By Ben Shanahan
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
BEMIDJI, Minn. —Bowling Green State University hockey (7-11 overall, 5-5-1 Central Collegiate Hockey Association) is set to play Bemidji State (6-10, 5-5) on Thursday and Friday at the Sanford Arena, which is where the Beavers historically play well.
The Falcons and the Beavers first met in 2011, with the Falcons owning a 20-17-3 series lead but the Beavers holding a 12-7-2 series lead in the Sanford Center.
For the Falcons, the trip to Minnesota is their longest road trip in the conference. Luckily for the Falcons, the only thing they have to worry about on the 877-mile trip north is hockey.
“The semester is over, so the only thing they have to do before we get on the bus tonight is have a couple of practices, which certainly gives them some time to rest,” BGSU coach Ty Eigner said.
“We’ll get on the bus tonight (Wednesday) and go. But it is a long trip. We’ve tried to encourage our guys to stay with it and finish the first half the right way and sprint through the finish line as opposed to getting out in front of ourselves and getting to the holidays before we finish this weekend.”
The Falcons are coming off a spectacular weekend headed by freshman goaltender Cole Moore, who saved 79 shots, going 2-0 with a 1.51 goals-against average and a .961 save percentage, earning the Falcons their first sweep of the season.
Moore was named the CCHA Goaltender of the week on Monday afternoon.
“A great job this week by Cole, and it was nice to see him be the goalie of the week and see him recognized for his efforts,” Eigner said. “But again, he’s been put in a unique situation as a freshman goalie, and I really enjoy seeing his progress and his growth.”
The Falcons lead the CCHA and sit at 13th in the nation for face-off wins (.534). Bowling Green’s penalty kill unit ranks first in the CCHA and sixth in the NCAA with an .875 percentage (49-of-56).
Ryan O’Hara leads the Falcons’ scoring production with 16 points (nine goals, seven assists) with Brody Waters being close behind with 12 points (six goals, six assists).
Freshmen Gustav Stjernberg and Waters both tallied two power-play goals on the season, tied for leading the Falcons in that category. In addition, Josh Nodler tallied two power-play goals in the game that swept Ferris State on December 9, and the Falcons have recorded 10 power-play goals overall this season.
For the Beavers, they come off a split with conference foe Lake Superior State in two very lopsided games, winning game one, 7-1 and losing game two, 6-1.
The good news for the Beavers is their junior star goalie Mattias Sholl, who went down with an injury in the fifth game of the year, is now listed as day to day. Eigner assumes the Falcons will see Sholl between the pipes for the Beavers.
“We’re anticipating his being back,” Eigner said. “He’s a California kid. We have a few California guys on our team. Jack Blake and Quinn Emerson know him.
“I believe he’s trying to get ready to play this weekend. We’re preparing for him being ready, and if he doesn’t play, then we’ll be ready for that as well. Mattias is a big part of their team, and they are different team when he’s in goal, for sure.”
Goaltender Gavin Enright has a 5-8 record, with a save percentage of .862 and a goals against average of 3.44. Another goaltender that has seen some time in the net for the Beavers is Raythan Robbins who has a save percentage of .800 and a goals against average of 5.38.
Lleyton Roed leads the team in goals with eight while Kyle Looft leads in assist (13) and points (18).
As the first semester wraps up for the Falcons, they are still well in the hunt for a CCHA regular season title going into the weekend tied for fifth with Northern Michigan (7-9-2, 5-5) and Lake Superior State (8-9-1, 5-6-1), but only two regulation wins out of first place, with two games less played than first place St. Thomas (9-8-1, 7-5).
It’s a tight race and anybody’s guess who can win it right now, and the Falcons are playing well lately.
“If you look at our CCHA schedule up to this point, we started with St. Thomas getting swept at home, then we went on a stretch of splitting, winning every Friday, not being able to follow that up on Saturday, and then sweeping,” Eigner said.
“We’ve seen both ends of the spectrum. The CCHA is a very, very balanced league, and there’s a lot of parity on any weekend. No results surprise anybody.
“For us to get six points last weekend was huge for our guys in terms of their confidence and to bank as many points as you can as you go to the second half.
“There’s another six points up for grabs this weekend, and our focus will be getting up there in a safe manner, then having a good practice on Wednesday, getting ready for Thursday, and doing the best job we can. It’s going to go down to the last weekend, in my opinion, and maybe the last game scheduled.”
