Saturday, December 17
Fairbanks, Alaska
11:07 PM
Bowling Green State University
9-11-2,8-7-1-0WCHA
6
at
3
Alaska
5-9-2-26-12-,2 WCHA
1
2
3
F
Bowling Green
2
1
3
6
Alaska Fairbanks
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1
3
Six Falcons Score in 6-3 Road Victory Over Alaska
December 18, 2016 | Ice Hockey
Box Score
Dalton Goal Call 1-0
Pohlkamp Goal Call 2-1
McDonald Goal Call 3-2
McLain Goal Call 4-2
Letourneau Goal Call 5-3
Dufour Goal Call 6-3
FAIRBANKS, Alaska – With a dominate 6-3 road win over the University of Alaska Fairbanks (6-12-2, 5-9-2 WCHA), the Bowling Green hockey team closed out the first half of the season with a record of 9-11-2, as well as with a record of 8-7-1 in WCHA play. Six different Falcons scored in the Saturday night show, snapping a three-game losing streak while 10 players earned one point or more on the night.
"I think tonight was the reaction to last night's result and a group of guys who wanted to play better," Bowling Green hockey head coach Chris Bergeron said. "We challenged the leadership group, and our senior and leaders were really good tonight. Tonight's result talks about guys who were focused and ready to compete at a high level and that's what they went out and did."
The Falcons came out fast in the first period, attacking with 18 shots on goal to the Nanooks five. A critical shot came at 12:56 into the game when freshman Jacob Dalton took a shot from the right point. The puck found its way through traffic to the back of the net, and not only lifted Bowling Green to its first lead of the weekend, but it also marked the first career goal for the Saginaw, Mich. native.
Although the Nanooks were able to tie the game up at 1-1 16:50 into the first, it didn't slow down the offensive pressure the Falcons were dishing out. Determined to close out the first period strong, it was with just 0:33 on the clock when senior Matt Pohlkamp took advantage of a 2-on-1 opportunity in the Alaska zone. The native of Baxter, Minn. took a shot from the left hash marks and netted his seventh goal of the season on the glove side of the net. It was also the first goal for Pohlkamp since the 5-3 win at Northern Michigan on Nov. 12.
At the end of the first with a 2-1 lead in hand, the Falcons had its strongest offensive period since Oct. 29. With an 18-5 edge in shots on goal, Bowling Green marked the most shots in a period since the final 20:00 of action in the 4-1 win at Miami on Oct. 29.
The Nanooks responded by tying up the game for the second time tonight with a power play goal to make it 2-2. The wrist shot taken from out in front of the goal found the upper right corner of the net while the Nanooks had a 4-on-3 power play advantage. It would ultimately be the only power play goal the Falcons would sacrifice, holding Alaska to 1-4 on the man-advantage.
As the game was tied and the second period was winding down, sophomore Connor McDonald took a quick shot off the draw and beat the Alaska goaltender over the shoulder to notch his first goal of the season with just 1:06 remaining.
The momentum continued to spill over into the third period of play as junior Mitch McLain swooped in quick after coming out of the box and made the game 4-2 just 1:07 into the final stanza. McLain was able to earn his first game-winning goal of the season at even strength, while it was his team-leading 11th of the season. It also makes it the 14th game this season that the Baxter, Minn. native has notched at least one point, and the junior forward will head into the holiday break on a two-game point streak.
It was then, midway through the final period that the Falcons defense was able to burn off a 5-on-3 penalty kill, although just as the team's got back to full strength, the Nanooks narrowed the score to 4-3 with a rebound shot down low.
The one-goal game did not last for long, as freshman Frederic Letourneau flew down the ice and picked a wrister to the top right corner of the net just nine seconds later. The goal was the Montreal, Quebec native's fourth of the season and reignited the Falcons offensive strike for the remainder of the game.
In quick succession, when junior Tyler Spezia fed a pass from the right hash marks over to senior Kevin Dufour, the Falcons were able to score its second goal in under a 3:00 time span. Dufour tucked the puck in down low just 2:46 after Letourneau's goal to make it 6-3 with his sixth goal of the season, which closed out the scoring for the remainder of the night.
"We went in with a mindset and we were going to stick to our plan," added Coach Bergeron. "We defended much better tonight, but we also didn't need to defend as much because of the effort of the offense. I think the way tonight went was because of not getting the result we wanted and a lot of guys contributed to make it happen."
Offensively, the Falcons scored by committee, with six netting goals and a total of 10 players earning at least one point on the night, while with a pair of assists, Spezia marked his fourth multi-point night of the season. With 39 shots on goal, it was the most from the Bowling Green squad since Oct. 29 when the Falcons racked up 41 at Miami.
Defensively, Bowling Green held the Nanooks to just 18 shots on net, while freshman goaltender Ryan Bednard made a total of 15 saves on the night, including a game-high of seven in the third period. With the victory, Bednard tallied his third win on the season and holds a team-leading 2.56 goals against average paired with a save percentage of .889.
The Bowling Green hockey program will next be in action on Friday, Dec. 30 when it hosts RIT in non-conference play at the Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio.
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Team Stats
BGSU
UAF
Shots
39
18
PPG
0
1
SHG
0
0
Penalties
6
5
Penalty Mins
12
10
Faceoffs Won
26
23
Game Leaders
Skaters
+/-
+2
Goals
1
Sh
2
A
1
+/-
+1
Goals
0
Sh
6
A
2
+/-
+2
Goals
0
Sh
1
A
2
+/-
+3
Goals
1
Sh
5
A
0
Players Mentioned
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/ Ice HockeyBG Hockey : Kevin Piel w/Dennis Williams
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