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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
MICHIGAN STATE
Falcons Blanked By Spartans, 3-0
December 03, 2005 | Ice Hockey
Dec. 3, 2005
Final Stats | Quotes
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Bowling Green State University hockey team dropped a 3-0 decision Friday night to the Spartans of Michigan State at the Munn Ice Arena. In the loss, senior Jon Horrell was outstanding, turning-away 36-of-39 shots, and helping the Falcons to hold the MSU power play scoreless on the night.
"It was a game that had a defensive-type of theme," said head coach Scott Paluch. "Both teams were clamping down. Chances came off broken plays. (MSU) did a real good job of limiting chances we were able to get in the third period of 1-0 game."
The Falcons looked to get on the board first after sophomore Jonathan Matsumoto got free along the right side, but fired a shot off the post. Less then a minute later line-mate Alex Foster skated in on MSU's Dominic Vicari, but was denied at the doorstep twice.
Horrell was outstanding early, stopping the first 13 MSU shots, including two Spartan power plays. With 11:45 remaining in the opening period Horrell wowed the crowd, moving from his left to right, sprawling to the ground and throwing up his blocker to cover the top left of the goal to deny MSU an early lead.
Bryan Lerg finally got a puck past Horrell to give the Spartans an early 1-0 advantage at the 10:37 mark of the first period, but that would be all Horrell would surrender in the first. Horrell stopped 17-of-18 MSU shots, while BGSU recorded 12 shots on goal in the opening 20 minutes.
The Falcons were once again denied, this time by the crossbar midway through the second period. After a turnover in the BGSU zone, junior James Unger and sophomore Derek Whitmore skated in on the MSU goal. Unger fired a shot past Vicari, but the puck rang off the center of the crossbar.
The contest remained 1-0 following the first 40 minutes.
"As the second period went on, we were a lot better down low, said Paluch. "We didn't get enough pucks on goal for the forecheck that we had. We did a real good job for 2 1/2 periods of playing an extremely smart game and not giving up a lot of turnover chances which have been hurting us the first part of the year. Our defensemen were a lot smarter with a lot of their decisions and kept the puck in a lot of safe areas. (Horrell) was very, very strong."
The two teams continued to battle back and forth, with neither team able to get the puck past the opposing goaltender, until Lerg recorded his second goal of the game after receiving a penalty shot opportunity. Lerg faked left, came back right and flipped the puck over the left pad of Horrell at the 9:57 mark of the third.
The last time the Falcons faced a penalty shot was 364 days ago (Dec. 3) against these same Spartans, when Jim Slater was stopped by Jordan Sigalet. Jason Basile from Ferris State was the last opponent to score with the help of a penalty shot against the Falcons. (Feb. 9, 2002).
Bryan Lerg completed his hat trick, the second of his career at the 12:46 mark of the third period after picking up a rebound and jamming it past Horrell.
"Both teams did some things well and they got the goals, said Paluch. "It was a game that was fairly-evenly played. Going into the third period, we had played a game that was perfect as far as giving us a chance to win in the third period. We just weren't able to get as many chances as we wanted in the third period. They did a good job keeping pucks clear. The first two periods, we were able to generate a lot more chances."
The Spartans held a 39 to 24 shot advantage for the night, while both teams struggled with the man advantage, going a combined 0-for-9 on the night.
These same two teams will play again tomorrow night (Dec. 3), but this time it is in Bowling Green, Ohio. Face-off is set for 7:05 p.m.
