HOUGHTON, Mich. — The Bowling Green men’s hockey team (15-15-2, 12-10-2 CCHA) fell 4-2 to the Michigan Tech Huskies (21-8-4, 14-6-4 CCHA) at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena on Saturday.
Despite the heartbreaking loss, Falcon forward Chase Gresock hit a milestone of 100 career points.
The fifth-year senior achieved the century mark with two assists, becoming the third active 100-point scorer on the team. Gresock becomes the 77th player in BGSU history to record 100 points, joining teammates Alex Barber and Taylor Schneider, who reached the mark this season.
The Falcons are the only team in the NCAA with three active 100-point scorers. Gresock is the eighth player to score his 100th point under BGSU coach Ty Eigner.
The Falcons got lucky early in the game as they got a power play opportunity in the first five minutes.
However, Bowling Green struggled to enter the offensive zone, resulting in an easy kill for the Huskies.
Halfway through the first, a dangerous turnover by MTU netminder Blake Pietila gave the Falcons a chance to get on the board.
Instead, another Michigan Tech penalty halted action and BGSU was back on the man advantage.
The Falcons were able to convert as sophomore Austen Swankler scored a power play goal for the first lead of the game.
Three minutes later, the Huskies retaliated as a puck bounced off a Tech player past BGSU goaltender Christian Stoever to tie up the game 1-1.
The second period didn’t start as smoothly for Bowling Green with pucks getting thrown at their net.
Just a minute later, the Huskies further extended their lead to 3-1.
The Falcons were unproductive in the last minutes of the frame, closing out the period with one goal.
The third period came with back-and-forth skating and multiple penalties, but Bowling Green still could not muster any points.
Michigan Tech had multiple close opportunities to add more points to the board, too, but Stoever kept the Falcons in the game. However, with less than two minutes left, senior Nathan Burke scored to put the Falcons within one.
Stoever quickly went to the bench for an extra skater, but BGSU could not prevent a Huskies empty net goal to seal the deal, 4-2.
Stoever spent 58:54 in net and made 24 saves, putting his season save total at 802. This number is first in the CCHA and fifth in the NCAA.
The Falcons outscored the Huskies in the series, 7-6, to earn the MacInnes Trophy, named for long-time Michigan Tech head coach John MacInnes. He served as head coach for the Huskies form 1956-82, compiling a 555-295-39 record and winning three national championships.
The Falcons will return to BGSU’s Slater Family Ice Arena to have their last series of the 2022-23 season against the Northern Michigan Wildcats. The home series will take place on Feb. 24 and 25, after a bye week.
