BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Meeting for the first time as Western Collegiate Hockey Association members, the Bowling Green Falcons handed the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves a 6-1 loss in both team's league openers Friday at the BGSU Ice Arena.
The Falcons (3-2-2, 1-0-0 WCHA) extended their unbeaten streak to three against the Seawolves (3-2-0, 0-1-0 WCHA) with one goal in the first, three in the second and two in the third – including two by senior captain Cam Wojtala – to claim their first ever WCHA win.
The Falcons took the initial lead with a five-hole, man-advantage strike from Wojtala at 17:55 of the opening frame, before extending it to two goals at 4:45 of the second when Andrew Wallace capitalized on a bouncing puck in front of the net.
The Seawolves got on the board at 7:07 of the second period with junior forward Scott Allen's second goal in as many games when he deflected junior Austin Coldwell's shot from the blueline. UAA was enjoying a 5-on-3 man advantage – their first power-play opportunity of the game – to cut the Falcon lead in half.
Unfortunately for the Seawolves, the momentum didn't hold and BGSU struck at 13:55 and again on the power play at 19:30, giving them a three-goal cushion. The third period didn't pan out for the Seawolves either, with Wojtala getting his second at 10:40 and Bryce Williamson collecting a power-play tally at 17:17.
With 25 seconds left in the first period, senior co-captain Matt Bailey was ejected from the game and received a 5-minute major for contact to the head and a game misconduct. Freshman Dylan Hubbs joined Bailey at 2:11 of the third, when he was called for a 5-minute major for facemasking and a game misconduct.
Redshirt freshman Michael Matyas (2-1-0) registered 25 saves in his first collegiate loss, while BGSU's Tommy Burke turned aside 19 shots for the win. The Falcons outshot the Seawolves, 31-20.
UAA was tagged for a season high 44 minutes of infractions – the most for UAA since receiving 48 minutes on Nov. 26, 2011 at Minnesota State – while BGSU spent 20 minutes in the box. The Seawolves were 1-for-5 on the power play, while allowing the Falcons a season-high three PPG on eight attempts.
The Seawolves and Falcons first met on Oct. 14-15, 1988, with BGSU sweeping, 7-3, 10-2.
The teams will rematch tomorrow at 3:07 p.m. ADT.
