Perfect 10: Falcons push unbeaten streak at home to 10

Bowling Green, OH – A crushing defensive effort that saw the Falcons only give up 10 shots earned Bowling Green a 2-1 win over Northern Michigan.

Chris Nell started his ninth game of the season for Bowling Green, stopping nine of ten shots faced. Atte Tolvanen took the net for the Wildcats of Northern Michigan and stopped 28 of 30 Falcon attempts.

First Period

The Falcons opened the scoring at 2:24 of the first period while on the power play. Sean Walker fed the puck to Ben Murphy who then cycled it to Mark Friedman. The sophomore and Flyers draft pick ripped a slap shot that beat Tolvanen for his first goal of the season.

The Falcons controlled play in the first period as they challenged Tolvanen with 11 shots. The Wildcats managed only four shots in the opening frame.

Second Period

The Falcons thought they had a 2-0 lead at 16:06 of the second period thanks to a Mark Cooper deflection from a shot by Chris Pohlkamp. But, after a video review the officials determined Cooper made contact with the goaltender in the crease and it was waived off.

The Wildcats again struggled in the second period as they only challenged Nell with two shots on goal. The Falcons hit double-digits again as 11 more shots found their way to Tolvanen.

Third Period

The Falcons pushed their lead to 2-0 at 1:31 of the final period. John Schilling passed the puck across the crease to Tyler Spezia who had a wide-open net on the backdoor for his fourth goal of the season.

The Wildcats finally found the net at 6:57 of the third period. After Bowling Green turned the puck over in their zone Darren Nowick fed the puck to John Siemer who skated in on Nell and backhanded a shot past the Falcon net minder.

Mark Friedman and Cohen Adair served double minors at 16:59 after getting into a skirmish behind the play.

The Wildcats pulled Tolvanen with under a minute to play but were unable to find the net as the Falcons skated to a 2-1 win.

The Falcons finished the third period with eight shots on Tolvanen. The Wildcats had four opportunities.

With the win the Falcons improve to 8-3-3, 5-2-2 on the season. The Wildcats fall to 4-4-5, 3-3-3. The teams will conclude their series Saturday at 7:07pm.