BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The crowd at Slater Family Ice Arena was treated to two nail-biting hockey games between two familiar foes. Last night it was an all-out goaltending showdown and tonight there were seven goals put up on the board. The one thing that stayed the same was the outcome, with the Bowling Green Falcons defeating the Ferris St. Bulldogs 5-2. This gives Falcons head coach Chris Bergeron eight seasons straight of winning a best-of-three playoff series; something no other program in the country has done.
“It’s something I’m extremely proud of. That talks about the people within the program, I think it’s resiliency after this program almost went away in 2008-2009. That resiliency is engrained in our culture now. If you have us in a corner we’re going to dig in and fight.”
The game started out much like last night did with scoring chances right from the get-go. After struggling to have a bounce go their way all of last night, the Falcons were rewarded early. A puck was flung around in their offensive zone and deflected off a Bulldog’s stick and landed in Smith’s crease. Sam Craggs attacked the net, sending one home and giving the Falcons the a lead they would not surrender.
Things got worse for Ferris St. when Lucas Finner was assessed a game misconduct for hitting from behind. The Falcons went on a 5-minute power play and found the net when Stephen Baylis connected with Max Johnson to give the Orange and Brown a two-goal lead; the Bulldogs went another opening period being shut out.
The second period began with the Bulldogs on an early power play opportunity with Falcons captain Mitch McLain going to the box for slashing, however Bednard turned away any hope of getting on the board. Shortly after, Lukas Craggs and Andrew Dorantes would both go to the box for slashing, making it 4-on-4 and giving both teams some more ice to work with. Alec Rauhauser took it down the length of the ice and decided to throw the puck on net from what looked like an impossible angle from the far side of the left face-off circle. Smith who had been nothing short of remarkable all weekend, found himself beaten on a prayer of a shot, and the Falcons took a 3-0 lead.
Hope was fading fast for the Bulldogs until Sam Craggs was assessed a tripping minor and an advantageous opportunity opened up. Ferris St. finally broke open their scoring drought when Joe Rutkowski wristed on from the blue line and created a rebound and easy backdoor goal for Jason Tackett.
Tackett’s second goal of the weekend gave the Bulldogs the spark they needed as they quickly made it a 3-2 game shortly after. Jason Fernsier tallied his first of the season off a deflected puck that landed to the right of Bednard’s crease. Fernsier had an easy tip-in and the Bulldogs had all momentum in their favor. A couple more opportunities a piece and the second period concluded with Ferris St. right behind BG 3-2. Coach Bergeron said, “We started to panic. We spent a little too much time talking after the whistle and we were using our energy in the wrong ways. We lost our focus, our poise and all of a sudden a three-goal lead is down to 3-2 and they were pushing us.”
The third period started with a ton of action, both Bednard and Smith making some key saves. The Falcons finally answered back less than three minutes into the third. After Cameron Wright skated in, Smith poked the puck out of his control only for Brett D’Andrea to corral it and send it upstairs on a backhand for his ninth of the season and put the Falcons back up by two. “First shift of the third period and it’s a breakaway with Bednard making a big time save and Brett’s goal helped us breathe a bit. I thought we played good enough.”
A costly penalty would mean the end for Ferris State’s season when the trio of Kruse, Johnson and McLain went tic-tac-goal; the captain with the proverbial dagger.
McLain described the goal as, “Tic-tac-toe, backdoor goal. Those guys have a lot skill and I just happened to be in the right spot. It’s good to be involved in the offense and get the win.”
This win completed not only a sweep of the series for the Falcons, but also for the whole season against the Bulldogs. The Falcons are finding success from a strong senior leadership in guys like McLain and depth coming from the freshman, who combined for five points on the weekend. McLain said of the freshman, ‘It’s amazing; the confidence they have and willingness to come in every day and do the little things right at 18 years old is why they’re having success. This program is going to be in good hands when they keep playing.”
