Schilling's Short-Handed Score Not Enough For Falcons

Friday, February 5

Mankato, Minn.

8:07 PM

Bowling Green State University

15-9-6, 11-5-5WCHA

Minnesota State

15-9-5, 13-3-5WCHA

Bowling Green

Minnesota State

Photo by: Craig Bell, BGSU Marketing and Communications

February 05, 2016 | Ice Hockey

Box Score

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

Box Score

Mankato, Minn. – The No. 18-ranked Minnesota State Mavericks scored a power play goal and two short-handed scores to defeat Bowling Green hockey 5-1 Friday night in Western Collegiate Hockey Association action. Bowling Green would have tied Minnesota State atop the WCHA standings had the Falcons been able to earn a win.

In all, four of the six goals scored on the evening came on special teams as freshman John Schilling scored the Falcons' lone goal short-handed early in the third. That score came after Minnesota State scored once in the first and two more times in the second to take a 3-0 edge into the final 20 minutes.

Schilling took advantage of a Minnesota State turnover in the neutral zone and beat Mavericks goalie Cole Huggins on a breakaway at 5:47 of the third period. For Schilling, it was his first short-handed career goal but his third career unassisted tally (of his four career goals).

Bowling Green had the chance to draw even closer to the Mavericks after a penalty at the 12:19 mark of the third period. But Bryce Gervais scored twice short-handed on the power play to ice the contest. Gervais finished the contest with three points, adding an assist.

The game was more-evenly played than the score indicated with Minnesota State holding a slim 21-19 advantage in shots on goal. The Falcons, in fact, had 50 shot attempts to just 43 for the Mavericks but Minnesota State blocked 18 shots to keep Bowling Green from creating more offense in front of Huggins.

"When you don't execute against a team like that, you leave it to chance," BGSU Head Coach Chris Bergeron said. "Our mistakes were big and they ended up in breakaways or the puck in our net. We had chances around the net but we didn't score."

Schilling had a team-high three shots on goal for the Falcons and Mitch McLain won 11-of-17 face-offs. Mark Friedman recorded three blocked shots for BGSU.

Minnesota State went 1-for-7 on the power play, while the Falcons were 0-for-5.

Minnesota State extends its lead in the WCHA standings to four points over both BGSU and Michigan Tech. The Mavericks have 31 points and are 15-9-5 overall and 13-3-5 in the league. Bowling Green has 27 points and is 15-9-6 overall and 11-5-5 in the WCHA. With a victory over Lake Superior State, Michigan Tech has moved into a tie with BGSU for second place in the conference standings.

Bowling Green will square off with Minnesota State again Saturday with puck drop set for 8:07 pm. Earlier this year, the two teams earned a pair of 2-2 ties in the BGSU Ice Arena.