted Nick Eno (Jr., G) to come into the game in relief of Hammond, though he did not face a shot on goal for the duration of the period.

Toward the end of the second period, Bowling Green went on a power-play that lasted 3:24, included 53 seconds of five-on-three action stemming from three consecutive NMU penalties. Despite the advantage, none Bowling Green's four shots resulted in scores and the Wildcats preserved the 5-0 lead going into the locker room.

The Bowling Green defense held stout for the first half of the third period, but another Falcon penalty gave NMU the opportunity in the eleventh minute to add their fourth power-play goal of the night to their score. With sticks crashing into each other in the near-side faceoff circle in a battle for the puck, NMU right winger Phil Fox poked it across the middle circles where Kaunisto was camped out. With a quick slap shot, Kaunisto made the score 6-0 at 11:05 in the third period.

The game ended with the Falcons suffering a shutout defeat, 6-0, to Northern Michigan. This marks the first time this season the team has not scored at least one goal and the first time since Feb. 6, 2009 when NMU did so in a 3-0 win last year at the Berry Event Center.

The Falcons fall to 3-18-2 (2-13-2-2, CCHA) on the campaign while the Wildcats go to 10-8-5 (6-6-3-0, CCHA). The two teams will meet for the weekend finale Saturday night at 7:35 p.m. EST. Follow the Falcons on BGSUFALCONS.com as they attempt to complete the weekend split.