MARQUETTE, Mich. — The Bowling Green hockey team took down the Northern Michigan Wildcats 2-1 in double
overtime on Saturday night to advance to the WCHA Championship Game.
The Falcons followed Friday night’s 6-1 victory with Saturday’s win to complete the two-game sweep.
BG was the first to grab a lead as sophomore forward Connor Ford hit the back of the net at the 15:12
mark to give the team a 1-0 advantage, which it held going into the second period.
Northern Michigan responded just 21 seconds into the second period as junior forward Darien Craighead
knotted the score on a power play chance. The teams carried the 1-1 draw into the third.
“(Northern Michigan) played really well,” Falcons head coach Chris Bergeron said. “That’s what we were
expecting and I thought our guys answered pretty well and I thought our guys had a good first period to
come out of the first up one goal.”
Bowling Green racked up a 12-to-7 shots on goal advantage over NMU in the final period, but could not
find the net.
In the first 20-minute sudden death overtime period, Northern Michigan significantly outshot the Falcons
13-4, not including a shot attempt that glanced off of the crossbar with roughly five minutes to play in
the frame, but the score remained deadlocked at 1-1.
Another 20-minute overtime period was scheduled, but it took until just the 2:09 mark for sophomore
forward Sam Craggs to find the back of the net and send the Falcons into the WCHA Championship Game with
the 2-1 double overtime victory.
“It was a decent forecheck and I know Freddy Letourneau went to the net,” Bergeron said. “Sam Craggs put
the puck on the net and I don’t think the goalie saw it so good things happen when you go to the net.

“But we just stayed with it. Obviously both teams were really tired, but we stayed with it and made one
more play than they did.”
Falcons junior goaltender Ryan Bednard made 40 saves on 41 Northern Michigan shots to earn the win, while
Northern Michigan senior goaltender Atte Tolvanen took the loss with 41 saves made on 43 shots on net by
the Falcons.
“Ryan played great,” Bergeron said. “If not for him, we don’t win the game. Last night we had six goals
so he had a lot of goal support, but tonight we didn’t support him much at all with goals and he was
really good.”
On the power play, the Falcons were held off on all four of their opportunities during the game, while
Northern Michigan capitalized on one of their five chances to grab their lone goal of the game.
The team will next play an all-or-nothing game on the road Saturday night against the top-seeded
Minnesota State Mavericks to decide the WCHA champion.
“We’ve got a pretty difficult task with Minnesota State in their rink, but we’ve put ourselves in
position and we’ve got an opportunity,” Bergeron said. “We’ll get prepared and head to Mankato and see
how it goes.”