Falcons Fall To No. 16 Minnesota State

Saturday, December 10

Bowling Green, OH

7:07 PM

Bowling Green State University

#16 Minnesota State

Photo by: Evan Procaccini

December 10, 2022 | Ice Hockey

Box Score Box Score (XML)Box Score (PDF)Ty Eigner Press Conference Salvatore Evola Press Conference Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

Swankler and Burke net power play goals, Evola makes collegiate debut

By: by David Dietrich, BGSU Strategic Communications

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green Falcons (8-10-0, 7-7-0 CCHA) dropped a Saturday (Dec. 10) contest to No. 16 Minnesota State (10-7-1, 7-4-1 CCHA). The Falcons had a pair of power play goals on the night, but the Mavericks capitalized on a scoring burst at the end of the second period to complete the series sweep. Freshman goaltender Salvatore Evola made his collegiate debut for the Falcons, stopping 8-of-9 shots in the third period.

Scoring Plays

The Mavericks struck first, scoring just after the midpoint of the opening frame. A Falcon shot that deflected to the side boards was collected by David Silye, who tipped it over to Akito Hirose. He sent a pass to the middle, hitting Andy Carroll in stride. Carroll found a seam and skated down the middle, sneaking the puck into the net despite being hooked from behind.
Minnesota State extended the lead near the halfway point of the game. A scrum behind their own net led to Luc Wilson obtaining the puck, then he made a pass up the ice to Zach Krajnik. He sent it to Christian Fitzgerald, who skated along the left side and sent the puck past Stoever's glove for the goal.
Bowling Green got on the board shortly after, with Austen Swankler netting a power play goal. The Mavericks killed a penalty on Ryan Sandelin, who had a breakaway chance out of the box. Stoever thwarted it, then Sandelin was tagged with another penalty. On this power play, Austen Swankler scooped the puck along the left boards, hitting Ben Wozney. He sent it over to Dalton Norris, who shoved it right back to Swankler at the left circle. He fired a whistling shot that beat Tracy and trimmed the deficit to one.
MSU responded with three goals in the final 4:31 of the second period, the first coming from Adam Eisele. He knocked in a rebound from a Jake Livingstone shot, sending the puck just past the outstretched glove of a sprawling Stoever.
Less than two minutes later, Fitzgerald netted his second goal of the night. Steven Bellini sent the puck out of the zone to Carroll, who passed it back into the zone to an open Fitzgerald. His wrist shot from above the right circle hit the back of the net to make it a 4-1 game.
Less than a minute later Will Hillman added to the scoring. After a Falcon shot sailed wide, Cade Borchardt chipped it up to Hillman. With a two-on-one chance, Hillman took it himself and fired in the Mavericks' fourth goal of the period.
Hillman added his second goal of the night in the third period. After Evola made a pair of saves on shots from Borchardt and Pavel, Hillman collected the puck between the circle and snapped a shot stick-side for MSU's final goal of the night.
Nathan Burke scored a power play goal for the Falcons with three seconds remaining. Burke had the puck and attacked down the right side before dumping it off the Brett Pfoh. As the two exchanged places, Pfoh passed it to Zach Vinnell at the blue line. He fired a shot that was redirected by Burke for the last goal of the night.

Falcon Facts

Austen Swankler scored his team-best 10^th goal, giving him a team-best 20 points. It was a power play goal, his third of the season. The sophomore has a team-high eight power play points this season. In his career, he has 18 goals and 46 points, with six goals coming on the power play. He is currently riding a nine-game scoring streak, tallying five goals and eight assist for 13 points in this span.
Nathan Burke scored his fourth power play goal of the year, tying Ethan Scardina for the team lead. Burke has seven goals and 12 points on the year, with five points coming on the power play. As a Falcon, he has 23 goals and 35 points, including 10 power play goals. In his career, the forward has 12 power play goals, 36 total goals, and 63 points. He has notched a point in seven consecutive games, recording six goals and four assists for 10 points in this stretch.
Zach Vinnell recorded an assist for the third consecutive game, giving him eight on the year. This is the highest total among defensemen. In his career, he has 33 assists and 41 points.
Ben Wozney earned his sixth assist of the season, giving him 10 in his career.
Dalton Norris recorded his fifth assist of the year, the most among freshmen. The defenseman has six points, tied with Jaden Grant for the most in the freshmen class.
Brett Pfoh notched his third assist of the year, giving him four points. This was the first power play point of the freshman's career.
Salvatore Evola stopped 8-of-9 shots in the third period, the first action of his collegiate career.
Christian Stoever stopped 25-of-30 shots in 40 minutes played.
Bowling Green was 2-for-4 on the power play, improving their season percentage to 24.6, which is second in the conference.
The Falcons did not allow a power play goal, improving their penalty kill percentage to 83.6. This also ranks second in the conference.

Ty's Take
"Mankato had a good plan in the offensive zone, they executed it, and their players worked. We had moments where we worked really hard in our own end and did some nice things, but there were moments where we had extended defensive zone shifts. Those are hard on everybody."

Coach Eigner's full postgame press conference is available HERE. Salvatore Evola's postgame press conference is available HERE.

Up Next
The Falcons play in-state rival Ohio State in a home-and-home series on Dec. 16-17. The Friday, Dec. 16, contest will be played at 7:07 p.m. ET in Slater Family Ice Arena. It will be an Orange Out, tickets are available HERE. Fans are encouraged to purchase soon, as there are less than 1,000 tickets remaining. The series finale begins at 7 p.m. ET in Value City Arena in Columbus on Saturday, Dec. 17.

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