Bowling Green State University
NORTHERN MICHIGAN
Falcons Earn Overtime Win Over Northern Michigan
November 14, 2008 | Ice Hockey
Nov. 14, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, OHIO - For more than 58 minutes of the Bowling Green State University hockey game Friday, it looked like the Falcons were going to suffer the same fate they have most of the season at home - more than double the opponent in shots, but struggle to come away with points.
But, in a span of a little more than three minutes, the Falcons turned what looked like sure defeat into a 2-1 overtime victory over Northern Michigan thanks to the work of their top line of senior Brandon Svendsen, and sophomores David Solway and Dan Sexton.
The Wildcats, playing only their third road game of the season and coming into the series having enjoyed a weekend in which they did not play, scored the first goal of the game at the 11:57 mark of the opening period, just eight seconds after the Falcons had returned to full strength following a penalty.
NMU junior goalie Brian Stewart and Falcon senior Jimmy Spratt then played a game of can you top this as they dominated a great portion of the contest.
The Falcons were on their way to a 50-shot night and maybe not solving Stewart on any of those 50 attempts to score. On the other hand, Spratt, though he faced only 20 shots one the night, turned away several very good chances for the Wildcats keeping the Falcons within that magic one goal margin.
Then Solway, with the help of his linemates, finally got the Falcons on the board with just 1:40 left in the game notching his sixth marker of the season with Sexton and Svendsen earning assists on the tally. That goal would be enough to send the game to an extra period.
But, before many in the crowd could settle into their seats for the extra period and possibly the first shootout of the season at the BGSU Ice Arena, Solway sent the Falcon fans home happy collecting the game-winner just 1:57 into the extra period.
After Svendsen had sent a shot toward the goal that missed on the left side, it caromed off the boards behind the goal and found Solway's stick on the right side of the goal and he poked it past Stewart for his first game-winner of the season and third of his career.
And, again it was Svendsen and Sexton picking up the assists. At least two players from the Falcons' top line have had a hand in 10 of the last 13 goals BG has scored covering the last seven games. In CCHA play thus far, that line has scored 11 of BG's 13 goals.
The Falcons were 0-for-8 on the power play, but did have 16 of their shots for the game with the man-advantage, while NMU failed on all four of their power-play opportunities.
The Falcons had a 50-20 edge in shots and now have a 214-108 edge over their opponents in their five games at home this season. BGSU is now 3-1-1 at home this season.
The same two teams meet again Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. to conclude the series at the Ice Arena. Bowling Green improved to 4-5-2 overall and 3-3-1-0 in Central Collegiate Hockey Association play while Northern Michigan will bring a 2-6-1 overall record into the Saturday night contest and a 1-5-1-0 mark in league play.
"That was a real big win for us," head coach Scott Paluch said. "Sometimes you never know, it might take you 58 minutes to get that first one. We did a great job of staying with what we needed to do. We were getting chances consistently. For us to pull out a game where it wasn't going in, it's real important for us.
"That was a real good game for Jimmy (Spratt). That is not always an easy thing to do, to have to watch the play from the other end for long stretches. I thought the play in the third period was really even and they had some good chances. He was strong and it was really important in that type of game that it doesn't get to two (goals). If it gets to two, there is a good chance we don't get there the way the game was going. He did a great job of keeping it right where it was for a long time giving us a chance to tie it up and get it into overtime."
