Follow: @MiamiOH_Hockey | @MiamiRedHawks
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Bowling Green scored 1:55 into the contest and never trailed as it upset the No. 10/11 Miami hockey team 3-2 on Friday night.
The RedHawks setback against the Falcons snaps their 16-game unbeaten streak (15-0-1) in the head-to-head series. Bowling Green’s last victory in the series came on Jan. 4, 2008.
The Falcons went to work on the power play just 27 seconds into the contest and took advantage when Kevin Dufour finished a centering feed at the 1:55 mark to go up 1-0. The RedHawks’ man advantage went to work for the first time with 4:18 expired in the frame. However, Miami spent the first half of the advantage hemmed in its own end before a late sharp angle shot was stopped during a scoreless two minutes.
Blake Coleman created perhaps MU’s best chance of the first few minutes when he drove wide in transition and crashed to the net but Tomas Sholl stood his ground as Coleman ran out of room to operate, keeping BGSU up 1-0.
The Red and White were called for offensive zone penalties at the 9:10 and 12:51 marks, but they were able to kill off both opportunities to keep it a one-shot contest. Bowling Green spent much of the remainder of the period grinding away in the offensive zone and ultimately outshot Miami 16-7 over the first 20 minutes of play, but Ryan McKay made 15 saves to keep the deficit at just 1-0 at intermission.
The Falcons were caught with too many men on the ice 2:02 into the second period, allowing the RedHawks to go back to work on the power play. While Coleman got a good look from the slot midway through the man advantage, Sholl picked the shot out of the air with the glove as Miami was unable to connect on its second power play of the evening.
A slew of penalties opened up the ice at the 6:44 mark. Matching minors to Austin Czarnik and Mark Friedman moved the teams to four players aside. A Miami penalty 37 seconds later gave Bowling Green a 4-on-3 power play, which took the Falcons only 22 seconds to convert into a 2-0 lead. Nolan Vaileau’s first tally of the year made it a 2-0 game.
Miami appeared to awaken after that second Bowling Green goal as Ben Paulides corralled a loose puck at the right circle and beat Sholl with a wrist shot just 20 seconds after Vaileau’s goal to cut the deficit to 2-1. That goal was created by a 2-on-2 rush between Coleman and Anthony Louis, who both picked up assists in the 4-on-4 goal.
After killing off another Bowling Green power play, Miami threatened to tie the contest on a number of occasions. Shortly after the penalty expired, Coleman was fed during a 2-on-1 rush, but Sholl moved across to make the stop. The Red and White generated a handful of other odd man rushes, but were unable to find a tying goal as they skated to the locker room trailing 2-1 after 40 minutes of play.
Miami was whistled for another penalty 4:56 into the third period, putting Bowling Green on its sixth power play of the night. The RedHawks withstood three Falcon shots, but McKay stood tall and helped them kill it off. MU pressured for a few shifts, but BGSU countered by scoring on a broken rush in transition when a deflected pass found Dufour with a wide open net at the 9:26 mark to push the Falcons’ lead to 3-1.
The RedHawks drew closer with 7:45 when Sean Kuraly won a faceoff to Riley Barber, who wristed a shot through traffic to cut the deficit to 3-2. While a couple ensuing shifts created pressure on the BG defense, MU spent a two minute stretch pinned in its own zone, wasting valuable time to mount an attack. An icing against Bowling Green allowed Miami to put an extra attacker on the ice with 1:33 left and an offensive zone faceoff coming up. However, Miami only generated one shot over that span as its comeback bid came up just short.
Bowling Green outshot Miami 38-24 overall and its 2-for-6 mark on the power play proved to be the difference. The Red and White went empty on their two attempts with the man advantage. McKay was strong in net, stopping 35 of the Falcons’ 38 shots.
The same teams close out their home-and-home series on Sunday. Puck drops at 5:05 p.m.
