Box Score Oct. 29, 2016 Box Score
OXFORD, Ohio - Bowling Green scored four unanswered goals to hand the Miami hockey team its first home loss of the season in a 4-1 decision on Saturday night.
Saturday's setback snaps the RedHawks' (3-2-2) five-game unbeaten streak as they enter National Collegiate Hockey Conference play next weekend.
The RedHawks got an early power play opportunity 3:43 into the contest, but was unable to generate much pressure during a scoreless two minutes. After having its transition game stymied on Friday night, the Red and White gathered some speed on a breakout pass by
Jared Brandt to
Anthony Louis. The senior then found
Carson Meyer up the seam for a partial break that Chris Nell stopped, but Louis pounced on the rebound and tapped it in at the 7:01 mark to make give Miami a 1-0 lead.
While Miami had a successful penalty kill in the latter stages of the period, Bowling Green kept possession in the offensive zone with Chris Pohlkamp firing a point shot that
Ryan Larkin stopped, but Pierre-Luc Mercier gathered a long rebound at the left circle and roofed the follow up to tie it up with 4:45 left in the opening frame. The Falcons grabbed the lead 45 seconds later when a turnover in front of the net led to a 2-on-0 where Mitch McLain fed Matt Pohlkamp back door to give them a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes of play.
Penalties broke down the flow of things in the second period as the teams combined for six power plays in the middle stanza (4-2 Bowling Green). None of them connected, however, and play wore on with a 2-1 Falcon lead well past the midway point. With 5:47 left until the second intermission, the Falcons added to their lead as Tyler Spezia moved up ice with the puck and a full head of steam. He flung a sharp angle shot off the side of the net, but the loose puck was just out of Larkin's reach when he tried to cover it up and John Schilling got a stick on it and banked it off Larkin and in to make it 3-1 BGSU at the end of the two periods.
Down a couple goals, Miami struggled to get set up in the offensive zone and Bowling Green eventually capped the scoring on a power play goal by Mark Friedman with 10:23 remaining.
BGSU ended up outshooting MU by a 41-18 margin and went 1-for-7 on the power play while killing off all five Red and White man advantages. Larkin stopped a season-high 37 of the 41 shots he faced while Nell made 17 saves on 18 shots.
The RedHawks begin NCHC play on Nov. 4 with a trip to Western Michigan. That game will be aired on American Sports Network and the puck drops at 7 p.m.
