BGSU hockey loses at home to Miami

11/24/2017

BOWLING GREEN — The Bowling Green State University hockey team put forth a lackluster effort in a 6-3 loss Friday to Miami in front of 2,157 fans at the Slater Family Ice Arena.

“We were definitely the second-best team out there, from the beginning,” BG coach Chris Bergeron said. “We were chasing it all night long.”

The RedHawks’ Grant Hutton scored a pair of goals in the final 1 minutes, 35 seconds of the second period to break a 3-3 tie and earn a victory that improved their season’s record to 6-6-1.

Meanwhile, the Falcons struggled at times to even clear the puck out of their own zone in falling to 6-5-3.

“The way we played in our own zone when it was 5-on-5 was as if we had never been coached or taught what to do,” Bergeron said. “When you play a good team like that. …”

The RedHawks led 2-1 after the first thanks to goals by Ben Lown and Keifer Sherwood, while BG’s Connor McDonald got his first goal of the season at 13:50.

Miami took a 3-1 lead on a goal by Josh Melnick at 2:59 of the second, but the Falcons countered with goals by Brett D’Andrea and Tyler Spezia less than four minutes apart to tie it at the 14:19 mark of the period.

“We were looking for something as a team, and Brett scored a goal before we got the goal to tie it up,” Spezia said. “We were thinking, ‘Let’s play.’

“But then we took a penalty and gave up a goal, and when they scored again it was deflating.”

Hutton’s power-play goal at 18:25 of the period broke the tie, and he followed up with a wicked shot from the point for his second goal with just 57.1 seconds to play.

“When they scored one, we were thinking we were still in it,” Spezia said. “But when they got the second, it was super-deflating and frustrating. …

“We were feeling it for a second, and they took it away from us.”

The only goal of the third came off the stick of Miami’s Carson Meyer into an empty Bowling Green net with 17.3 seconds left.

Eric Dop surrendered five goals and made 12 saves in two periods for the Falcons before he was replaced by Ryan Bednard to start the third. Bednard stopped all nine shots he faced.

Bergeron, who also pulled Dop before the third period began last week at Minnesota State, said earlier this week he made the move a week ago to protect the freshman goaltender, who Bergeron said had played well against the Mavericks.

“The reasons were different today,” Bergeron said. “We don’t expect the pucks that went in to go in. …

“I thought Ryan [played well], except when he struggled with a puck behind the net to start the period. … But he got through it, and I thought he had a really strong period.”

Ryan Larkin finished with 11 saves for Miami.

Bergeron said the Falcons need to be a higher level of effort when the two teams meet again Saturday.

“I would like to see us play faster, skate more — and be more competitive,” he said. “The equation for us to be good is not difficult: It’s to skate hard, compete hard and be hard on the puck. …

“We weren’t competitive tonight. We weren’t skating, and we weren’t hard on the puck. At times it felt like they had seven players on the puck to our five.”

Spezia agreed, adding, “We have to be harder to play against. If we give an honest effort, we’ll take the result as it comes.”

Contact John Wagner at:

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419-724-6481, or on

Twitter @jwagnerblade.