Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
RPI
Falcon Hockey Blanks Rensselaer 4-0
January 19, 2001 | Ice Hockey
Jan. 19, 2001
Bowling Green, Ohio -
Bowling Green snapped a two-game losing streak Friday night, defeating the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Engineers 4-0 in a non-conference battle. BGSU peppered Engineer goalie Kevin Kurk with 40 shots on goal, tying their season high, while Falcon goalie Tyler Masters refused to yield any of the 20 shots he faced from RPI.
Senior winger Curtis Valentine opened the scoring for the Falcons at 15:50 of the first period. Valentine broke into the offensive zone and passed the puck to centerman Tyler Knight. Valentine drove to the net, received the return pass from Knight, and slammed it home past Kurk for his fifth of the season.
After a scoreless second period, Greg Day netted his team leading 16th of the season just 1:13 into the third. Day started the play, shooting from the blueline. Kevin Kurk made the initial save, but was unable to handle the rebound. Falcon winger Ryan Murphy recovered the puck and his pass deflected off an RPI defenseman's skate to Day, who shot the puck over a sprawling Kurk. Murphy extended his point streak to nine games, one shy of his career-best.
A mere three minutes later, BGSU hit the net again. Freshman Roger Leonard knocked in his third goal of the season. Defenseman Brian Escobedo assisted on the 4-4 marker.
Curtis Valentine capped off the game with a power-play goal. Leonard passed the puck from behind the net out to freshman Phil Barski, who took a bad angle shot. Kurk made the save, but Valentine picked up the rebound and slid it past the RPI goalie. The score marked Valentine's first career multiple-goal game, as well as extending the Falcons' streak to eight consecutive games with a power-play goal. The "helper" gave Leonard his third multiple-point game in the last eight contests.
Tyler Masters raised his record to 7-10-3 in blanking RPI. The fourth shutout of Masters' career ties the school record. Rensselaer goalie Kevin Kurk had his record fall to 3-2-1.
With the victory tonight, Falcon head coach Buddy Powers surpassed former Holy Cross and Rensselaer coach Mike Addessa for 79th on the NCAA all-time wins list.
Bowling Green takes on Rensselaer again Saturday night at the BGSU Ice Arena with face-off slated for 7:05.
