Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Denver
Bowling Green Falls 3-1 to #3 Denver at Wells Fargo Cup
December 28, 2001 | Ice Hockey
Dec. 28, 2001
Denver, Colo. - Bowling Green lost to #3-ranked Denver on the first night of the Wells Fargo Cup Friday night, 3-1, in front of 5,282 at the Magness Arena.
An open-net goal by Lukas Dora with just over a minute left in the third period (18:48) clinched the victory for the Pioneers. But the victory wasn't due to lack of effort from BGSU goalie Tyler Masters.
Masters played well from the start of the game, recording 26 saves in the first period alone, including 12 in the first eight minutes of the game. Masters finished the game tying a personal best with 51 saves. His previous 51 saves came in overtime against Clarkson earlier this year in the Ice Breaker Cup.
"Masters kept us in the game all night," said BGSU coach Buddy Powers. "I think everyone's aware that he's a great goalie. We needed him to have a great game and he did just that."
The school record for saves in a game is 55 by Al Sarachman on Dec. 8, 1974, versus Michigan State.
Denver finally got past Masters at the 13:18 mark of the first period when right-winger Luke Fulghum netted his fourth goal of the season. Bryan Vines and Greg Keith assisted on the goal. Despite being outshot 27-2 in the first 20 minutes, Bowling Green went into the first intermission down just 1-0.
"They dominated the entire first period," said Powers. "But we were down just one goal. We needed to check better on defense or they were going to fill the net."
The Pioneers extended its lead at 8:15 of the second period with a goal by forward Greg Barber. It gave the hosts a two-goal lead and momentum midway through the second period.
However, a strong contingent of nearly 100 BGSU alumni and fans had reason to cheer at 12:04 of the second period when sophomore defenseman Brian Escobedo brought the Falcons to within one with his fourth goal of the season. Senior Greg Day took a rebound off of the backboard behind the net and fed Escobedo in between the circles. He shot glove-side on UD goalie Adam Berkhoel for the Falcons' lone score of the night.
It was then Bowling Green that was on the attack for most of the remainder of the game with 23 shots on goal to Denver's 27 over the final two periods.
Masters was pulled at 18:37 of the third period to give Bowling Green the man-advantage. It was Denver, though, that took advantage when Barber stole a pass in BGSU's zone and fed a streaking Dora for the empty-net goal.
"We got better as the game went on," said Powers. "We created some chances and had chances to score. They certainly deserve they're ranking."
Denver improves to 15-2-0 while Bowling Green drops to 5-12-4. The Pioneers outshot BGSU 54-25 and both teams combined for just seven penalties. Berkhoel finished with 24 saves for the hosts.
The Falcons play in the consolation game on Saturday, Dec. 29, at 6:05 EST against Harvard who was a 2-0 loser to #5 UMass-Lowell in the earlier game on Friday night.
