Falcons Beat No. 20 Michigan Tech On The Road

Saturday, November 14

Houghton, Mich.

7:07 PM

Bowling Green State University

5-3-3 (2-2-2)

Michigan Tech

6-4-0 (6-4-0)

Bowling Green

Michigan Tech

Photo by: Ruben Kappler, BGSU Marketing & Communications

November 14, 2015 | Ice Hockey

Box Score

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

Boxscore

Houghton, Mich. – Mark Cooper had a goal and an assist and Tommy Burke made 30 saves as No. 15 Bowling Green hockey earned a road weekend split with No. 20 Michigan Tech by virtue of a 3-2 victory Saturday evening. Cooper's third-period goal broke a 2-2 tie and was his third game-winner of the season, tied for second-most in the country.

"We have a proud group of guys," BGSU head coach Chris Bergeron said. "I don't think we've competed hard enough consistently over the last few weeks. But tonight, our start was much better and our mindset going into the game was better."

With high expectations entering the 2015-16 season and a veteran roster, the Falcons have had an inconsistent start to the season and entered the contest with a 4-3-3 overall record. But Bowling Green proved that it has the firepower to compete with anyone, scoring two power play goals in less than a minute in the first period to take control of the contest.

Michigan Tech, in fact, scored the first goal of Saturday's game but not as easily as it had a night earlier when the Huskies jumped ahead 1-0 just 22 seconds into play. Tyler Heinonen scored his fourth goal of the year on the power play at the 7:41 mark of the first period to once again give the Huskies an early advantage. That lead, though, was short lived.

Michigan Tech's Shane Hanna took a five-minute slashing penalty less than three minutes later and the Falcons took advantage. Despite scoring just two power play goals in the first 10 games of the year, Bowling Green scored twice in 53 seconds to take a 2-1 lead.

The flurry began when Tyler Spezia deposited his third goal of the year at the 10:48 mark on assists by Cooper and Shane Bednard. It was Cooper's first assist of the year and Bednard's second career point to tie the contest. (CLICK HERE to listen to the goal call)

Then, at the 11:41 mark, Matt Pohlkamp found the back of the net for his third goal of the season, getting assists from Brent Tate and Mark Friedman. (CLICK HERE to listen to the goal call) Although Bowling Green still had more than three minutes remaining on the five-minute major, the Falcons took a penalty that all-but-eliminated the time left on the power play. But the damage was done and Bowling Green took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

Michigan Tech tied the score on Malcom Gould's fourth goal of the season at the 5:32 mark of the second period and the game remained deadlocked into the third period. But that's when Cooper took a cross-ice pass from Kevin Dufour and buried a shot from just outside the crease to put Bowling Green ahead again. Freshman John Schilling picked up an assist on the goal as well. (CLICK HERE to listen to the goal call)

It appeared that the Huskies had tied the game late in the third but a goal was waved off due to offsides and the Falcons were not threatened again down the stretch to earn the win.

"This was a gutsy performance by our group," Bergeron said. "It's our responsibility to ourselves, not to expectations, to focus on the things we can control, which is our level of intensity on a daily basis. That was much better today but we are still a work in progress."

Michigan Tech outshot the Falcons 32-25 for the game but the Huskies earned half of those shots in the second period. Bowling Green outshot MTU 11-8 in the first and 10-8 in the third period.

BGSU also won 33-of-57 faceoffs just one night after losing 35-of-58. Cooper was a remarkable 14-3 in the faceoff circle. As a team, the Falcons were 2-for-4 on the power play, while Michigan Tech was 1-of-2.

Mark Friedman had a team-high four shots on goal and Connor McDonald blocked two shots. The Huskies, though, blocked 22 shots for the game, double the Falcons' 11. Burke improved his record between the pipes to 3-1-0 this year.

With the win, Bowling Green improves to 5-3-3 overall and is 2-2-2 in WCHA play. Michigan Tech falls to 6-3-0 overall, all of which has come in WCHA competition. The Falcons will return to Bowling Green with a seven-game home unbeaten streak to host Alabama Huntsville for the first two games of a six-game homestand. Games will take place Friday and Saturday at the BGSU Ice Arena at 7:07 pm.