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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Northern Michigan
Falcons End Home Season With A 6-0 Win
February 23, 2002 | Ice Hockey
Feb. 23, 2002
Bowling Green, Ohio - The BGSU Falcons rebounded from a loss Friday night to claim a 6-0 victory from the Northern Michigan Wildcats Saturday. With the win, BG finishs the year with a 6-8-3 record at home. The six goals by the Falcons are the most since a 9-4 win against Miami earlier in the season.
After a scoreless first period, Roger Leonard netted a power-play goal to get the Falcons on the board. Scott Hewson and D'Arcy McConvey earned assists on Leonard's seventh tally of the year. Approximately two minutes later, defenseman Kevin Bieksa knocked the puck past NMU goaltender Craig Kowlaski after a scramble in front of the net. Greg Day garnered an assist on the play.
Midway through the middle frame, Tyler Knight broke up a Wildcat play while killing a Falcon penalty. He passed the puck ahead to a streaking Ryan Wetterberg, who skated into the NMU zone on a breakaway. He ripped a wristshot at Kowalski, which the netminder blocked, but the puck bounced high in the air and fell in behind him to push the Falcon advantage to 3-0. The shorthanded goal was Wetterberg's sixth of the season.
Greg Day scored his team-leading 17th goal of the year at 6:02 of the third. Day received a pass from McConvey and lifted the puck over a sprawing Kowalski. Ten minutes later, Austin de Luis and Wetterberg set up Leonard's second goal of the night. A Wildcat defender took Wetterberg and Kowalski into the boards, leaving Leonard a wide open net to shoot at. At 18:26 Colen Pappas finished the scoring for the Falcons, netting his fourth of the year with help from Ryan Minnabarriet and Knight.
Several Falcons has multiple-point games, including Leonard (2g), Wetterberg (1g 1a), Day (1g 1a), Knight (2a), and McConvey (2a). Netminder Tyler Masters earned his second shutout of the season and the seventh of his career. Masters made 36 saves on the night, including 17 in the third period. Kowalski stopped 23 shots for NMU. Bowling Green's penalty kill held the Wildcats scoreless in seven opportunities, while the Falcon power play was successful once in seven chances.
"The three things I talk about all the time are goaltending, team 'D' and balanced scoring, and all three things were there tonight for us," said BGSU coach Buddy Powers. "It was a good win. They (NMU) are a good team. The special teams did a great job. Scoring the short-handed goal was a major turning point. And it couldn't have happened to a better guy (Wetterberg).
"When they did get the shots, Masters was there square to the puck and on top of things. We did a good job of keeping them outside. Our guys had their sticks in the lanes."
Bowling Green will finish the regular season next weekend at Notre Dame (March 1-2). Both games are scheduled for 7:05 p.m. faceoffs The Falcons will be looking to gain ground on Miami, who sits just one point ahead of BGSU in the CCHA playoff race for 10th place.
