Saturday, March 5
Huntsville, Ala.
8:07 PM
Bowling Green State University
20-12-6, 16-7-5WCHA
5
at
0
Alabama Huntsville
7-21-6, 5-17-6WCHA
1
2
3
F
Bowling Green
1
2
2
5
Alabama Huntsville
0
0
0
0
Photo by: Ruben Kappler, BGSU Marketing & Communications
Bergeron Earns 100th Career Win In 5-0 Shutout Of UAH
March 06, 2016 | Ice Hockey
Box Score
Huntsville, Ala. – The 2015-16 regular season closed out in celebratory form for the Bowling Green State University hockey team as the Falcons reached a trio of milestones in a 5-0 win at Alabama Huntsville Saturday evening that provides momentum for a postseason run.
BGSU Head Coach Chris Bergeron earned his 100th career win, all at the helm of the Falcons. In 2010-11, he took over a program that had won just five games the year before and had just one .500 season in a decade but has built the program into one that spent 36 consecutive weeks in the top 20 over the past two seasons. The program has gone 61-38-17 in the past three years.
"It's not just me," BGSU Head Coach Chris Bergeron said. "It's Ty (Eigner) and Barry (Schutte) too. We've been through a lot in six years and we're proud of what we've done. There were times that I wasn't sure we'd get near that total and it really puts in perspective what a guy like Jerry York, who has 1,000 wins, has done."
In fact, the win gave the Falcons back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons. BGSU is 20-12-6 this year after going 23-11-5 a year ago.
Third, Chris Nell recorded his seventh career shutout Saturday night, tying Andrew Hammond and Tyler Masters for first place all-time at BGSU in career shutouts. Just a sophomore, Nell recorded three shutouts a year ago and four this season.
"Chris was really good," Bergeron said. "You don't often see a guy rebound like that after giving up as many goals as he did last night. We've seen it throughout the year though. When he rebounds, he does it very well."
Bowling Green's special teams set the tone both early in the game and throughout the contest. In a game that saw 17 combined penalties and 12 power play chances, the Falcons took advantage with a pair of power play goals, including Brett D'Andrea's first period score that put the team ahead for good.
The Falcons killed off an extended 5-on-3 Alabama Huntsville power play and eventually got the man advantage themselves when Brandon Parker went off for tripping at 11:18 of the first period. Mark Cooper carried the puck into the offensive zone from the right side and found D'Andrea planted on the far side of the goal. D'Andrea's finished off the play for his second career power play goal. (CLICK HERE for the goal call) It gave him a three-point weekend for the first time in his two-year career at Bowling Green and extended Cooper's scoring streak to five games. Stephen Baylis added an assist, although he was just beginning his scoring onslaught.
"Our special teams got us going in the first and our penalty kill did a nice job in keeping them off the scoreboard," Bergeron said. "And the lead helped us build momentum as the game wore on."
The Falcons did, in fact, build on the lead in the second period as John Schilling slammed home a rebound off of his own shot at 6:47 of the second for a 2-0 lead. (CLICK HERE for the goal call) Mitch McLain and Tyler Spezia posted assists and for Spezia, it extended his career-long six game point scoring streak. He now has 18 points on the season after posting just eight a year ago as a freshman.
Baylis scored with less than a minute remaining in the second period as Hawkins worked the puck around the back of the net and found the freshman charging towards the slot. He buried the shot for the 3-0 lead. (CLICK HERE for the goal call) Jose Delgadillo also got an assist, his second in as many nights and fourth of his career.
In the third period, Bowling Green continued adding to the lead as Hawkins scored at the 7:10 mark on assists from Baylis and Cooper. (CLICK HERE for the goal call) Baylis closed it out at 13:16 of the third on a goal from Cooper and Hawkins. (CLICK HERE for the goal call)
Baylis ended the night with the first four-point game of his career and had a six-point weekend just one week after being named WCHA Rookie of the Week. Hawkins had three points for the second consecutive night and has eight in the last three games. Cooper had three assists on the evening.
For the game, Bowling Green outshot Alabama Huntsville 36-24 but that was buoyed by a 20-6 edge in the third period. The Falcons were 2-for-7 on the power play with UAH went 0-for-5. Mark Friedman blocked a team-best four shots, while Jordan Ernst and Delgadillo were both +3 on-ice.
Alabama Huntsville's season comes to a close with a record of 7-21-6 overall and 5-17-6 in the WCHA. Bowling Green improves to 20-12-6 and finishes league play with a mark of 16-7-5. The Falcons ended up just two points shy of a share of the WCHA regular season championship.
The WCHA Tournament will begin Friday night and the Falcons, seeded No. 3, will host No. 6 seed Bemidji State in a best-of-three series. Games will take place Friday, Saturday and Sunday (if necessary) at 7:07 pm in the BGSU Ice Arena. The Falcons swept Bemidji State 4-1 and 2-0 in Minnesota earlier this year.
The winner of the series will advance to the WCHA Final Five at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich. The semifinals will take place March 18 and the championship will follow the next night. After conclusion of the first round, the four winning teams are reseeded for the semifinals.
Team Stats
BGSU
UAH
Shots
36
24
PPG
2
0
SHG
0
0
Penalties
8
9
Penalty Mins
16
21
Faceoffs Won
26
29
Game Leaders
Skaters
+/-
+2
Goals
2
Sh
2
A
2
+/-
+2
Goals
1
Sh
4
A
2
+/-
+2
Goals
0
Sh
2
A
3
+/-
+1
Goals
1
Sh
3
A
0
Players Mentioned
F
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F
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