Considering that in eight of their 10 previous matchups the final outcome was decided by two or fewer goals, Saturday night’s decision between Bowling Green and Nebraska-Omaha shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone.
The visiting Mavericks took the getaway game from Bowling Green on Saturday night, 2-1, in front of 2,505 in attendance at the BGSU Ice Arena. Friday night’s decision resulted in a 2-2 tie between the two schools.
The winning goal was disputed briefly by several Falcons, and the Maverick credited with the goal changed three times before forward Andrew Wong was awarded the game-winner at 6:59 in the third period. Jeff Hoggan and Bryce Lampman assisted on the goal, which came after a flurry in front of BGSU goalie Tyler Masters.
“We didn’t score enough goals,” said BGSU coach Buddy Powers. “I think Masters had an outstanding weekend. He had another great game tonight. But, hey, we didn’t give him enough goals to get the win. Nebraska played an outstanding game out there tonight. Their penalty killing was awesome. We couldn’t get the puck off the wall. That was the most aggressive anybody’s been against us in the penalty kill all year.”
Bowling Green finished 0-for-6 on the power play Friday night and has now failed to score on its last 17 power play attempts. UNO was 2-for-8 on the power play.
Nebraska-Omaha’s Jeff Hoggan broke into the scoring column first with a power-play goal at 18:56 in the first period.
The lead didn’t last long, though, as BGSU forward Greg Day found the net for the second night in a row just 54 seconds into the second period. UNO goalie Dan Ellis tried to clear the puck after a shot attempt, but Day stole it in between the two circles and walked in for his eighth goal of the season.
The Falcons pulled Masters for a 6-on-5 advantage with 1:06 remaining. However, a Ryan Wetterberg penalty with just 37 seconds remaining all but ended the BGSU attack and gave Bowling Green just its second loss in its last six games.
Masters ended with 33 saves, while Ellis had 23 for the Mavericks. UNO outshot Bowling Green 35-24, including 12-4 in the second period.
Nebraska-Omaha moves to 9-5-2 overall and 6-4-2 in the CCHA, while Bowling Green drops to 4-8-4 overall and 3-7-2 in the CCHA.
