BGSU hockey falls to Northern Michigan (2-11-12)

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BG’s Ryan Carpenter (22)
drives the puck past Northern Michigan’s Kyle Follmer (33). (Photo: Enoch
Wu/Sentinel-Tribune)

Bowling Green’s hockey team created plenty of optimism by playing well during its last five series.
But the Falcons took a nasty step back Friday in the Ice Arena. They didn’t play well during a 4-2 loss
to 19th-ranked Northern Michigan.
NMU capitalized on three poor BG penalties to build a 3-0 lead in the first 10 minutes, and the Falcons
were never closer than two goals after that.
Justin Florek, Andrew Cherniwchan, and Stephan Vigier each had one goal and one assist for the Wildcats,
who played well most of the game to improve to 13-10-6 overall and 8-9-6-3 in the CCHA.
Jared Coreau added 32 saves for NMU, 24 coming during the final two periods. His goaltending was a large
reason the Wildcats killed off all six of BG’s power plays.
“Very disappointing,” BG coach Chris Bergeron said.
“Full marks to Northern. They were ready to play and we obviously weren’t. When a team’s not ready to
play, it comes down to the head coach. I’ll take the blame. But we better have 26 guys in that locker
room reflecting right now why we weren’t ready to play.”
BG was 3-3-2 in its last eight games, including splits against No. 9 Notre Dame and No. 18 Western
Michigan, and two ties against No. 15 Ohio State.
But against NMU, the Falcons lost too many 1-on-1 battles and races to the puck. BG held a 14-3 edge in
shots during the third period, but scored just once.
BG fell to 9-17-5 overall and remained last in the CCHA at 4-15-4-3 on a night it played before its
second-largest crowd of the season (2,687).
“What we showed is, we’re not used to having a little bit of success,” Bergeron said. “We hadn’t shown it
until now. We showed it tonight. We laid an egg and that’s really, really disappointing.”
BG had played five of its last six games on the road, its last home game being Jan. 28.
“We were beating teams we haven’t beaten the last couple years,” BG forward Cameron Sinclair said. “We
got caught up in the moment, instead of taking step forwards and worrying about the process.”
NMU built its 3-0 lead on goals from Vigier at 2:14, Cherniwchan at 5:58 and Scott Macaulay at 9:29.
Vigier and Macaulay scored on the power play, and Cherniwchan’s goal came at the exact time a BG penalty
ended.
“We haven’t been very good on the power play for a long time and we’ve worked on it a lot,” NMU coach
Walt Kyle said. “The big thing is the guys were sharp and guys were working … that’s what created the
opportunities.”
NMU entered Friday with just six power-play goals in its last 12 games, while BG’s penalty-killing had
killed off 41 of its last 47 short-handed situations.
“We got out early, that was important,” Kyle said. “They’re a good team and they work hard. (Bergeron)
has done a good job and you can see the improvement.”
The Falcons closed to within 3-1 on Bobby Shea’s goal at 7:40 of the second period, but NMU regained its
three-goal lead when Florek scored with just 1:55 left in the period.
“That was a huge, huge goal (by Florek),” Kyle said.
BG’s final goal came from Sinclair with 5:58 to play in the game. The Falcons had ample scoring
opportunities when it was down 3-1 and 4-2, but never cut the deficit to one.
BG’s power play hasn’t scored in its last 27 chances, dating back to Jan. 20.
“We had chances and didn’t capitalize, and they had chances and they capitalized,” Bergeron said. “We got
out-goaltended. We got out-defended. We got out-scored. We got out-coached. Full marks to our opponent,
Northern. They deserved it and we have to pick ourselves up and move on.”
BG raised its level of play during the final 30 minutes, but it wasn’t enough. The teams play again
tonight at 7:05.
“We needed someone to step up and make a play or two plays in a row, and we weren’t able to get it,”
Bergeron said. “By that point, we were trying and were engaged in the game. That’s not Division I
hockey. That’s not being ready to play.”
BG lost forward Dan DeSalvo because of a shoulder injury in the second period and defenseman Ryan Peltoma
didn’t play because of an ankle injury in practice this week.
NORTHERN MICHIGAN 4, BGSU 2
GOALS BY PERIOD
NORTHERN MICHIGAN 3 1 0 —4
BGSU 0 1 1 —2
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1, NMU Vigier 11 (Florek, Cherniwchan) 2:14 (5-4 pp). 2, NMU Cherniwchan 6 (Follmer, Vigier)
5:58. 3, NMU Macaulay 3 (Thurber, Gron) 9:29 (5-4 pp).
Penalties: Berkle, BG, high-sticking, 1:52; McIntosh, BG, hooking, 3:58; Perrier, BG, interference, 7:39;
Baker, NMU, elbowing, 9:43; Follmer, NMU, hooking, 12:54.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 4, BG Shea 4 (Wojtala) 7:40. 5, NMU Florek 15 (Thurber) 18:05.
Penalties: Epp, NMU, cross-checking, 12:03; Daugherty, NMU, charging the goalie, 14:21; Shea, BG,
hooking, 18:05.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 6, BG Sinclair 6 (Williamson, Carpenter) 5:58.
Penalties: Kaunisto, NMU, interference, 10:15; Daugherty, NMU, hooking, 14:26.
SAVES BY PERIOD
Coreau, NMU 8 11 13 —32
Hammond, BG 9 11 3 —23
Goalie statistics (goals against/minutes played): (NM) Coreau 2/60; (BG) Hammond 4/58:34, Empty net
0/1:26.
Penalties-Minutes: NMU 6-12, BG 4-8. Power plays: NMU 2-4, BG 0-6. Attendance: 2,687.

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