Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
NOTRE DAME
BG Hockey Team Drops 4-3 Decision To Top-Ranked Notre Dame
December 13, 2008 | Ice Hockey
Dec. 13, 2008
NOTRE DAME, IND. - Notre Dame, the top-ranked college hockey team in the country, scored late in the first period then put its special teams to work in the second period to continue its mastery over Bowling Green with a 4-3 win at the Joyce Center Saturday night. The game was the sixth-straight contest for the Falcons against a team ranked in the top 10 of the national polls.
The Fighting Irish, who already had defeated Bowling Green in their three previous meetings this season, scored with just 23 seconds left in the first period then added three goals in the second period, two on the power-play, to take a 4-1 lead to the locker room after two periods.
Notre Dame made it 2-0 just 4:52 into the second stanza on a rebound goal by sophomore Calle Ridderwall as Notre Dame had a 5-on-3 advantage. Then Falcon sophomores Dan Sexton and David Solway got together to get the Falcons on the board at the 7:23 mark when Sexton won a race to the puck behind the Notre Dame goal and his pass to Solway was perfect for a one-timer that beat Notre Dame senior goaltender Jordan Pearce.
But, as quickly as the Falcons had found some momentum, the Fighting Irish re-claimed the advantage with their second power-play marker of the period on a Christian Hanson 35-footer from a slight left angle that beat Falcon goalie Jimmy Spratt. The goal came just 1:39 after the Falcons had pulled to within one goal.
Hanson added another rebound goal at the 15:34 mark of the second period to send the Fighting Irish to the second intermission with a three-goal edge.
The Falcons made it interesting in the third period scoring twice on the man-advantage. Junior captain Kyle Page found the back of the net with a shot at 4:23 and junior Tommy Dee's first goal of the season at 15:33 made it real interesting. The Falcons had some quality chances in the final minute with the goalie pulled, but couldn't push across the equalizer.
With the victory, Notre Dame improves to 14-3-2 overall and 10-2-2-2 in Central Collegiate Hockey Association play while extending their unbeaten steak to 14 games. The Falcons, who are now winless in their last six games (0-5-1), drop to 5-10-3 and 4-7-1-0 in CCHA play.
Notre Dame is now unbeaten in its last 16 games against the Falcons, including 12 wins in a row.
The Falcons, who reached the halfway point of their 2008-09 schedule in the game with Notre Dame Saturday night, will play their final series before the holiday break next weekend (Dec. 19-20) as they host Clarkson. The Friday night contest will start at 7:05 while the Saturday game has a rare 5:05 start time.
"We were able to rally there in the third and give ourselves a chance," head coach Scott Paluch said. "We had some whacks at it there, much like last night. It was certainly a different type game than last night, the pace was much more choppy. We scored some goals in the third and I was most pleased with the fact we also had some good chances to tie it up there late.
"That was a tough goal to give up," Paluch said about the goal the Fighting Irish scored at the end of the first period. "We had a tough turnover and not a great change resulting from a poor turnover."
