Falcons Eliminated From WCHA Final Five By Michigan Tech

Friday, March 20

Saint Paul, Minn.

5:07 PM

Bowling Green State University

23-11-5

#4 Michigan Tech

29-8-2

Team	1	2	3	F
Bowling Green	1	0	1	2
Michigan Tech	2	0	3	5

March 20, 2015 | Ice Hockey

Box Score

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

Boxscore
Postgame Audio (Bergeron/DeSalvo)

St. Paul, Minn. – No. 4 ranked Michigan Tech earned a trip to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Championship game by defeating No. 9 Bowling Green 5-2 at Xcel Energy Arena Friday. The Falcons tied the game early in the third but Michigan Tech scored the final three goals of the contest for the win.

"We stress execution," BGSU Head Coach Chris Bergeron said. "We had a game plan and we just weren't able to get to that plan."

Trailing 2-1 entering the third, Bowling Green battled back to tie the game after Michigan Tech got penalized for slashing just three seconds into the frame. Although the Huskies killed off the penalty, BGSU scored just 13 seconds after Michigan Tech returned to full strength as redshirt junior Dajon Mingo's wrister from the point was deflected by junior Brent Tate and past goalie Jamie Phillips.

(For Evan Pivnick's goal call, CLICK HERE)

The Falcons had ripped off the final eight shots of the second period and, with the early third-period score from Tate, seemed to have control of the contest.

"The feeling going into the third period was that we were going to win this game," Bergeron said. "And then when we tied it at 2-2, it was a really good feeling."

But less than four minutes later, Michigan Tech swung momentum back. The Huskies' David Johnstone looped a clearing pass to a streaking Tyler Heinonen, who broke in alone and beat Tommy Burke for the game-winner and his second goal of the night.

Michigan Tech added some cushion less than three minutes later as Mark Auk's wrister from the point was deflected for a goal by Mike Neville. It was the second time on the evening that an Auk shot was deflected for a goal as Reid Sturos did the same midway through the first period to tie the game at 1-1.

That came after freshman Mitch McLain put the Falcons on top with a goal at 9:40 of the first period. He put up his fifth goal in the last eight games despite missing one of those contests with an injury. Sophomore Pierre-Luc Mercier and junior goalie Tommy Burke earned assists on the score. For Burke, it is the first assist of his career and the first for a BGSU goalie since Andrew Hammond posted a helper in a 5-3 win at Northern Michigan on March 3, 2012.

(For Evan Pivnick's goal call, CLICK HERE)

Michigan Tech went ahead 2-1 at 16:49 of the first period on Heinonen's first goal of the game. The Huskies iced the contest with an empty-netter by Joe L'Esperance with 1:48 remaining to be played.

For the game, Michigan Tech outshot Bowling Green 32-24. Both teams came up empty on the power play, with the Falcons going scoreless on three attempts and the Huskies getting just one opportunity with the man advantage. Senior defenseman Mike Sullivan led BGSU with four blocks and freshmen Tyler Spezia and Brandon Hawkins tied for team-high honors with four shots on goal. Burke made 27 saves in net.

Michigan Tech improves to 29-8-2 on the season and moves on to play in the WCHA Championship Saturday at 7:07 pm ET. Bowling Green falls to 23-11-5 overall. The Falcons will find out if they have been selected to go to the NCAA Tournament Sunday at noon.

"We've put ourselves into that predicament," Bergeron said. "We've left it in other people's hands and there's nothing we can do about that except sit and wait."

Bowling Green's 23 wins are five more than a year ago and the Falcons have been ranked among the top 10 teams in the country for much of the year. BGSU has five seniors in Adam Berkle, DeSalvo, Connor Kucera, Ted Pletsch and Sullivan.