Two Third-Period Goals Lift #4 Michigan Past Bowling Green, 5-4

Saturday, December 11

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:05 PM

Bowling Green State University

Michigan

December 11, 2004 | Ice Hockey

Dec. 11, 2004

Final Stats

Bowling Green, Ohio - Two third period goals by #4 Michigan gave the visitors a 5-4 lead that it did not surrender, defeating Bowling Green in front of a raucous 4,537 at the BGSU Ice Arena. The crowd was the largest at the BGSU Ice Arena since Feb. 5, 1999, when 4,728 packed to see Ohio State take on the Falcons (3-2 OSU win).

Junior Jon Horrell started his first career game at BGSU for an ill Jordan Sigalet. The native of Beckenham, England played well, picking up his first career assist and stopping 29 of 34 shots faced.

For the second night in a row it was BGSU that jumped out to the early lead, tonight off of a Mike Falk goal at just 2:12 of the first period. It was just his second goal of the year and Derek Whitmore picked up the assist.

UM then rattled off two goals with five seconds of each other at 18:47 by Jason Dest and 18:52 by David Moss for a 2-1 lead at the first intermission. UM held a 9-6 shot advantage.

The Falcons responded with a great second period. First, Whitmore scored a power-play goal at 1:14 to knot the game, 2-2, then sophomore James Unger gave the home team the lead at 8:12. Horrell assisted on Whitmore's goal while Bryan Dobek assisted on Unger's.

UM then tied the game, 3-3, with a Brandon Kaleniecki goal at 15:56. BGSU held on, though, as Horrell stopped 14 of 15 shots faced in the second period and held the Wolverines to 0-for-4 on the power play in the second period.

Freshman Ben Geelan then gave the Falcons a 4-3 lead at 2:09 of the third period with a slapshot from the point that lasered past All-American goalie Al Montoya. Brett Pilkington picked up the assist.

However, T.J. Hensick (3:43) and Moss (PPG, 6:52) pushed the Wolverines past the Falcons. UM finished with a 34-26 shot advantage in the game, but BGSU held a 13-10 advantage in the third period. Both teams finished 1-for-7 on the power play.

"I know we played better tonight than we did yesterday," said Horrell. "We were a lot stronger in our own end than we were yesterday. We didn't allow mistakes to build on each other and build the momentum like they did last night."

On his first start for the Falcons, Horrell said, "It was a bit nerve-wracking at first. You find out in the morning that your goaltending partner is kind of sick and he may not be able to play. You just have to get ready to go. When you come into an atmosphere like we had tonight it makes it a lot easier."

BGSU drops to 8-6-2 overall and 5-5-2 in the CCHA while #4 Michigan improves to 13-4-1 overall and 11-1-0 in the CCHA. The Falcons are off until they travel to Hanover, New Hampshire, to play in the Dartmouth Tournament (Dec. 29-30).