Moffatt’s OT goal sends Wolverines to CCHA final
By Michael Caples –
DETROIT – With one quick swing of his stick, Luke Moffatt sent his team to the championship game.
A minute into a second overtime period, Bloomfield Hills native A.J. Treais fought through the Bowling Green defense before eventually throwing the puck to the front of the goal. As both squads scrambled for the loose puck, Moffatt drove to the crease, and managed to get enough of a shot away to score the decisive goal in a 3-2 overtime win for the Wolverines.
“We knew it was going to be an ugly goal,” Moffatt said. “So at that point in the game shots are coming on net, you’ve got to drive the net hard too and get there, hopefully for a rebound or something. I was fortunate, it just bounced right to me and I was able to put it in.”
Regulation goals from Jon Merrill and David Wohlberg erased an early 2-0 lead built by the upset-minded Bowling Green squad.
The win ends Bowling Green’s historic run through the CCHA playoffs, after the No. 11 seed posted series wins over Northern Michigan and top-ranked Ferris State to reach the semifinals at Joe Louis Arena.
“First of all, give Bowling Green a ton of credit for the season they had and in particular the last month,” said Michigan coach Red Berenson to start his press conference. “They were the real deal and we saw that again tonight. It was anyone’s game, we were lucky to get back into the game with the 2-0 deficit. I thought that the goal near the end of the second period was a huge goal, and then obviously you get into overtime and anything can happen. We’ve been in a few of these, but you’ve got to be lucky too.”
Shawn Hunwick made 35 saves to pick up his 24th win of the season for the Wolverines. Meanwhile, BGSU’s Andrew Hammond constantly frustrated Michigan, stopping 55 shots at the other end.
The Wolverines will need to rest up as much as they can, after already having to play the later game, and then an extra 21:04 in overtime periods. Western Michigan posted a 6-2 rout over Miami to advance during the afternoon semifinals match-up.
“I think a lot of the guys right now are just going to do a cold tub, and then get back and eat a good meal and go right to bed,” Wohlberg said. “We’ll wake up a little later than usual tomorrow and come to the rink for a meeting, and then you get your head set on Western. You can’t look back at this game, it’s over, and you’ve just got to get ready for tomorrow.”
The Falcons took the first lead in the first period, when Ryan Carpenter got his stick on a puck that was flying wide of the Wolverines goal, and somehow got it through goaltender Shawn Hunwick. It was the freshman’s 11th goal of the season, and it stunned the Wolverines faithful in attendance at Joe Louis Arena.
Bowling Green would build on their lead in the second period, when Marc Rodriguez made the Wolverines pay for a turnover behind their own goal. Rodriguez collected in a pass from Andrew Wallace and roofed the puck past Hunwick to give BGSU a 2-0 lead.
“I thought we were slower,” Berenson said of his team’s start. “I thought we were deliberate with the puck, we were tentative. Give Bowling Green credit, but still it wasn’t our pace that we wanted to play at and I thought we got better as the game went on – don’t ask me why.”
It seemed like junior goaltender Andrew Hammond would be too much for the Wolverines to handle Friday night. But a bouncing shot changed the dynamics of the game in a hurry in the closing seconds of the second period. With a BGSU defender in his face, defenseman Jon Merrill lobbed a shot towards the Falcons’ goal. The puck bounced in front of Hammond, then popped up over his leg pad and into the back of the goal. The play pulled the Wolverines within a goal with 10 seconds left in the second period.
With less than three minutes remaining in regulation, and the Wolverines in desperate need of a goal, a strong forechecking attack by UM forced a turnover behind the Bowling Green goal. Sophomore forward Derek DeBlois made a between-the-legs pass to get the puck to the front of the goal, where a wide-open Wohlberg waited. The senior assistant captain rifled a shot past Hammond, tying the game, and eventually forcing overtime.
A scoreless first overtime featured plenty of chances, but a second extra session was required to decide who would face WMU in tomorrow night’s final. Moffatt struck at the 1:04 mark of the second OT, with Glendening and Treais earning the assists on the play.