Bowling Green State University
OHIO STATE
BGSU Falls to #7 Ohio State, 6-3
January 16, 2003 | Ice Hockey
Jan. 16, 2003
Columbus, Ohio - Bowling Green fell behind 3-0 early in the second period to #7-ranked Ohio State and couldn't get any closer than two goals the rest of the game in dropping a Central Collegiate Hockey Association contest at Value City Arena, 6-3.
Ohio State got on the board early when senior defenseman Scott Titus scored his first goal of the season at 2:12, giving the Buckeyes a 1-0 lead. Freshman center Rod Pelley gave OSU a 2-0 lead later in the period at 10:58. BGSU had just two shots on net in the first period coming off the sticks of Mike Falk and D'Arcy McConvey. OSU held a 19-2 advantage in shots for the first period.
OSU's Paul Caponigri extended the home team's lead to 3-0 with a goal at 3:45 of the second period. BGSU junior defenseman Kevin Bieksa finally put the visitors on the board with a hard slap-shot from the top of the right circle that went low past OSU goalie Mike Betz at 6:29 of the second period. Freshman Ryan Barnett and sophomore Ryan Minnabarriet assisted on the goal that cut the deficit to 3-1.
Unfortunately, the Buckeyes responded just over a minute later with a goal by Doug Andress at 7:44 and another by Andress at 15:35, building its lead up to 5-1. OSU held a 16-8 shot advantage in the second period.
Junior Mark Wires gave BGSU its second goal of the game early in the third period on a breakaway, with an assist from freshman Mike Falk. It was his eighth goal of the season and cut the deficit to 5-2 at 2:35 of the third period.
Both teams played evenly the rest of the third period. Junior Roger Leonard then scored a four-on-three BGSU power play with just 23 seconds remaining in the game to cut the deficit back to two goals, 5-3. Falcon goalie Jordan Sigalet was then pulled to give BGSU an extra attacker before J.B. Bittner scored an empty-net goal with one second remaining in the game for the final 6-3 verdict.
OSU held a 50-18 shot advantage in the game and were 0-for-5 on the power play. BGSU was 1-for-4. Sigalet had 44 saves in net for the Falcons while Mike Betz had 15 saves.
BGSU drops to 5-14-2 overall and 3-11-2 in the CCHA, and had its two-game winning streak snapped. OSU improved to 16-4-2 and 10-2-1 in the CCHA.
