The NIU hockey team hadn’t lost back-to-back games since dropping two games to St. Louis University over a month ago until this past weekend.

The Bowling Green State University Falcons were too much for NIU as they beat the Huskies twice this past weekend, 9-6 and 7-3.

Saturday’s game saw the Falcons score the first three goals of the game before freshman Jon Pounds put the Huskies on the board. NIU would make it 4-3 before senior Chris Dyer tallied for BGSU to tie it up. Brian and Jon Pounds scored back-to-back goals to have the Huskies up by a pair early in the third period.

The Falcons then scored five straight third period goals, including two by junior Stephen Culbertson, to seal the victory. Culbertson finished with a hat trick along with two assists.

“They just had way too many odd-man breaks,” said NIU head coach Greg Chromy. “Of their 16 goals on the weekend, probably 13 of them were on breakaways. You’re never going to win a game that way.”

NIU sophomore goaltender Craig Haa took the loss as he allowed the nine goals on 41 shots faced. BGSU senior goaltender Bryan Gomez stopped 31 shots in the win.

The teams were off the ice for just over ten hours before they took to the rink for the second game.

The Falcons took advantage of first period goals by Matt Patzin and Andrew Spencer to put the pressure on NIU early. The Huskies battled back, but Gomez proved to be tough, stopping 21 shots for the victory. Dyer would score two goals in the second period to put the Falcons up for good. He also added two assists. Junior NIU goaltender Kenny Schatz took the loss, stopping 29-of-36 shots.

“I thought we played pretty well as a team the whole weekend,” Chromy said. “But the [Falcons] were a very good team. Whenever we made a mistake, they capitalized on it.”

The Huskies will face Illinois State University on Nov. 28 at the Leafs Ice Centre.