For the second night in a row, two of the top three defensive teams in the WCHA played a tight checking game. Once again, it was the Michigan Tech Huskies that scored the big goal in the third period to come away with a well-earned 2-1 victory and weekend sweep over the Bowling Green Falcons.
“They don’t ask you how at the end of the year, just how many, when adding up the points and we earned a six-point weekend in a tough place to play against the team that was picked to win our league,” said Huskies coach Mel Pearson.
Just like last night, the first period was scoreless, with each team only generating eight shots each. As you would expect without a goal scored and a low shot total, the first period was played a lot along the boards, with neither team able to gain much room.
The second period saw the Falcons take the early lead for the second night in a row as Matt Meier scored his second goal of the season at 9:49.
“It was mostly on John Schilling; he made the play and I threw it on net and it went in somehow,” said Meier.
However, Michigan Tech answered less than five minutes after the Meier goal when Luke Jackson took a pass from Cliff Watson and buried it past freshman goalie Ryan Bednard at 14:10 to tie the game at one.
The third period was controlled by the Huskies. They outshot the Falcons, 10-4, in the period. Jake Lucchini, the hero from Friday, also became the hero once again, scoring what would be the final goal of the night at 8:31 of the period.
“Big goal from Jake just as he did last night,” said Pearson. “This was a nice way to end what has been a long first half, especially with the travel only playing seven games out of 22 at home.”
Bowling Green coach Chris Bergeron was happy with the effort from his team tonight, just not the result.
“We had more effort than we had last night, but the result was more about what Tech did. They are tough to play against; it’s almost like they have seven guys on the ice at times. It’s not like they pack it in defensively, because they did have 31 shots tonight. They were the better team this weekend.”
WCHA roundup
No. 13 Bemidji State 3, Lake Superior 1
The Beavers scored two goals 40 seconds apart in the first period to erase a 1-0 deficit and went defeat the Lakers, 3-2. Scoring for Bemidji were Brendan Hamms, Nate Arentz, and Jay Dickman. Gage Torrel and Mitch Hultz scored the Lakers’ goals.
No. 16 Minnesota State 3, at Ferris State 2
The Mavericks earned a hard-fought weekend split on the road with a 3-2 come-from-behind victory. Trailing 2-1 after two periods, the Mavericks got power-play goals from Zeb Knutson and the game-winner from CJ Franklin. Max Costa scored the other Minnesota State goal. Jared VanWomer and Joe Rutkowski gave the Bulldogs that 2-0 lead.
Alabama Huntsville 3, at Northern Michigan 1
The Chargers used two power-play goals to complete a weekend sweep of the Wildcats on the road. Scoring for the Chargers were Regan Soquila, Josh Kestner, and Brandon Parker. The lone goal for Nothern came from Troy Loggins.
Alaksa-Anchorage At Alaska
(LATE GAME)
