Bowling Green State University
Minnesota State
Falcons Lose 5-2 Decision To Minnesota State
November 30, 2008 | Ice Hockey
Nov. 30, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, OHIO - Minnesota State turned up the offense in the final two periods scoring five of the last six goals on their way to a 5-2 victory over Bowling Green at the BGSU Ice Arena Saturday night.
The Falcons won the first period scoring the only red-lighter of the stanza when junior defensemen Kyle Page's shot from the point squirted out of MSU goalie Mike Zacharias' glove and over the goal line. Junior Josh Boyd and sophomore Patrick Tiesling earned the assists on the goal.
But, Minnesota State came out of the locker room in the second period with some renewed enthusiasm and in the first 10 minutes had 15 shots, nine that were on target, and they found the back of the net twice. Junior Jason Wiley scored with the man-advantage, just 16 seconds into the power play to tie it. Sophomore defenseman Kurt Davis then put the Mavericks ahead for good with a tally at the 4:52 mark of the second period.
For the period, MSU outshot the Falcons, 11-4, with three of the four BG shots coming on their two power-play opportunities in the period.
After junior Jerad Stewart gave the Mavericks a two-goal cushion at the 10:42 mark of the final period, Bowling Green junior Kai Kantola netted his seventh goal of the season at the 11:57 mark and all of the sudden the Falcons were back within one goal. Kantola's goal ties him for the team lead in that category after he notched a pair of goals in the 2-2 overtime tie Friday night with Minnesota State.
But, it took just 26 seconds for the Mavericks to increase their lead back to two goals as junior Trevor Bruess pushed one between the leg of BG goalie Jimmy Spratt and the right post and the momentum the Falcons has regained, was lost.
Minnesota State added an empty-net tally with 21 seconds left to make it the final score. The Falcons, who came into the game having not lost to a non-league opponent at home in their last eight games (5-0-3), were outshot by a 41-27 count. MSU had 30 shots on the goal in the final two periods, including a season-high against BGSU of 19 in the third period.
BGSU came into the contest averaging 40 shots per game in their first eight contests at the BGSU Ice Arena while holding the opposition to just over 24 shots per game. The Falcons had posted a 4-2-2 record at home this season before Saturday night.
Zacharias finished with 25 saves while Spratt had a season-high 36 stops, just the fourth time he has surpassed the 30-save barrier this season. The Falcons failed to convert on any of their six power-plays while MSU went one-for seven with the manpower advantage.
With the win, Minnesota State, ranked ninth or 10th in the country depending on the poll, improved to 8-3-3 overall while the Falcons, who are idle next week before resuming their 2008-09 season on Dec. 12 at home against Notre Dame, fell to 5-8-3.
"I thought Minnesota State had an extra gear tonight and they played extremely well," head coach Scott Paluch said. "One of the things you see from an elite team, there was a stretch to start the second period and they got some momentum from the the power-play goal and then quickly capitalized on that momentum four minutes later to take the lead.
"We just didn't get enough pressure like we did last night. As I look back over the weekend, there wasn't a lot of difference. We were a play or two away. But, that is the difference. We have to get to that point."
