Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
CLARKSON
Falcons Top Clarkson To End Winless Streak
December 19, 2008 | Ice Hockey
Dec. 19, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, OHIO - The Bowling Green State University hockey team played a strong all-around game and were rewarded with a 4-1 win over Clarkson at the BGSU Ice Arena Friday night. The victory put an end to a six-game winless streak (0-5-1) as the Falcons earned two points in a game for the first time in more than a month.
The two teams played pretty even for the first two periods, Clarkson actually outshot the Falcons in the first 40 minutes, 21-20, but Bowling Green scored two power-play goals in each of the first two periods and proved to be the difference in the game.
Junior forward James Perkin scored just 20 seconds into their second power-play of the evening at the 13:02 mark to open the scoring. It was Perkin's third goal of the season, but first since the third game of the season (Oct. 17) Boston College. Juniors Kai Kantola and Todd McIlrath earned the assists on the score.
Clarkson, coached by former Falcon player George Roll who was a member of the 1984 BGSU national championship team, came right back 47 seconds after Bowling Green scored to put their own tally on the board as freshman Nick Tremblay snuck one past BG goalie Jimmy Spratt at the right post after the puck bounced off the boards behind the goal.
The Falcons then put some distance between themselves and the Golden Knights with a pair of unanswered goals in the second period just over five minutes apart.
Sophomore Dan Sexton got the first red-lighter of the period at 7:43, his sixth of the season, from freshman Nick Bailen and junior Josh Boyd. Following the even-strength goal by Sexton, the Falcons got their second of the night with the man-advantage as Kantola scored his eighth of the season, to move into a tie for the team lead with sophomore David Solway, as Perkin and freshman Bryan Potacco got the assists.
The Falcons then put the game away with a strong third period in which they limited Clarkson's opportunities, they had only six shots, while they scored one themselves and 14 shots for the period. Sexton got his second of the night, his second two-goal game of the season, at 14:56 of the third period with senior Brandon Svendsen getting the assist.
Eight different players scored at least one point in the game the most since eight players scored against Providence in the fourth game of the season.
Spratt allowed just the one goal, the fourth time this season he has allowed one goal or less, and has 26 saves while Clarkson freshman Paul Karpowich also had 26 saves. BG converted two-of-seven on the power-play while holding the Golden Knights off the board in their five tries.
With the victory, the Falcons move to 6-10-3 for the season while Clarkson, which came into the game with a nine-game winless streak, falls to 2-9-4.
The two programs complete the weekend series Saturday with a rare 5:05 p.m. start at the Ice Arena, before taking some time off for the holidays.
(Quotes from head coach Scott Paluch) "That was a complete team win. Every guy had a hand in that win. We got a lot of minutes out of quite a few players. It is the best our power-play has been in awhile and our PK (penalty kill) got after things. There were two periods that were extremely even. It was physical, but there weren't a lot of penalties. I really liked the consistency of our play tonight."
"I liked the way we played down low. We tried to get the puck low as much as we could."
"A lot of different guys chipped in. It feels good to win, especially when so many guys were part of it. There were a lot of guys not on the scoresheet who played well."
(Quotes from junior Kai Kantola) "I think we played a full 60 minutes. The whole team worked hard and we were able to get the victory. We definitely wanted to make a statement before the break and come out and play hard against a good team getting a good thing going."
