Bowling Green Edges Ferris State

An unlikely scoring cast led Bowling Green to its 10th win of the season Saturday night at the BGSU Ice Arena. The Falcons downed Ferris State, 3-1, behind efforts from three players that had a combined nine goals coming into the game.

“That was one of the first thoughts that popped in right when the game ended,” said BG coach Scott Paluch. “It’s good to have other guys chipping in.”

James Perkin put BG on top 1-0 at 9:27 of the first period with his fifth goal of the season. Todd McIlrath and Kyle Page assisted on the play.

“About two weeks ago we talked about how important it was for us to get on the right page before playoffs,” McIlrath said. He and his teammates would continue to play with playoff-like intensity through the final two frames.

Each team notched a goal in the second period, with BG sophomore Wade Finegan scoring the second goal of his career seven minutes in. McIlrath and Page each assisted again.

But just 23 seconds later, Aaron Lewicki sliced BG’s 2-0 lead in half on his tenth goal of the season.

The Falcons were able to make that the only Bulldog tally of the night.

“A lot of that was just like a ‘We’re not losing this game’ mentality,” McIlrath said. “Everyone was willing to lay it on the line because we knew it was crunch time.”

Tommy Dee gave BG insurance with his fifth goal of the year by tipping a shot down through Ferris goalie Taylor Nelson’s legs with fifteen minutes left to give the game its final score of 3-2.

The win was the Falcons’ first since Jan. 23 when they topped Lake Superior at home. Since then, BG has been swept by Miami and Northern Michigan and has picked up two other losses, including one to Ferris on Friday.

“This was the first time in five of those games that we got the first goal,” Paluch said. “It’s an important touch to a team that hasn’t been able to win games.”

For two teams that were first and second, respectively, in the nation in shots at one point earlier this season, the two combined for only 28 through two periods.

“I don’t think it was a reflection on the game in terms of either team laying back,” said Ferris State coach Bob Daniels. “Both teams were pursuing the puck, trying to play with some tempo, but it was pretty congested around both nets.”

Taylor Nelson allowed three goals on 22 shots to pick up the loss for Ferris, while BG’s Jimmy Spratt moved his record to 10-15-3 with a 26-save performance.

McIlrath said the team tried to play especially hard for its senior netminder on Saturday.

“If there’s any one answer, it was that we felt like we owed it to Jimmy to get him a win for helping us out,” McIlrath said.

As for Ferris, Daniels said he did not think his team deserved to get Saturday’s two points, which could have jumped the Bulldogs over Nebraska-Omaha for sixth place in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.

“I thought the better team ended up winning tonight.”