Someone forgot to tell Bowling Green that its season was over.
Three first-period goals and a raucous road environment should have put the Falcons away before the third period even started. They had been outplayed. They were expected to lose.
Instead, Bowling Green found ways to make the last minute of its season interesting. The Falcons got back into Saturday night’s 4-3 loss late, scoring twice in the game’s final minute and ten seconds to the amazement of all.
“We saw just a tremendous amount of fight in our guys all the way, right until the end there when we were loose pucks away from tying the game,” Bowling Green coach Scott Paluch said.
With the win, Michigan advanced to the semifinals of the CCHA Tournament. As the second seed, the team will get a bye through the quarterfinals. The Wolverines will play the late game at Joe Louis Arena next Friday night at 7:35 p.m.
Michigan started Saturday’s contest with a flurry. Five minutes into the game, senior center John Shouneyia slipped another of his typically elusive passes through the Bowling Green penalty kill for a one-time goal by Michigan captain Jed Ortmeyer.
The Falcons answered with a soft tally underneath a fallen Al Montoya just two minutes later. But that proved to be a small hiccup in an otherwise dominant Michigan first period.
At 16:45, freshman Brandon Kaleniecki found teammate Milan By Dan Rosen
Daily Sports Writer
Three first-period goals and a raucous road environment should have put the Falcons away before the third period even started. They had been outplayed. They were expected to lose.
Instead, Bowling Green found ways to make the last minute of its season interesting. The Falcons got back into Saturday night’s 4-3 loss late, scoring twice in the game’s final minute and ten seconds.
“We saw just a tremendous amount of fight in our guys all the way, right until the end there when we were loose pucks away from tying the game,” Bowling Green coach Scott Paluch said.
With the win, Michigan advanced to the semifinals of the CCHA Conference Tournament. As the second seed, the team will get a bye through the quarterfinals. The Wolverines will play the late game at Joe Louis Arena next Friday night at 7:35 p.m.
Michigan started Saturday’s contest with a flurry. Five minutes into the game, senior center John Shouneyia slipped another of his typically elusive passes through the Bowling Green penalty kill for a one-time goal by Michigan captain Jed Ortmeyer.
The Falcons answered with a soft tally underneath a fallen Al Montoya just two minutes later. But that proved to be a small hiccup in an otherwise dominant Michigan first period.
At 16:45, freshman Brandon Kaleniecki found teammate Milan Gajic in front of the net for another powerplay goal. Gajic’s 10th tally of the season put the Wolverines up 2-1.
Sophomore David Moss capped off the first with a pretty shot through traffic and behind screened Bowling Green goalie Tyler Masters.
“Tonight, first period, we looked like a hockey team,” Gajic said. “We were working together, getting it deep, working hard.”
In total, the Wolverines outshot the Falcons 16-6 in the first period. They were also 2-for-3 on the powerplay.
But that’s where the dominance stopped. Bowling Green outshot the Wolverines 8-7 in the second period. Even though neither team managed a goal, it was clear that the Falcons had started to seize momentum.
“In the second period, we did back them off a little bit, and we were able to get on some loose pucks and create a little bit of offense,” Paluch said.
But it looked like all the effort would go to waste when Michigan speedster Dwight Helminen wristed the puck from the redline into an empty Bowling Green net with 1:20 remaining in the game. Michigan was up 4-1 and could seemingly cruise into Joe Louis Arena for next weekend’s CCHA Super Six.
Seconds off the faceoff, though, Bowling Green freshman Ryan Barnett found a seam and a rebound goal to make it 4-2.
Then with Masters pulled in favor of an extra attacker, senior forward Tyler Knight wristed the puck softly over the extended arm of Montoya for a one-goal deficit.
With 12 seconds remaining, the Yost crowd held its collective breath. The Falcons were able to push the puck back into the Wolverines end, but there wasn’t enough time left for them to make anything happen.
“In the third period, we were trying to play good defense, but they really put some pressure on us,” Michigan coach Red Berenson said. “They had some confidence. They had nothing to lose. This is their last game and they played like it.”