No. 16 Falcons Beat Buckeyes, 6-3, To Open Season

Friday, October 9

Columbus, Ohio

7:05 pm

Bowling Green State University

1-0

Ohio State

0-1

Bowling Green

Ohio State

Photo by: Ruben Kappler, BGSU Marketing & Communications

October 09, 2015 | Ice Hockey

Box Score

By: by Jason Knavel, Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Communications

Boxscore (.pdf)
Postgame audio (Chris Bergeron/Tommy Burke)

Columbus, Ohio – A year ago, the Bowling Green State University hockey team learned a lesson about how cruel the Pairwise can be. Despite 23 wins and a national ranking, BGSU missed out on an NCAA Tournament bid by the slimmest of margins because of the system, which determines the 16 teams that advance for the chance to play for a national championship.

So after a 6-3 season-opening victory Friday night at in-state rival Ohio State, senior goalie Tommy Burke was already considering how the win might change Bowling Green's fortunes this year.

"Ohio State plays a lot of good teams," Burke, a Mike Richter Award Watch List goalie, said after making 27 saves. "This will be valued in the Pairwise late in the year."

Ranked No. 16 in the country in the USCHO.com preseason poll, Bowling Green is certainly in the national conversation in the early going. And with six goals from six different players in the opener, the Falcons showed offensive firepower that can carry them through the long regular season.

BGSU scored twice in each period and never trailed in the game, outshooting Ohio State 35-30. And it started less than three minutes into the 2015-16 season as sophomore Jakob Reichert took a pass from freshman John Schilling and shoved a shot home in traffic to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead. (CLICK HERE for goal call) Head coach Chris Bergeron praised his team's depth leading into the season and the fourth line of Reichert, Schilling and freshman Shane Bednard proved to be prophetic.

In fact, Schilling and the fourth line generated yet another key score in the second period. With Bowling Green clinging to a 2-1 lead and Ohio State turning momentum its way, Schilling stole an outlet pass, slid the puck from his skate to his stick and buried a shot for a two-goal lead. (CLICK HERE for goal call)

That goal came after junior Kevin Dufour corralled a loose puck and slammed home a shot from just right of the goal mouth. (CLICK HERE for goal call) Junior Matt Pohlkamp and sophomore Braden Pears picked up assists. For Pears, it was just his second career point in his fifth career game, while Dufour scored in the season opener for the second straight year. In fact, Dufour posted eight goals in the first six games a year ago and is off to another quick start in 2015-16.

Ohio State got a goal thanks to a long breakout pass before the end of the first to make it 2-1 but Schilling's first collegiate goal gave the Falcons a 3-1 lead. The team's most experienced line put the team ahead by three goals before the end of the second when senior Brent Tate dropped a pass to classmate Ben Murphy in the slot and he fired it home. Redshirt senior Dajon Mingo added the second assist and BGSU took a 4-1 advantage into the third. (CLICK HERE for goal call)

The Buckeyes began to press early in the third and capitalized on a power play opportunity that made it 4-2 just 2:06 into the period. But the Falcon defense buckled down and kept Ohio State from getting closer. Ohio State was forced to pull its goalie and Matt Pohlkamp iced the game with an empty netter with 2:45 to go as Pierre-Luc Mercier and freshman Chris Pohlkamp earned assists. (CLICK HERE for goal call)

Ohio State did get a goal 14 seconds later but another empty netter, this time from Mark Cooper on assists by Tate and Murphy, closed out the scoring. (CLICK HERE for goal call)

"I thought we played pretty well," Bergeron said. "Ohio State has people who will hurt you if you aren't defending properly and they exposed us for that, but Tommy Burke was there. Offensively, if we score that many goals this year, we should be OK.

With the win, Bowling Green improved to 3-0-2 in season-openers over the last five years. The Falcons will be at home Saturday to close out the weekend series against Ohio State. BGSU will host the Buckeyes at 7:37 pm for the team's annual Pink Game.