Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
ALASKA
Falcons' Special Teams Secure 2-2 Tie With Alaska
January 27, 2007 | Ice Hockey
Jan. 27, 2007
Final Stats | Quotes
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - After allowing four Nanook power-play goals on the Friday night, the Bowling Green State University penalty kill had arguably their finest night, killing off 11-of-12 opportunities, including three different 5-on-3 power-play attempts. Not to be outdone, the Falcons' power play recorded both of the Falcons' goals, en route to a 2-2 tie Saturday evening inside the BGSU Ice Arena.
"With everything that went on it was a really hard fought game," said BGSU head coach Scott Paluch. "It was a very physical game that capped off a physical weekend. I think it was a game that despite the tie and one point at home on the weekend I thought it was an important game for our team with the way we stayed with things."
Like so many games this season the bounces have not been going the Falcons' way, and that was once again evident at the 9:19 mark of the first period. UAF's Trevor Hyatt dumped the puck into the left corner, only to have the puck hit off a broken stick and direct into the front of the BGSU cage. The puck bounced right to UAF's Ryan Muspratt, who snuck the puck past sophomore Jimmy Spratt for a 1-0 Nanook lead.
BGSU tied it up three minutes later on a great tic-tac-toe pass from Mike Nesdill, to Todd McIlrath, and across the ice to Brandon Svendsen, who one-timed the shot past UAF's Wylie Rogers for a Falcon power-play goal.
With no scoring in the second period, the two teams entered the third at one apiece. Alaska's Curtis Fraser had his third goal of the weekend, recording a power-play goal at the 4:05 mark of the third. It was Alaska's 11th power-play attempt on the night after being denied on all 10 of their opportunities in the first two periods.
"Coach [Danton] Cole switched it up a little bit," said junior Ben Geelan about the penalty kill. "They had a couple key players on their first unit that we had to look at and we shut them down. The goals that they did score were kind of broken plays but we had really good coaching in that respect. We knew what they were bringing to us and they brought us what they video said they were I just think we were very prepared."
The Falcons looked to have knotted the score at two apiece with six minutes remaining as James Unger grabbed a Mike Nesdill rebound and snuck the puck past Rodgers, but the goal was reviewed upstairs and overturned.
Two minutes later T-Mac (Todd McIlrath) picked up his second point of the night, coming via the power play at the 15:47 mark of the third. McIlrath found some open ice along the left circle and wristed a shot past Rogers to send the teams to overtime. Tim Maxwell and Brandon Svendsen assisted on the power-play goal.
BGSU controlled most of the overtime, out-shooting the Nanooks 2-1, but both shots were excellent opportunities.
Early in the extra session James Unger skated around the UAF cage and squeaked a pass to Kantola at the right circle, but Rogers made an outstanding glove save. Minutes later Jonathan Matsumoto was left open at the right circle and wristed a shot off the right shoulder pad of Rogers, sending the puck off the BGSU Ice Arena ceiling.
For the night Jimmy Spratt made 37 saves, while back stopping the Falcon penalty kill in an 11-for-12 effort. Rogers had 19 saves in the tie, while the Falcons went 2-for-11 with the man advantage.
For the game both teams had 14 penalties and 28 penalty minutes. There were 23 power-play attempts, and 30:39 seconds of the contest was played on the power play.
Up next for the Falcons is a pair of home contests with the Irish of Notre Dame. The two teams square off on Feb. 2-3 at 7:05 p.m. inside the BGSU Ice Arena.
