Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Harvard
Bowling Green Drops 5-3 Decision to Harvard at Wells Fargo Cup
December 29, 2001 | Ice Hockey
Dec. 29, 2001
Denver, Colo. - Bowling Green lost the consolation game of the Denver Wells Fargo Cup against Harvard on Saturday night, 5-3, in the Magness Arena on the campus of the University of Denver in front of 1,225 in attendance.
The Falcons jumped out to a 3-0 lead midway through the second period but surrendered five goals over the final 25 minutes of the game.
"It was laxidaisial play on the power play that cost us the game," said BGSU coach Buddy Powers. "We're up 3-0 and Harvard had already quit. But, we make a poor play on the power play and they score a goal. The same thing on the second power play, and that's the difference in the hockey game."
The Falcons got on the board first late in the first period when freshman Colen Pappas found fellow frosh Ryan Minnabarriet across the ice with a pass to his stick just above the right circle. Minnabarriet then fed a streaking Tyler Knight on the left-side of the crease. Knight redirected the shot as he fell down past Harvard goalie Dov Grumet-Morris for his third goal of the season and a 1-0 Falcon lead at 19:03 in the first period.
Bowling Green extended its lead at 3:17 of the second period when captain Greg Day netted his 11th goal of the season with an assist from D'Arcy McConvey. McConvey took the puck off of a Harvard skate at center ice and fed Day who had beaten his defender to between the circles. Day shot a wrister that rebounded back to him for yet another wrister that went low on Grumet-Morris for a 2-0 BGSU lead.
Later in the second, Day scored his second goal of the game when he redirected a Marc Barlow slapshot from above the left circle. The goal gave Bowling Green a 3-0 lead at 7:50 of the second period and made Harvard coach Mark Mazzoleni pull Grumet-Morris for sophomore Will Crothers.
An apparent meaningless short-handed goal at 15:03 in the second period cut the Falcons lead to two when sophomore Dennis Packard scored his fifth goal of the season. Momentum began to shift, however, and the Crimson scored its second short-handed goal at 5:43 in the third period from Peter Capouch, his first of the season.
"When the game changed was on the short-handed goals," said Powers. "In the third period we just ran out of gas. They just had more jump than us."
Freshman Andrew Lederman scored his first collegiate goal at 10:22 of the third period to tie the game. Under three minutes later Tom Cavanaugh gave Harvard its first lead of the game with a power play goal at 13:03. The goal came after a Taylor Christie cross-checking penalty.
Finally, with BGSU goalie Jordan Sigalet on the bench for the extra man, Brett Nowak ended a 5-0 scoring burst by the Crimson when he took a Bowling Green turnover near the blue line and walked in the final goal at 19:15 of the third period.
Sigalet ended with a career-high 41 saves on 46 shots faced. Crothers played the final 32:10 of the game and earned the win in the net for Harvard with 21 saves. BGSU was 0-for-5 on the power play while Harvard was 1-for-5.
Day finished the tournament with two goals and an assist and was named to the all-tournament team.
Bowling Green drops to 5-13-4 overall and returns home for a weekend series against Princeton at the BGSU Ice Arena (Jan. 4-5). Faceoffs are scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
In the championship game, #3 Denver defeated #5 UMass-Lowell, 2-1, to capture the Wells Fargo Cup.
All-Tournament Team
Forwards: Greg Barber (Denver), Greg Day (Bowling Green), Ed McGrane (UMass-Lowell)
Defense: Aaron Mackenzie (Denver), Peter Capouch (Harvard)
Goaltender: Will Crothers (Harvard)
Tournament MVP: Greg Barber (Denver)
