Bowling Green State University
OHIO STATE
Cepis' Three Points Help Falcons Down Bucks, 5-2, Friday In CCHA Play
February 01, 2008 | Ice Hockey
Feb. 1, 2008
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Freshman forward Jacob Cepis and senior forward Derek Whitmore had game-high two-goal efforts to help lead the Bowling Green State University hockey team to a,5-2,win on Friday evening over the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Friday night Central Collegiate Hockey Association contest was held at OSU's Value City Arena.
With the victory, the Falcons improved to 13-12-0 overall and 10-9-0 in the CCHA, dropping the Buckeyes to 8-19-2 and 4-14-1, respectively.
Cepis finished his night with a game-best three-point effort, which tied his career single-game high to lead all Falcon scorers. Whitmore matched the number on his jersey for the season with 21 goals with his two goals on opposite ends for BG in the game, while freshman goaltender Nick Eno was brillant in net, making a career-high 39 saves on 41 Buckeye shots.
Both teams started the game with some early scoring chances at each end as Eno didn't have much time to settle in between the BG pipes. OSU quickly jumped out to an early 5-3 edge in shots on net in the game's first five minutes as they were looking to steal the game's early momentum. However, the Howell, Mich. native wouldn't break as he would go on to stop all nine Buckeye shots in the first period.
Eno's big play at one end, allowed for the Falcons to grab a 2-0 first period lead at the other, as their offense started to catch up with their goaltender's effort.
Grabbing the game's first goal would be senior forward Derek Whitmore - his 20th of the season as Mike Nesdill and Todd McIlrath picked up the assists. After forward Dan Sexton brought the puck up the right-side into the OSU zone, he dumped it to McIlrath in the right circle, who found Nesdill at the top of the point. Nesdill proceeded to fire a hard-slapper on OSU goaltender Dustin Carlson that caught the stick of Whitmore sitting alone on the left side of the crease. Whitmore's deflection then sailed over the stick-side shoulder of Carlson and into the upper part of the net to give BG a 1-0 lead at the 13:01 mark.
The Falcons would add to that lead just six minutes later as Kantola sent his team to the locker room with a two-goal advantage. With just 41 seconds remaining on the scoreboard clock, the Raleigh, N.C. native tipped home a shot from defenseman Michael Hodgson in the left circle as he, much like Whitmore, was able to get positioning on the left side of the crease. For Kantola, the goal was his fifth of the season and first in six games played as Hodgson and Cepis added the helpers.
OSU tried to keep the pressure on BG's freshman goaltender in the second as they fired 17 more shots on him in the stanza. OSU held a 26-24 edge in the shots after the game's first 40 minutes.
Only one of those 17 shots would find the Falcon net though as Buckeye defenseman Nick Biondo brought OSU within one at,2-1. Biondo's shot from the slot hit the stick-side pad of Eno and ricocheted into the upper left side corner for his third marker of the season. Tom Fritsche and Jason DeSantis picked up the assists on the goal at 15:19.
Just when it looked like the Buckeyes might have caught some momentum though, the Falcons would once again steal it away. With just over a minute and a half to play in the second period, BG won a faceoff draw and quickly turned the play into a scoring opportunity. Kevin Schmidt got the puck and pushed in towards the neutral zone, before he sent the puck over to defenseman Russ Sinkewich. Sinkewich found Cepis then, zooming towards the Buckeye zone and hit him in stride with a beautiful pass. Cepis proceeded to split a couple OSU defenders, before getting off a nicely-placed wrister that found the left corner of the net over Carlson as he came in sliding on his stomach.The goal was Cepis' 11th of the season as Schmidt and Sinkewich each tallied assists on the goal at 18:37.
It wouldn't take long for Cepis to get his 12th goal of the season and increase the Falcon lead to 4-1 early in the third. After a Buckeye defender attempted an outlet pass towards the neutral zone, the Parma, Ohio native quickly moved in on the rubber circle and created a turnover. He finished off the play with another great shot into the net for the goal just 49 seconds into the period.
OSU's Corey Toy would pick up a late even-strength goal for OSU at the 16:38 mark, before Whitmore finished the scoring with an empty-net marker in the final minute as BG ended their two-game skid.
Carlson would finish the game for the Buckeyes with 32 stops on 37 Falcon shots. OSU ended the game with a 41-37 advantage with shots on net.
BG finished the evening 0-for-6 with man-advantage, while OSU finished 0-for-3.
The same two teams will conclude their two-game series on Saturday evening at Value City Arena with the puck scheduled to drop once again at 7:05 p.m. All the action can be heard once again by tuning into WBGU 88.1 FM as Danny Nieves will bring you all the play-by-play.
NOTES: The win gives the Falcons their second-straight victory at Value City Arena as they are now unbeaten at the venue in the last three contests ... BG is now 11-2 this season when picking up the game's first goal and 11-1 when leading at the first intermission ... Derek Whitmore, with his 20th and 21st goals of the season, now sits just four goals shy of tying for 19th on the all-time Falcon list for lamp lighters ... Whitmore is also now just eights points away from being the 69th-Falcon to record 100 points in a career ... Whitmore's 21 goals are a new single-season career best, beating the mark of 19 he had last season as a junior ... the six scoreless opportunites for the Falcon power play tonight pushed their streak to 36 extra-man opportunities without a goal ... BG is a perfect 9-0-0 this season when tallying four or more goals in a contest ... a win for BG tomorrow would mark their first sweep of the Buckeyes since January of 2006 when they swept OSU in back-to-back wins in a home-and-home series.
