Caporusso leads Michigan to sweep of Bowling Green

The Michigan Wolverines wore their No. 5 ranking well this weekend, finishing off their weekend sweep of the Bowling Green Falcons with a 4-2 win Saturday night.

“If you win the first game on the road, you know that the second game is going to be tougher, and it was,” Michigan coach Red Berenson said. “We were fortunate to get an early lead, but Bowling Green battled back and were always in the game.”

The Wolverines got three points from preseason All-CCHA selection Louie Caporusso, and put up four goals for the second straight night.

As on Friday, it was all Michigan in the first period, and this time the score reflected that, as the Wolverines jumped out to a 3-0 lead late in the first.

David Wohlberg opened the scoring with a goal that was a near carbon copy of his tally the evening prior, blowing past Falcons’ defenders to beat Andrew Hammond on a partial breakaway.

Jon Merrill scored his first collegiate goal later in the period on the power play. His point shot went through a screen in front and beat Hammond. So did that of Brandon Burlon with just under three to go in the first, making it a 3-0 game.

“It was funny, sitting on the bench at 3-0, I didn’t think that we were playing too poorly,” Bowling Green coach Chris Bergeron said. “I thought that we settled down [after the first] and all in all we were able to execute.”

The Falcons finally got on the board at 19:11 of the first period with Chad Sumsion scoring his first collegiate goal on the power play.

“It was a scramble in front of the net. It was a shot from the point and it hit the goalie’s pad and ended up in my feet,” Sumsion said. “I didn’t even know it went in. I got hit from behind and everyone was cheering, and it was in the net.”

Michigan extended the lead to 4-1 five minutes into the second, with Louie Caporusso scoring a short-handed goal, his third point of the night, on a two-on-one with Carl Hagelin.

Bowling Green played much better in the second period, despite allowing the early goal. Their efforts paid off with 10:20 to go in the period when Jordan Samuels-Thomas hammered home a rebound of Andrew Krelove’s point shot.

“I thought (goalie Bryan Hogan) battled hard,” Berenson said. “With all the penalties that were called tonight, he had to be one of our best penalty killers.”

Things got chippy late in the second. With 2:12 to go in the period, Michigan’s Scooter Vaughan hit Bowling Green’s Max Grover from behind. He was going to be given a penalty on the play, but after the whistle blew, Bowling Green’s Andrew Wallace confronted him and a scrap broke out at center ice. Vaughn was shown the door. Then, with three seconds to go in the period, Michigan’s Tristin Llewellyn hit Marc Rodriguez hard along the boards, which nearly ignited another scrap.

While Michigan was able to hold a 4-2 lead going into the third, they were forced to play without top-line center Matt Rust, who left the game with an apparent leg injury midway through the period.

With 3:52 remaining in the game, Michigan received their second game misconduct of the night, as Mac Bennett hit Bowling Green’s Brett Mohler from behind.

“By no means are we happy with the results this weekend,” Bergeron said. “We just got swept at home, we don’t care who we are playing, no one in our league is that untouchable that we should be okay with losing two games at home.”

The Falcons return to the ice next weekend against Clarkson in Potsdam, New York. The Wolverines will play at home on Tuesday against the U.S. National Development Under-18 team.