It was a rough outing for the Bowling Green State University hockey team on Saturday. They lost 5-0 to Minnesota State University and were swept by the Mavericks in their own arena.
This is the first time this season the Falcons were shutout in a game.
Head Coach Ty Eigner said the team didn’t come out with the same energy as Friday’s game.
“Yesterday, we did a lot of good things for forty minutes. Tonight, it was hard to find us doing a lot of good things,” Eigner said.
This issue has been persistent with the team. The Falcons can’t find a way to string together two really good games.
“It’s hard to bring the same energy every night. It’s something we need to get better at. I can’t think back this year where we strung two really good hockey games in a row,” said senior Alex Barber.
It was a scoreless game entering the second period. Then, an Austen Swankler penalty gave the Mavericks all they needed to get going.
Junior Ryan Sandelin scored on the power play to get the scoring going. He then scored again about two minutes later.
The team felt good keeping it tied after the first period, but BGSU couldn’t get anything going after that.
“We were in the game for the first half. Then towards the second half we started to unwind and couldn’t get back on the rails,” Barber said.
Sandelin was one of three Mavericks to have three points in the game. Junior Sam Morton had three assists and senior Reggie Lutz had one goal and two assists.
The BGSU offense was not as aggressive as Friday. They had 21 shots on goal Saturday after having 28 Friday.
There was little momentum within the offense.
“We were chasing Minnesota State. We didn’t have a lot of real good opportunities,” Eigner said.
A lot of that has to do with MSU. They had nine blocks and were attacking the Falcons’ offense.
Senior goaltender Dryden McKay registered his 33rd shutout of his career. McKay already holds the NCAA record for career shutouts. McKay registered 19 saves in the shutout.
On the other side, freshman goaltender Christian Stoever had a good game. He had 21 saves. Eigner said the five goals were not on Stoever.
“We didn’t defend as hard and we didn’t forecheck as hard. We didn’t win races as well. We didn’t play as well at times. It wasn’t Christian’s fault,” Eigner said.
It was a great weekend for Toledo native and St.Francis graduate Brendan Furry. The junior had three goals this weekend, with one on Saturday.
MSU was without their head coach Mike Hastings and top player Nathan Smith. Both are representing team USA in the Olympics.
Despite some good play this weekend, there isn’t a lot to celebrate from this series for the Falcons.
“We’re not looking for moral victories. We played against the number one team in the country and the team that is first place in our league. We weren’t able to win,” Eigner said. “We had an opportunity to win last night.”
The Falcons are still in fourth in the CCHA standings after not getting any points this weekend. They have a four-point lead over Northern Michigan.
They will now head on the road to Michigan Tech next weekend. The Huskies are ranked in the top 20 in the NCAA and are in second place in the CCHA.
This will be the first time the Falcons face the Huskies this season.
