Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Notre Dame
Falcons Drop Series at Notre Dame, 5-2
December 08, 2002 | Ice Hockey
Dec. 8, 2002
South Bend, Ind. - Despite holding Notre Dame scoreless on its power plays and outshooting the Irish 49-45, Bowling Green dropped a Central Collegiate Hockey Association contest on Sunday, 5-2, in South Bend, Ind.
For the second night in a row, Notre Dame got on the board first. This time it was their leading scorer, Rob Globke, netting a four-on-four goal just :20 seconds into the game. BGSU's Kevin Bieksa and ND's Yan Stastny had both taken roughing calls just nine seconds after the opening face-off.
Also like the previous night, the Falcons came storming back. Freshman Mike Falk's power play goal at 9:34 knotted the score at 1-1. The man-advantage goal snapped a scoreless streak on its last 18 power plays over the past three games for the Falcons. Brian Escobedo and Brett Pilkington assisted on the goal.
BGSU held a 15-12 shot advantage in what was a balanced first period.
Just over midway through the second period, junior captain D'Arcy McConvey found himself with the puck above the crease when an Irish player's attempt to clear the puck went to McConvey's stick. McConvey pushed the puck past Notre Dame goalie Morgan Cey to give the Falcons a 2-1 lead at 12:23 in the second period.
Under two minutes later, though, Irish defenseman Evan Nielsen knotted the score at 2-2 (14:00) while Notre Dame added another goal 1:35 later (Michael Chin, 15:35). The final two Irish goals came in the third period.
After allowing four power-play goals on Saturday, BGSU held Notre Dame scoreless on its six power play attempts on Sunday. Bowling Green finished 1-for-7 on its power plays.
"When we look back on yesterday, we knew we had to be get better on special teams," BGSU coach Scott Paluch said referring to Saturday's 6-3 loss vs. Notre Dame. "Our penalty kill was very good, we scored a power play goal. Another thing we needed to do was contral their speed in the neutral zone and we did a good job at that."
Bowling Green outshot Notre Dame in both the first (15-12) and third (20-16) periods, and held a 49-45 advantage for the game. It was the first time the Falcons lost a game when it bettered its opponent in shots attempts this season. The 49 shots attempted on Sunday bettered its previous season-high of 43 shots, which was accomplished on Saturday against the Irish. It was the most shots in a game for the Falcons since the 51 attempts at Lake Superior last year (Nov. 24, 2001), which resulted in a 3-2 BGSU loss.
"Now we got to get some confidence in our ability to finish," said Paluch. "This is the best weekend, without question, our best weekend of offensive chances. I thought their goalie played well. We had to find ways to get the puck in the net."
Senior goalie Tyler Masters had 40 saves on 45 shots faced for BGSU. Cey recorded a career-high 47 saves on 49 shots faced for Notre Dame.
The Falcons drop to 3-10-1 overall, 1-9-1 in the CCHA. The Falcons are off the next two weeks before travelling to the Dodge Holiday Classic, hosted by the defending national champion Minnesota Golden Gophers (Dec. 27-28) in the Mariucci Arena. BGSU will face 2001 national champion Boston College in the first round at 5 p.m EST. Minnesota will play Yale in the second game. The winners and losers of the two games will face each other on Dec. 28.
