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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Nebraska Omaha
Falcons Top Mavericks, 3-1, Saturday To Earn Weekend Split
February 16, 2008 | Ice Hockey
Feb. 16, 2008
OMAHA, Neb. - Senior tri-captain Derek Whitmore tallied two power play goals as the Bowling Green State University hockey team topped the University of Nebraska at Omaha, 3-1, on Saturday evening to earn a two-game split of the weekend series. The Saturday night Central Collegiate Hockey Association contest was held at the Civic Auditorium in downtown Omaha.
With the victory, the Falcons improved to 15-15-0 overall and 12-12-0 in the CCHA, dropping the Mavericks to 14-4-4 and 11-11-4, respectively.
The victory, coupled with an Alaska loss later in the evening, would guarantee BG a home ice spot in the first round of the CCHA playoffs for just the third time in the last 14 years as seven different Falcons contributed on the night.
Leading the way for the Falcons was Whitmore who finished his night with a game-high two goals, while Jacob Cepis added two helpers. Back-boning the effort was freshman goaltender Nick Eno who was brilliant all night between the pipes, making 39 saves on 40 Maverick shots.
UNO took an early 1-0 lead after 20 minutes, before the Falcons stormed back for two in the second and a single goal in the third to earn their first win over UNO in 10 contests.
The Mavericks came out of the gate firing 17 first period shots at the Falcon cage as Eno was a brick wall, keeping the game a scoreless stalemate through the game's first 19 minutes. UNO would go on to own a 17-8 edge in the opening period shots.
However, in the period's last minute, UNO would catch a break and drew the game's first blood. With just 45 seconds remaining, Joey Martin scored for the second time on the weekend off a rebound on the right side of the crease to give the Mavericks a 1-0 lead. Brandon Scero and Mick Lawrence added the assists as UNO took the early lead for the second-consecutive evening.
Just like the previous night though, the lead wouldn't last long in the early part of the second period. John Mazzei would even the game up at 1-1 on a shot from the right side of the net for his second lamp lighter of the series. Adding the helpers on the play at 2:07 would be Cepis and Kai Kantola.
The game would stay tied until the 16:15 mark when the Falcons took their first lead of the contest on a power play goal by Whitmore. After a Maverick short-handed breakaway was stuffed, Whitmore and his linemates bolted up the ice the other way and made UNO pay for being out of position. Mike Nesdill and Tomas Petruska found Whitmore, who stuffed in a rebound chance from the slot for his 25th goal of the season.
Whitmore wouldn't wait long to get his 26th goal on another power play just 41 seconds into the game's final period. Kevin Schmidt found Cepis who found Whitmore rushing to the net in the slot for his second power-play goal of the night and 11th of the season.
The two goals moved Whitmore into the top-20 career list for goals in a career at BGSU as he now has 69 career goals.
The senior forward and his teammates would then withstand 17 third period shots as Eno made a total of 23 saves in the game's final 40 minutes.
UNO finished the game with an overall 40-31 advantage in shots on goal as Jerad Kaufmann made 28 stops in the Maverick net.
BG finished 2-for-4 with the man-advantage, while the Mavericks finished 0-for-7.
The Falcons will return to action next Friday and Saturday nights (Feb. 22-23) when they play host to the Bulldogs of Ferris State. Both faceoffs are scheduled for 7:05 p.m. as all the action can be heard by tuning into WBGU 88.1 FM with Danny Nieves bringing you all the play-by-play.
