MARQUETTE, Mich. — The Bowling Green hockey team took down the Northern Michigan Wildcats 6-1 on Friday
night in the first game of the teams’ series in the semifinal round of the WCHA playoffs.
The Falcons (24-9-5) can advance to the WCHA championship game with a win tonight. BG’s win gave it its
highest win total under head coach Chris Bergeron, and its most since the 1995-96 season.
Both teams went scoreless through the first period, but the Falcons were able to put more shots on net
with an 11 to 8 advantage over NMU (21-5-2).
Max Johnson continued his playoff hot streak and got the Falcons rolling in the second.
The sophomore forward scored just 1:35 into the period to give the team a 1-0 advantage. It didn’t take
long for the Falcons to grab their next goal as senior defenseman Adam Smith scored to give BG a 2-0
lead, an advantage that they would take into the third.
In the third period, the Falcons took advantage of a five-on-three power play chance to make it a 3-0
game, as sophomore forward Brandon Kruse put the puck in the net just 30 seconds into the period. With
the Falcons still on the power play, with it being a five minute major penalty, sophomore forward Connor
Ford found the back of the net at the 1:23 mark to put the team in front 4-0.
Northern Michigan earned its first goal of the game at 8:55 with freshman forward Griffin Loughran making
it a 4-1 score late. It wouldn’t be enough as Johnson got his second of the game at 11:12 and sophomore
forward Cameron Wright added on another goal with just six seconds remaining in the game.
Falcon junior goaltender Ryan Bednard took the win, making 26 saves on 27 shots, while Northern Michigan
senior goaltender Atte Tolvanen took the loss with 36 saves made on 42 Bowling Green shots on net.
The teams will play again at 7:07 tonight — and at the same time again on Sunday if necessary.