Falcons sweep Beavers, Schneider scores 100

Brooms are out yet again for the Falcons with another weekend sweep.

Bowling Green State University hockey (14-12-0, 11-7-0 CCHA) defeated the Bemidji State Beavers (9-8-5, 7-4-3 CCHA) 5-2 at the Slater Family Ice Arena on Saturday.

The Falcons are now on a six-game win streak and rank first in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.

Falcon fifth-year Taylor Schneider had his own victory by reaching 100 career points with his second period goal.

Schneider is now the 76th player in team history to reach the milestone.

Net issues delayed the game almost 50 minutes, but it did not stop Falcon fans from filling up the Slate to cheer on the Falcons.

When game time finally came, the Beavers started out hot with two quick chances toward BG goaltender Christian Stoever.

As Bowling Green turned up the pressure, Friday night’s duo of Falcon freshmen Jaden Grant and Quinn Emerson got the shots on the net.

Although the first period remained scoreless, it was clear that both teams were fighting hard on the ice to obtain conference points.

The start of the second was quiet, until Falcon forward Chase Gresock slapped the puck in past Sholl to make it 1-0 BGSU.

Halfway through the frame, the Beavers wanted to turn up the roughness of the game with shoves and checks.

Their chippy behavior resulted in Bowling Green’s first power play of the night.

It only took a minute for Falcon fifth-year Taylor Schneider to extend BGSU’s lead to 2-0.

With four minutes to go in the second, defenseman Anton Malmstrom got the Falcons’ first call of the night.

Seconds later, the Beavers capitalized on the advantage to cut the BGSU’s lead in half 2-1.

In the dying minutes of the period, both teams exchanged penalties, but no pucks went past either netminder.

At the end of the second, the score stood at 2-1 BGSU.

Six minutes into the third, BGSU junior Jackson Jutting got the equalizer to tie up the game 2-2.

Bemidji was coming back with force, and the Falcons needed to retaliate.

A minute later, Max Coyle fired the puck in past Sholl to put Bowling Green up 3-2.

The Falcons were back in their groove, making the Beavers unable to get the offense going in the final 10 minutes.

With 2 minutes left in the game, Bowling Green junior Ethan Scardina got the empty netter to seal the deal for the weekend sweep.

With seconds left, Falcon defenseman Anton Malmstrom kept the scoring going with his own empty netter to finalize the score at 5-2.

The Falcons’ last three series have resulted in sweeps, and coach Ty Eigner said the recent wins have uplifted the locker room.

“It was emotional,” he said. “We’ve taken punches and we stayed resilient.”

The Falcons are back on the road on Jan. 26 and 27 to play the St. Thomas Tommies. The Thursday-Friday series will take place at the St. Thomas Ice Arema at Mendota Heights, Minnesota.