Bowling Green State University
NORTHERN MICHIGAN
BGSU Battles Back, TWICE, to Tie NMU, 2-2
February 28, 2004 | Ice Hockey
Feb. 28, 2004
Bowling Green, Ohio - Bowling Green fought back from two separate deficits to knot Northern Michigan at the BGSU Ice Arena on Saturday night, 2-2, in front of a regionally-televised audience.
The Falcons came back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to play in its school-record tying 11th overtime game this season and build upon its school record with its ninth tie.
"The atmosphere was outstanding," said BGSU Coach Scott Paluch. "Both teams brought a lot of grit and jump to the game, and both goalies were just as advertised."
NMU's Pat Bateman gave the visiting team the early lead at 14:50 of the second period. Just over five minutes later it was freshman James Unger that tied the game at 1-1 when he made a diving stab at a loose puck outside the crease. He was able to hit a NMU defenseman's stick as well as the puck and got it past goalie Craig Kowalski. Ryan Minnabarriet and Kevin Bieksa picked up assists.
It appeared whoever scored the next goal would win the game and NMU's Rob Lehtinen scored at 11:26 of the third period for a 2-1 Wildcats lead. However, frosh Jonathan Sigalet ripped a slapshot from the top of the left circle at 16:01 that found the back of the net to re-tie the game at 2-2. Bryan Dobek and Rich Meloche picked up assists. All in all, BGSU first-year players accounted for four of the six Falcon points
"A lot of what our younger guys are doing and learning has a lot to do with how hard our seniors work," said Paluch. "Unger's been on a pretty good tear this weekend. All year long he has been dangerous and finally this weekend he got some numbers to be rewarded."
BGSU ended with a 43-26 shot advantage for the game, including 13-3 in the final period. Kowalski stopped 41 shots while BGSU's Jordan Sigalet had 24 saves. Both teams were scoreless on the power play with NMU finishing 0-for-2 and BGSU 0-for-5.
BGSU finishes 7-6-4 on home ice, the first winning season at the old "Ice House" since the 2000-01 season (9-5-2).
The Falcons are now 10-16-9 overall and 8-13-6 in the league, moving into sole possession of ninth place in the league. NMU is now 16-14-4 overall and 11-13-2 in CCHA.
BGSU ends its regular season on Thursday night when it travels to Kalamazoo, Mich. for a single game vs. Western Michigan. Faceoff is scheduled for 7:35 p.m.
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