Falcons advance to 2nd round in CCHA playoffs

BG blanks Lake Superior State in best-of-3 finale

3/11/2013

SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. — Bowling Green claimed a 7-0 victory at Lake Superior State in a Central Collegiate Hockey Association playoff game on Sunday.

With the victory, the ninth-seeded Falcons won the best-of-three series 2-1 and advance to the second round of the CCHA tournament. 

Bowling Green (15-19-5) will play at Notre Dame in the second round of the tournament.

The best-of-three series will be played Friday and Saturday as well as next Sunday if necessary.

Lake Superior ends its season at 17-21-1.

The Falcons scored twice in the game’s first six minutes to carry a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. Dan DeSalvo scored one minute, 58 seconds into the contest, and Cam Wojtala added a goal at the six-minute mark.

Bowling Green expanded its advantage to 3-0 when DeSalvo scored his second goal of the night 3:36 into the second, and a short-handed goal by Ryan Carpenter made it 4-0 at 10:11.

The Falcons made it 5-0 when Marc Rodriguez scored at 2:38 of the third period. BG’s Ralfs Freibergs scored his first goal as a Falcon on the power play at 6:18, and Adam Berkle closed the scoring with an empty-net goal at 12:44.

Bowling Green’s Andrew Hammond finished with 23 saves to claim his seventh career shutout, while Lake Superior’s Kevin Kapalka stopped 26 shots.