Despite a Pair of Power Play Goals, Hockey Falls to UAH 3-2

Friday, February 23

Huntsville, Ala.

7:07PM

Bowling Green State University

Alabama Huntsville

February 23, 2018 | Ice Hockey

Box Score

By: Jenna Jorgensen (Assistant Director of Athletic Communications)

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Despite a pair of power play goals, the Bowling Green hockey program (19-10-6, 16-6-5 WCHA) dropped a narrow 3-2 final to Alabama Huntsville (11-20-2, 10-15-2 WCHA) Friday evening on the road. With its 55 points in conference play and one game to play in the regular season, the Falcons are now locked in as a No. 3 seed for the 2018 WCHA Playoffs.

Box Score
McLain Goal Call 1-1
Rauhauser Goal Call 2-1

Scoring Plays

Period 2 | 10:13 – Freshman Brandon Kruse sent a clean pass across the blue line to junior Stephen Baylis, before the puck was sent down to senior Mitch McLain. The captain was ready for the back door goal, as his team-leading 15th goal of the season came on the power play.
Period 2 | 18:33 – As the minutes wound down in the second period, the Falcons were on the man advantage as Baylis was able to feed the puck across to sophomore defenseman Alec Rauhauser up top. Rauhauser's shot found its way through traffic to the back of the net, and was able to give the Falcons a 2-1 lead just 26 seconds into a power play opportunity.

Statistical Standouts

With the assist on McLain's tying goal, freshman Brandon Kruse extended his point streak to three straight games.
By assisting on both of the Falcons goals against the Chargers, junior Stephen Baylis recorded his fourth multi-point night of the season, and second in the last three games.
In search of 100 career points, senior Mitch McLain claimed his 95th in his career with his game-tying goal against the Chargers. A native of Baxter, Minn., the Captain has hit a hot streak through the second half, and has now tallied 15 points in the last 14 games.
With his power play goal, sophomore defenseman Alec Rauhauser notched his eighth of the season, and team-leading 34th point of the year.
Between the pipes, sophomore goaltender Ryan Bednard tallied 20 saves, including a game-high of nine in the first period of play. On the season, Bednard now posts a record of 11-6-4.
The Falcons outshot the Chargers 32-23 on the night, including a game-high of 14 shots in the third period. Four different Falcons registered four shots on goal against UAH's Jordan Uhelski.
Overall, Bowling Green went 2-for-5 on the power play, and 2-for-4 on the penalty kill.

Coach Bergeron's Take

"UAH is a good team, and they played well. They had their chances, and we had ours, and the momentum swings seemed to go with the power plays. One of the key pieces to tonight's game was the special teams. I think we had plenty of chances to win tonight, and just didn't do a good enough job with the opportunities."
"Tomorrow we will need to be better around their net, and better in the offensive zone overall. I would like to see us be more disciplined, because we gave up a 5:00 major and a 5-on-3 chance. Tonight it costs us, and we'll look to fix that for tomorrow."

Up Next

The Falcons conclude the regular season tomorrow evening as it looks for redemption in the series finale at Alabama Huntsville in a 3:07 p.m. local / 4:07 p.m. Easter Time puck drop. Catch it all on WCHA.tv.

Follow the Falcons

For more information on the hockey program, follow the Falcons on Twitter (@BGFalconHockey and @BGAthletics) and now on Instagram (bgfalconhockey) as well as on the web right here at BGSUFalcons.com.