Berenson earns 700th career win as Michigan downs Bowling Green

Michigan head coach Red Berenson picked up his 700th career win as his Wolverines defeated the Bowling Green Falcons 4-1 Friday night.

“Playing on the road, playing against a team you know is going to be inspired, and you know they’re going to be a dangerous team, so I’m glad we were about to get (the win),” Berenson said.

Michigan severely outplayed the Falcons in the first period, attempting 31 shots, with 16 going on net.

Bowling Green goaltender Nick Eno stole the show in first period, stopping 14 of 16 shots while receiving little help from his teammates.

Even then, he allowed one of the goals on a breakaway, with the other coming on a Michigan power play.

“I thought I played okay, just trying to keep the guys in the game,” Eno said.

BG got on the board first, with Jordan Samuels-Thomas scoring from the top of the right circle on the power play at the 11:50 mark.

Michigan answered two minutes later, with Matt Rust picking up his second goal of the year, also on the power play, off a slick pass from Carl Hagelin.

“On tape last weekend, it didn’t look like they came as hard against Mercyhurst (on the power play), but we told our players that they were coming,” Bowling Green head coach Chris Bergeron said. “You got guys like Hagelin and [assistant captain Louie] Caporusso and [David] Wohlberg who can get up and down the ice real well.”

Just two minutes after that, Wohlberg sped past Falcons’ defenseman Ryan Peltoma for a breakaway chance, and he converted to make the game 2-1.

Michigan made it 3-1 just 52 seconds into the second period, with Kevin Lynch deflected Jon Merrill’s point shot past Eno. Louie Caporusso picked up his second secondary assist of the night on the goal.

“It was a good tip, not much you can do about it,” Eno said.

Despite allowing the early goal, Bowling Green played much better in the second period, outshooting the Wolverines 10-7, and having several periods of sustained offense.

Michigan did their best to allow the Falcons back into the game, taking four penalties in the period, and were at one point were down two men for a minute, but their penalty kill kept Bowling Green off the board.

“We have to find a way to execute better,” Bergeron said. “At 3-1, we had a 5-on-3 and a couple of 5-on-4’s and we couldn’t get much done.”

The only scoring of the third period was Carl Hagelin’s empty-net goal with 16 seconds to go in the game.

But the big story was Berenson, who became the sixth coach in NCAA history to post 700 wins, in his 27th season at the helm of his alma mater.

“It’s just another game for us, but it is good to get (win 700) out of the way,” Berenson said.

The two teams will meet again tomorrow night at the BGSU Ice Arena.