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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Nebraska Omaha
Falcons' Season Comes To A Close With 7-5 Loss To Nebraska-Omaha
March 04, 2007 | Ice Hockey
March 3, 2007
OMAHA, Neb. - The Bowling Green State University hockey dropped a 7-5 decision Saturday night to the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks inside the Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska in the opening round of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs. The loss, combined with the 3-2 defeat Friday night, closes the books on the 2006-07 season as the Falcons lost the first two games of the best-of-three series.
"It was kind of an ironic situation -- we score five goals and two power-play goals, but at the opposite end, we gave up too many goals and too many chances" said BGSU head coach Scott Paluch. "Ultimately, we gave up too many scoring chances. They're a good offensive team with good players, and they shoot the puck extremely well."
The first period was a wild one, and leading the way was James Unger. The senior from Walton Hills, Ohio, scored all four of the Falcons' goals in the first period as the Orange and Brown led 4-3 after 20 minutes of action. The last time a Falcon scored four goals in a period was back on Nov. 23, 1995 when Mike Johnson recorded four lamp-lighters in an 8-6 win over Alaska Fairbanks. The four goals for Unger in the first is believed to be a CCHA Tournament record.
Unger's first goal came at the 1:44 mark on a wrap-around play, where he grabbed his own rebound and powered the puck past freshman Jeremie Dupont to give the Orange and Brown an early 1-0 lead.
The Mavericks knotted the score at 1-1 seven minutes later off the stick of Ed Del Grosso.
Unger once again gave the Falcons the one goal advantage when he tipped a Kevin Schmidt shot from the point through the legs of Dupont. Mike Nesdill also assisted on the goal.
UNO then scored two goals in 45 seconds when Nick Fanto scored his fourth and fifth goals of the season at 12:51 and 13:36.
Unger's third goal of the first period was identical to his first, scoring on the wrap-around and added his fourth goal when he deflected a Nesdill shot past Dupont. Mazzei also assisted on the goal, picking up three points in the first 20 minutes, a career-best. It was Unger's first career hat trick.
Nebraska-Omaha made a goalie change to start the second period, pulling Dupont in favor of Jerad Kaufman. The move looked to have paid off, as the Mavericks out shot BGSU 16-4 in the second period, scoring two goals, to take a 5-4 lead into the third period. It was the 11th straight game the Falcons entered the third period within one goal.
The BGSU power play equaled the game at 5-5 when Derek Whitmore received a pass from Jonathan Matsumoto in the slot and beat Kaufman at 8:18 of the third, but UNO scored the final two goals of the game, capturing the series 2-0.
On the night the Mavericks out shot BGSU 38-21, while both teams scored twice on the power play.
BGSU finishes the season at 7-29-2.
