Bowling Green had nearly doubled up Michigan Tech in shots through two periods in Friday’s WCHA
tournament opener.
Tech, though, led by two and dangerous shots weren’t finding the net for the higher-seeded Falcons.
With 8:05 to play, Connor Ford flicked in a goal to cut BG’s deficit in half. The goal changed, possibly,
the season script for BG.
Fifteen seconds later Frederic Letourneau flipped the puck off of Matt Jurusik’s pad to knot the score
before Max Johnson gave the Falcons their first lead of the game, which they held on to for a 3-2
come-from-behind win at a rowdy Slater Ice Arena.
“Going down two-zero I didn’t know how the game was going to go,” Johnson said. “I knew our resiliency as
a team, we will battle back just like we do in practice.
“I knew deep down that we had it in us.”
The win was BG’s first this season when trailing after the second period. Entering Friday night, the
Falcons were 0-7-1 in such games.
Johnson’s goal was a mirror image of the team’s first score, both on powerplay opportunities.
The puck slid atop the formation to the right side before a dump down pass to the right post led to
Brandon Kruse’s assist to Johnson’s tap-in at the left post.
“It was a great play. The boy didn’t have a chance,” BG head coach Chris Bergeron said. “I think any puck
he had a chance on up to that point, he saved. He didn’t have a chance on (the first one) or the third
one.”
Johnson took a knee and celebrated by making a rolling motion with his right hand along the glass. The
roar from an already raucous crowd turned deafening.
“Every single time you see a hot goalie, it’s always going to be frustrating,” Johnson said. “But you
just have to keep battling, and once it goes in you have that sigh of relief.
“We were getting chances left and right, but as soon as we scored we knew we had momentum. And the crowd
was unbelievable. They kept us in the game.”
The first 1,000 students at the game were to be given free admission as a gesture from Scott Slater. The
1,000-student limit was uncapped earlier in the afternoon allowing all students in for free for every
game this weekend.
BG Forward Stephen Baylis appeared to injure his hand late in the game. Bergeron described the injury as
upper-body and said the senior was already on his way to the hospital.
Through two periods, BG was scoreless on 31 shots on target. The Falcons scored three goals on 10
on-target shots in the final period.
“I believed that if we kept playing the same way, a puck was going to find its way in,” Bergeron said.
“This wasn’t turning the light switch on, I thought we were playing a really good game. Unfortunately,
we were on the bad side of three or four plays.”
Raymond Brice scored the Huskies’ first goal with 13:04 to play in the opening period.
Alec Broetzman nearly broke the Falcons’ back in the second period.
BG had a powerplay breakaway, but its shot ricocheted off the post. Tech corralled the puck and beat BG
down the ice along the left side before flicking the puck to the right corner of the net. The
short-handed goal quieted an otherwise booming crowd.
Bowling Green’s win notched its first back-to-back victories since beating Alaska on Jan. 19 and Ferris
State on Jan. 25.