Bowling Green State University is one victory away from the next step.
The Falcons played its cleanest form of hockey in weeks, and the result was a 2-1 victory in Game 1 of a best-of-3 series at Bemidji State to open the Central Collegiate Hockey Association’s Mason Cup Playoffs on Friday.
“Tonight was a very competitive playoff hockey game,” Falcons coach Ty Eigner said. “Both teams played very hard, and we are really proud of our guys. They played for each other and stuck together, which is huge.”
BGSU, which was the second-most penalized team in the league in the regular season, was penalized just once on Friday at the Sanford Center in Bemidji, Minn.
The No. 6-seeded Falcons got its scoring from its back liners. Ryan O’Hara put BGSU ahead 1-0 with 5:16 left in the first period. Third-seeded Bemidji State got its equalizer from Owen Sillinger with 2:46 left in the first.
Brayden Krieger scored his first collegiate goal to put BGSU ahead 2-1 with 8:12 to play in the game.
Christian Stoever recorded 26 saves in 27 chances, including 10 saves in the third period, for Bowling Green. Bemidji State’s Mattias Sholl had 23 saves in 25 chances.
Bowling Green forward Sam Craggs set a program record in games played with 179.
Bowling Green will go for the sweep at 7:07 p.m. on Saturday.
First Published March 5, 2022, 4:42 a.m.
