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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Falcons Tie Up Mavericks, 3-1
February 07, 2004 | Ice Hockey
Feb. 7, 2004
Omaha, Nebraska - Nebraska-Omaha scored the game's first goal, but it was visiting Bowling Green that netted the final three in a 3-1 road victory over the Mavericks on Saturday night in the Qwest Center Omaha. The Falcons took three of four points on the weekend from UNO and recorded its third road victory of the season.
"I thought the key was us being able to rebound from the early goal and get that goal right back," said BGSU Coach Scott Paluch. "I thought we played a great road second and third period, got the crowd out of it, and our special teams was tremendous tonight. It was a great, great win."
Alex Nikiforuk scored at 7:46 of the first period for a 1-0 UNO lead. However, BGSU came right back when junior Alex Rogosheske took a slapshot from the right circle and blasted the puck past Maverick goalie Kris Tebbs at 8:21 to knot the game at 1-1. Ryan Minnabarriet assisted on the game-tyer.
Soon after sophomore Brett Pilkington was slammed into the boards and was forced to leave the game and did not return. The departure forced Paluch to rearrange lines on the fly and it seemed to work.
"When you lose a player that plays a lot, like Pilkington, early in the game, you're forced to juggle the lines and you don't get the normal rythm of your four lines. Guys are thrust into different positions. We got a great effort from a lot of different guys. It was a game that was a real strong effort and a great road win."
The score stayed that way until senior Mark Wires netted his fifth power-play goal and ninth overall goal of the season to give the Falcons the lead for good at 2:47 of the second period. Jonathan Sigalet passed to Kevin Bieksa, who lost his man and made a great backhand pass to Wires, who was set up in the slot position for the one-timer past Tebbs.
BGSU held UNO to just seven shots in the second period compared to 10 by the Falcons. Then sophomore Ryan Barnett netted his career first short-handed goal and just BGSU's third of the season at 3:24 of the third period for the insurance goal.
The Falcons held tough the rest of the way and killed off all five UNO power plays. The Mavericks entered the weekend series sixth in the nation on the power play. BGSU outshot UNO 11-9 in the third period and held the home team scoreless in the final 52-plus minutes of the game.
"The third period was probably the best third period we've played all year," said Bieksa. "We played sound with the lead. We made some changes halfway through the game. The coaching staff realized what they were doing (on the power play) and changed our penalty kill to stay a little tighter and block some shots."
UNO held a slim 31-27 shot advantage for the game with junior Jordan Sigalet stopping a game-high 30 shots to earn first-star honors. Tebbs had 24 saves.
With the win, BGSU moved to within three points of ninth-place Ferris State with seven league games left to play.
BGSU improves to 8-14-7 overall and 6-11-4 in the CCHA. UNO drops to 6-17-5 overall and 4-14-4 in the league. The Falcons return to the BGSU Ice Arena next weekend for a two-game series vs. Lake Superior (Feb. 13-14). The weekend will include the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the 1984 National Championship squad.
