Falcons Sweep Northern Michigan To Earn Return Trip To WCHA Final Five

Saturday, March 14

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:07 PM

Bowling Green State University

23-10-5

Northern Michigan

14-18-6

Team	1	2	3	F
Northern Michigan	0	1	0	1
Bowling Green	0	2	2	4

Falcons Sweep Northern Michigan To Earn Return Trip To WCHA Final Five

March 14, 2015 | Ice Hockey

Box Score

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

Boxscore
Photo Gallery

Bowling Green, Ohio – For the third time in five years, the Bowling Green State University hockey team defeated Northern Michigan in a conference tournament best-of-three series, capping a sweep over the Wildcats with a 4-1 victory at the BGSU Ice Arena Saturday. It marks the sixth time BGSU has won a best-of-three series in the past five years, winning at least one such match-up in every season under head coach Chris Bergeron.

Freshman Brandon Hawkins scored two goals as BGSU's vaunted freshman class had five of the seven Falcon goals on the weekend. Classmate Tyler Spezia scored his second goal in as many nights for Bowling Green and junior Brent Tate iced the game with a goal with just 68 seconds remaining in the contest.

"What I like is that the bar continues to get set," BGSU head coach Chris Bergeron said. "We expect to play at home in the playoffs; we expect to win at home in the playoffs. That means that the future looks good."

After a scoreless first period in which Bowling Green held a slim 8-7 advantage in shots on the goal, the Falcons dominated over the final 40 minutes. BGSU outshot Northern Michigan 34-13 in the last two periods, scoring twice in each of the last two stanzas.

But it was Northern Michigan that actually got on the scoreboard first, taking a 1-0 lead on freshman Zach Diamantoni's first career goal. That came at the 8:55 mark to give the Wildcats a lead for the second night in a row but much like Friday night's series-opener, BGSU struck back.

This time, the Falcons answered quickly as Spezia, who was the overtime hero in game one, found the back of the net just 64 seconds later. He took a pass from senior Dan DeSalvo and skated up the left side, firing a shot over Northern Michigan goalie Michael Doan's shoulder to tie the game. Sean Walker added an assist on the play – the first of two assists on the night for him.

(Listen to Evan Pivnick's goal call by CLICKING HERE)

"To come back right away and Tyler Spezia just finds a way," Bergeron said. "This group has been there before. The older guys have been in that situation before and I thought we acted that way."

Bowling Green continued to press for another goal and got it when junior Mark Cooper dropped the puck for Hawkins on a nifty play. With Cooper shielding Doan, Hawkins fired away for his first goal of the night with 5:43 remaining in the second.

(Listen to Evan Pivnick's goal call by CLICKING HERE)

As the second period turned to the third, Northern Michigan found the sledding tough while the Falcons turned up the pressure offensively. Finally, at the 13:24 mark of the third period, Hawkins scored again, this time on a deflection. Cooper won a faceoff, sending a puck to Walker, who fired a slapshot. Hawkins got his stick on the shot, deflecting it past Doan for the 3-1 lead.

(Listen to Evan Pivnick's goal call by CLICKING HERE)

Things got chippy late and Tate picked up a goal on a 5-on-3 power play with just over a minute to play as NMU racked up 41 penalty minutes in the final four minutes of the third. Senior Adam Berkle and freshman Nolan Valleau earned assists on the final score of the game.

(Listen to Evan Pivnick's goal call by CLICKING HERE)

BGSU held Northern Michigan scoreless on two power play opportunities on the night and Wildcats went without a power play goal on the weekend. The Falcons were 1-for-6 with the man advantage.

On the defensive side, Tommy Burke made 19 saves to improve to 14-5-3 on the season in net. Freshman Mark Friedman, a Philadelphia Flyers draft pick, had three blocks and took three shots. Redshirt junior Dajon Mingo had three blocks and recorded a +1 on-ice rating. Senior Mike Sullivan was +3 on the ice as well.

Sophomore Matt Pohlkamp had a team-high seven shots and Hawkins added six with a +2 on-ice rating.

Northern Michigan's season comes to a close with a record of 14-18-6. Bowling Green moves on to the WCHA Final Five in St. Paul, Minn., carrying a 23-10-5 record into the semifinals. The Falcons will play Friday at the Xcel Energy Center against Michigan Tech at a time to be determined. Winners of Friday's semifinals will play Saturday for the Broadmoor Trophy at 7:07 pm.

Postgame Notes
* Dan DeSalvo's assist on BGSU's first goal of the night was his 102nd career point, moving him into a tie with Ryan Murphy and D'Arcy McConvey for 66th on the all-time scoring list in the program. He is one point behind Jack Laine (1973-77), Yves Pelland (1976-80) and Derek Whitmore (2004-08) for 63rd.
* DeSalvo also earned his 22nd career playoff point in 18 career playoff games.
* Junior Mark Cooper did not generate a single playoff point during his first two years at BGSU but had a goal and two assists on the weekend.
* Senior Adam Berkle had an assist to pick up his 14th career playoff point in 18 games.
* BGSU Freshmen accounted for five of the team's seven goals on the weekend.
* The Falcons improved to 3-0 in best-of-three playoff series' under head coach Chris Bergeron when winning the first game of the series.
* Bowling Green held Northern Michigan without a power play goal on the weekend to improve to a nation's best 89.7 percent on the penalty kill.
* BGSU is now 8-0-2 on the season when scoring four or more goals in a game and 6-0-1 when generating at least 40 shots.
* Brandon Hawkins became BGSU's first freshman to score two goals in a playoff game since Dan DeSalvo had a hat trick in a 4-3 overtime win over Ferris State on March 11, 2012.
* Tommy Burke improved to 4-1 in goal in the playoffs with a .940 save percentage and a 1.70 goals against average.
* Mike Sullivan played in his 150th career game. He ranks third in games played among active Falcons, behind Adam Berkle (157) and Dan DeSalvo (152).