MARQUETTE, Mich. — Max Johnson had two goals and two assists Friday as the Bowling Green State University ice hockey team took a 1-0 lead in its best-of-3 Western Collegiate Hockey Association semifinal series with a 6-1 rout of the Northern Michigan Wildcats at the Berry Events Center.
The Falcons (24-9-5), who are ranked No. 15 in the latest USCHO.com Division I poll and No. 16 in the Pairwise rankings, need just one win in the next two days to secure a berth in the one-game WCHA championship contest March 23.
Brandon Kruse and Connor Ford each added a goal and an assist for Bowling Green, while Cameron Wright and Adam Smith each had a goal.
Griffin Loughran scored the lone goal for Northern Michigan (21-15-2), which saw a six-game winning streak snapped.
Ryan Bednard had 26 saves to improve to 19-6-4 for Bowling Green. Atte Tolvanen made 36 stops for the Wildcats.
Johnson recorded the game’s first goal at the 1:35 mark of the second, then Smith made it 2-0 with 14:18 left in the second. It stayed that way until the third, when Kruse made it 3-0 30 seconds into the period on the power play. Ford put Bowling Green up by four with another power-play goal with 18:37 to go in regulation.
Loughran’s tally at the 8:55 mark pulled Northern Michigan to 4-1, but Johnson’s second goal of the game with 8:48 remaining put the Falcons up by five. Wright finished it off with six seconds to go.
Game 2 of the series is set for 7:07 p.m. Saturday.
First Published March 16, 2019, 2:58 a.m.
