Bowling Green’s hockey team played well during the final two periods Saturday night.
Unfortunately for the Falcons, they spotted the University of Alaska a 3-0 lead during the first 20
minutes.
The Nanooks, ranked ninth nationally, held off BG after that for a 5-3 win and a split of the Central
Collegiate Hockey Association series in the Ice Arena.
The Falcons twice rallied within one goal, the last time coming on David Solway’s second goal of the game
with just 2:06 remaining. But UA clinched the win on Dion Knelsen’s second goal into an empty net with
30 seconds left.
Knelsen spun and scored from between the hashmarks in the Nanooks’ defensive zone after UA blocked two
shots.
BG’s forward line of David Solway, Jordan Samuels-Thomas and Kai Kantola was dominant every shift,
combining for three goals and three assists, and 18 shots on goal.
Samuels-Thomas had a goal and two assists to give him a goal in five of the last six games. Solway,
hampered by a shoulder injury to start the season, tallied his first two goals of the season.
The Falcons finished with a 32-27 edge in shots, thanks to a 26-15 margin over the final two periods.
BG was going for a series sweep after it played well Friday in a 3-1 win for its first victory of the
season. The Falcons are 1-8-1, 1-4-1-1.
“We got a little complacent with the win last night in the first period and it showed,” said
Samuels-Thomas, who leads BG with six goals and 10 points.
UA is 7-2-1, 4-2.
“Give credit to our team. They responded well after last night,” UA coach Dallas Ferguson said. “(BG)
played extremely well all weekend. It says a lot about their team, being down 3-0 after one and coming
back like that.”
The Nanooks, who didn’t play well Friday, came back to dominate the first period Saturday. They scored
their three goals in a span of 6:33, the first coming just one second after a BG penalty ended and the
third coming on the power play.
The UA goals were scored by Jarret Granberg at 6:15, Carlo Finucci at 8:06 and Knelsen at 12:48.
On the other hand, the Falcons were spectators. They weren’t physical, either, and took three stupid
penalties.
“It was unfortunate the way we came out,” BG coach Dennis Williams said. “The penalties were
undisciplined penalties and (UA) came out with a lot more of an edge. We didn’t seem to exceed their
tempo.”
In the second period, Samuels-Thomas scored on a back-door rebound from the right side on the power play
at 1:14 and Solway scored off the rush from the right circle at 4:27. But UA restored its two-goal lead
on Cody Butcher’s power-play goal at 8:40. He scored on a deflection of a shot from the right point.
“You’re looking for a blocked shot there,” Williams said.
“That was a big goal,” Ferguson said.
BG had three excellent chances to close within 4-3 in the first six minutes of the third period, but
couldn’t close within one until Solway roofed a rebound into the net on a backhander from the right side
of the crease at 17:30.
The Falcons were physical and used their speed to generate plenty of offense in transition and in the
offensive zone during the final two periods.
BG also had two breakaways in the final 10 minutes of the second period, but UA took penalties both times
to stop the attempt.
“We took it to them the second and third periods,” Williams said. “Unfortunately, the game of hockey is
60 minutes. They played the 60 better than we did. We played much better the second and third, night
day.”
BG was 1-of-2 on the power play, while UA was 2-of-5.
The Falcons’ Nick Eno stopped 22 shots. UA’s Scott Greenham made 29 saves, 23 during the final two
periods.
ALASKA 5, BGSU 3
GOALS BY PERIOD
ALASKA
3
1
1
—5
BGSU
2
1
—3
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1, UA Granberg 3 (Butcher, Sather) 6:15. 2, UA Finucci 1 (Sather, Granberg) 8:06. 3, UA D.
Knelsen 4 (Yaremchuk, Sova) 12:48 (5-4 pp).
Penalties: Rodriguez, BG, high-sticking, 4:14; Petruska, BG, unsportsmanlike conduct/spraying the goalie,
12:37; Dee, BG, slashing, 14:18.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 4, BG Samuels-Thomas 5 (Page, Petruska) 1:14 (5-4 pp). 5, BG Solway 1 (Samuels-Thomas, Grover)
4:27. 6, UA Butcher 2 (Granberg, Finucci) 8:40 (5-4 pp).
Penalties: B. Molle, UA, obstruction-hooking, 0:27; Ruel, BG, tripping, 8:28; Dee, BG, contact to the
head-elbowing, 10:35; D. Molle, UA, tripping, 15:15.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 7, BG Solway 1 (Samuels-Thomas, Kantola) 17:54. 8, UA D. Knelsen 5 (unassisted) 19:30 (5-6 ex).

Penalties: None.
SAVES BY PERIOD
Greenham, UA
6
11
12
—
29
Eno, BG
9
6
7
—
22
Goalie statistics (goals against/minutes played): (UA) Greenham 3/60; (BG) Eno 4/59:26, Empty net 1/0:34.

Penalties-Minutes: UA 2-4, BG 5-10. Power plays: UA 2-5, BG 1-2. Attendance: 1,969.