Tommy Burke enabled Bowling Green to be rewarded on a night the Falcons were painfully average.
The sophomore stopped 31 shots Saturday to enable the Falcons to earn a 1-1 overtime tie against the
University of Alaska in the Ice Arena.
Marcus Basara’s goal with 12:16 remaining tied the game for UA after BG took a 1-0 lead on Mark Cooper’s
goal just 1:52 into the game. BOX
SCORE
UA held a
32-27 edge in shots, but needed Burke’s pad save on Garrick Perry’s breakaway with just under a minute
to play in the five-minute extra period to secure the tie.
BG had its four-game winning streak snapped, although it improved to 4-0-1 in its last five games.
The Falcons are 12-9-5 overall and 9-6-3 in the WCHA. John Keeney made 26 saves for UA (8-10-4, 5-9-2).

The series began a six-game home stand for BG, which hadn’t played at home since Dec. 6-7.
The tie, coupled with Minnesota State’s 3-1 loss at Alaska-Anchorage, still moved BG into second place in
the WCHA with 21 points, one ahead of MSU.
“Our guys are upset,” said BG coach Chris Bergeron, whose team was bidding for a sweep of the series
after a 3-0 win Friday. “They feel like they left something out there and that’s a good thing.
“That means a tie is not good enough. More guys than not were disappointed with the tie. Again, that
talks where our program is now and where we feel we’re heading. I’m not unhappy with the weekend.”
The teams played a hard-fought, physical and entertaining game filled with scoring chances. Both goalies
played well.
Bergeron felt BG didn’t generate enough quality scoring chances or enough sustained pressure offensively
to cause UA to take penalties.
BG had just two power-play attempts in the game, compared to UA’s six.
“I don’t think we can create three or four goals with the number of chances we had,” Bergeron said. “We
were just trying to get into a game and into our rhythm and we struggled doing that.
“We played OK. We played hard. They’re a good team. I like their team. We stuck in there and they came
harder than they did last night.”
Bergeron also said BG lost too many 1-on-1 battles including one that led to a turnover and UA’s only
goal. Basara scored from the right circle off a give-and-go.
The Falcons were hurt by their six penalties, including five straight at one point.
BG had to kill off back-to-back penalties late in the first period and three straight penalties in the
final 11 minutes of the second period.
“When we started to get going, we would get a penalty and take away the momentum,” Cooper said.
Cooper’s goal came when he fired the puck into an empty net. Teammate Ralfs Freibergs’ dump-in from the
neutral zone hit the linesman, who was standing on the blueline near the boards. The puck ricochetted to
Cooper, who was wide open in the deep slot.
Keeney had gone behind the net to play Freibergs’ dump-in, but was caught out of position because of the
ricochet.
The goal was Cooper’s 10th of the season, tying Bryce Williamson and Ben Murphy for the team lead.
Burke, who had just 16 saves Friday, was tested frequently.
Perry, who caught BG on a line change for the breakaway, faked Burke. But Burke stayed with him and stuck
out his left pad to make the save on the right edge of the crease.
Burke, who started for the fourth straight game and seventh time in the last eight games, is fourth in
the WCHA with a 2.07 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage.
UA is third-highest scoring team in the league, averaging 2.9 goals per game.
“He’s proven we can go back-to-back nights,” Bergeron said. “He deserved to play tonight and did a nice
job. He looked on top of it.”
BG’s penalty-killing was sharp, the last a clutch kill with just 2:15 left in regulation.
“That was probably the most positive thing of the evening,” Bergeron said.