Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
FERRIS STATE
Bulldogs Slip Past Falcons, 2-1, On Friday At The BGSU Ice Arena
February 22, 2008 | Ice Hockey
Feb. 22, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - A second period goal by Ferris State forward Justin Lewandowski ended up being the eventual game-winning goal Friday night as the Bulldogs took game one from the Bowling Green State University hockey team, winning 2-1. The Friday evening Central Collegiate Hockey Association contest was held at the BGSU Ice Arena.
With the victory, the Bulldogs improved to 14-12-5 overall and 11-10-4 in the CCHA, dropping the Falcons to 15-16-0 and 12-13-0, respectively.
The Falcons got a 39-save performance from freshman goaltender Nick Eno on the evening as the Howell, Mich, native came within a single save of tying his career-best effort. Sophomore forward Todd McIlrath tallied the Falcons lone goal at 19:06 of the first period as Derek Whitmore and Dan Sexton added the helpers. Whitmore's assist brought him to 99 career points as he is now a single point away from becoming the 69th Falcon player to hit the century mark.
FSU had five different players tally points on the night as picking up goals were forwards Lewandowski and Justin Menke. Bulldog freshman netminder Pat Nagle then made 25 stops on 26 BG shots.
"Tonight was a difficult game to lose," said BG coach Scott Paluch. "We need to rebound tomorrow in a big way. I thought Ferris [State] did a better job of generating chances and keeping us away from their net where we could be a consisent factor. We just couldn't get any consistent offensive zone play throughout the night. I thought both goalies played very well and Nick did an excellent job of allowing us to stay in the game all the way down to the end."
The Bulldogs opened the scoring at the 11:36 mark when Menke found the net just to left side of the Falcon crease for his sixth-goal of the season. After a shot by Chupp was sent into a scrum in front of the net, it caught the stick of Blair Riley, before setting down right in position for Menke to find the rebound. For Menke, it was his sixth goal of the season as Riley and Chupp added the assists.
The Bulldogs held a 15-12 edge in shots for the first period, but just when it looked like they may take the early lead to the intermission, the Falcons struck back. With just 54 seconds remaining till the break, a shot by Whitmore from just past the circles hit Nagle's paddle and landed in the left side of the crease. Right there to collect the rebound was McIlrath who picked up his first goal of the season and first in 36 games played.
The second period would belong to the Bulldogs though as they fired 20 shots at the Falcon cage to just six shots for BG at the other end. Eno kept the game tied in early minutes of the period, but the Bulldogs would bury the eventual game-winning goal at the 5:33 mark. Adam Miller and Scott Wietecha picked up assists as Lewandowski's rebound chance on the right side found the net high on Eno to give FSU the 2-1 lead.
Eno went on to make 19 saves in the second stanza and another six in the final 20 minutes of play. However, it wouldn't be enough to earn the Falcons points as Nagle was just as impressive at the other end.
BG finished the night 0-for-6 with the man-advantage, while their penalty-kill held FSU scoreless on all six of their extra-man chances.
The same two teams will conclude their two-game set on Saturday at the BGSU Ice Arena when they drop the puck at 7:05 p.m. All the action can be heard by tuning into WBGU 88.1 FM as Danny Nieves will deliever all the game's play-by-play.
