.png&type=webp)
Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Wayne State
#21 Hockey Picks Up Third Sweep Of Season With 6-1 Victory Over Wayne State
December 02, 2007 | Ice Hockey
Dec. 1, 2007
Final Stats |
Quotes |
Photo Gallery 
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - A three-goal second period and a multiple-point effort from five different players helped lead the #21 Bowling Green State University hockey team to a 6-1 victory over the Wayne State Warriors. The Saturday night contest was held at the BGSU Ice Arena.
Senior defenseman Mike Nesdill tallied a game-high three points on the evening on three assists, while sophomore forward Kai Kantola had a game-high two goals, as three other Falcons tallied a goal and an assist in the game. The Falcons would once again finish 3-6 with the extra-man as they finished the two-game series a combined 6-12 on the power play.
The victory gave the Falcons their third sweep of the season and improved their record to 8-4-0 overall, as they surpassed last season's win total in the effort. With the loss, the Warriors fell to 3-9-2 on the season.
"I thought it was a pretty complete game for us," said BG coach Scott Paluch. "I really like the way we responded after giving up a late goal in the first. We were able to come out and have one of the best if not the best second periods for us this year. I thought we stayed pretty consistent throughout the night. It was another good special teams night and Nick [Eno] was solid in goal. It was a complete night and I was really excited when we scored the goals early and got a lead, we surrendered a goal late, but we rebounded from that and played consistent the whole night."
Those early goals and early 2-0 lead would come via the power play for the Falcons, as for second night in a row they went 2-3 with the man-advantage in the first 20 minutes of play. Picking up the Falcons' first tally of the night with the extra-man would be James Perkin. David Solway and Brandon Svendsen would both add the helpers on Perkin's fifth goal of the season at the 10:16 mark of the first period. That same power play line would then strike once again just 5:44 later, as this time Perkin helped Nesdill feed Solway, as Solway tallied his third goal of the season with four minutes remaining in the period. His shot from the slot beat Warrior goaltender Brett Bothwell as the Falcons had an early two-goal cushion and were soaring high.
The Warriors wouldn't let the Falcons take all the momentum into the locker room though as Stavros Paskaris was able to beat BG goaltender Nick Eno with just 28 seconds remaining to pull the Warriors within one at 2-1. Ryan Bernardi and Jordan Inglis would pick up the assists on the play.
Little did the Warriors know, BG was saving up one of their best periods of the season as they came out and out-scored WSU, 3-0, in the second frame, holding a 12-6 advantage in shots on net. The first of those three goals would come on a short-handed marker from Falcon penalty-killer Dan Sexton. The freshman forward made a nice play to get control of the puck and beat Bothwell from the right side on a breakaway to give the Falcons a 3-1 advantage. His marker came just before Kantola scored both of his game-high two goals to push the Falcon lead to 5-1. Kantola's first would come on the Falcons' final power play tally of the evening as his wrister from the left-wing circle found the net past Bothwell. Sexton and Patrick Tiesling would add assists on the play. That was followed just 4:13 later by an even strength marker from the Raleigh, N.C. native, as his two goals set a new single-game high for the sophomore.
Tommy Dee would then complete the Falcons' scoring in the third period on a nice shot just inside the slot on the left to give the game its' 6-1 final. Ben Geelan would pick up his second assist of the season on the play with Nesdill picking up his third and final helper of the evening.
BG out-shot the Warriors 11-5 in the last frame and saw Svendsen get rewarded his first career penalty shot at the 16:28 mark of the period. After he was hauled down in front of the WSU net on a breakaway to the net, the junior forward skated the puck up the ice and fired a shot on Bothwell, but was turned aside on BG's first penalty shot since Greg Day took one on Feb. 22nd of 2002.
On the night, Bothwell would make 27 saves on 33 shots, while Eno improved to 5-1-0 in his young career stopping 17-of-18 shots he faced in the Falcon net. The Falcon penalty-kill was once again brilliant on the evening in front of him, holding WSU scoreless on all five power play chances they had.
The Falcons now riding a two-game win streak will return to action next Friday and Saturday (Dcc. 7-8) when they take on the second-ranked Michigan Wolverines. Game one of the home-and-home series on Friday will feature a 7:05 p.m. face-off from the BGSU Ice Arena, before the two will conclude the series at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich. at 7:35 p.m. on Saturday. All the action can be heard by tuning into WBGU 88.1 FM with Danny Nieves bringing you all the play-by-play.
Notes: The Falcons win over the Warriors was their first at home in series, as they were 0-1-1 coming in ... Mike Nesdill's three assists were a new single-game high for the senior defenseman ... BG's sweep of Wayne State was the first of a non-conference opponent since they swept Union College (5-1, 1-0) on the opening weekend of the 2004-05 season ... the sweep was also the 200th in the program's 38-year history and 198th against varsity competition ... the Falcons had just two two-game sweeps combined the past two seasons ... the Falcons have now had player tally a multiple-point game 30 times this season after having that happen just 31 total times last year ... with their 2-1 scoring advantage in the first period, the Falcons have now out-scored their opposition, 13-4, in the first period during the past nine games ... with their three power-play goals on the evening, the Falcons now rank second-nationally with a conversion percentage of 27.8 ... BG is now tied for ninth-nationally then in scoring offense with a goals a game average of 3.33 ... Svendesn's penalty shot was the first since Greg Day scored on a penalty shot against Northern Michigan's Craig Kowalski in the second period of a Feb. 22, 2002 contest ... the last penalty shot against the Falcons occured at Michigan State on Dec. 2, 2005 when MSU's Bryan Lerg scored against the Falcons' Jon Horrell ... tonight's penalty shot was the 15th in the history of the Ice Arena.
