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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
ALASKA
Falcon Hockey Downs The Nanooks, 4-2, Friday At The BGSU Ice Arena
February 08, 2008 | Ice Hockey
Feb. 8, 2008
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - A big three-goal offensive outburst in the second period helped guide the Bowling Green State University hockey team to a, 4-2, victory over the University of Alaska Nanooks on Friday evening. The first game of the two-game Central Collegiate Hockey Association series was held at the BGSU Ice Arena.
With the victory, the Falcons improved to 14-13-0 on the season and 11-10-0 in the CCHA, dropping the Nanooks to 7-16-4 and 7-13-3, respectively.
The Falcons were led in the winning effort by sophomore forward Kai Kantola who tied a game-high with two points. The Raleigh, N.C. native tallied a goal and an assist for BG on the night, along with freshman forward David Solway. James Perkin added two helpers then as Jimmy Spratt earned his fifth victory of the season in net, making 31 stops on 33 Nanook shots.
The Nanooks were led in defeat by freshman forward Dustin Sather and freshman defenseman Jeff Penner who had lines of 1-1-2 and 0-2-2, respectively.
"I thought it was a really solid, complete game effort by our team tonight," said BG coach Scott Paluch. "I loved how we came out from the start. We had some good jump in our feet - more importantly, I thought we had some good physical play early on that allowed us to set a good tone and we stuck with it. We answered the bell on two of their goals, got some good saves out of Jimmy [Spratt] and the penalty-kill was solid. It's a real important win for us."
In victory, the Falcons not only earned their 14th victory of the season to give them their best win total since the 2004-05 season, but they moved into a fifth-place tie with Nebraska-Omaha who ended in 3-3 tie with Ohio State. With just seven league games remaining the Falcons also guaranteed themselves that they'll finish 11th or higher in the CCHA this season as they now have a 14-point spread on last-place Western Michigan with only 14 points available for both teams. The Falcons were picked to finish 12th in both preseason CCHA polls and would own the tie-breaker due to their sweep of the season series.
Helping the Falcons seize an early 1-0 lead in the first period to guide them to the big win was senior forward Derek Whitmore. It took just 2:21 for the Rochester, N.Y. native to find the net for the 22nd time this season as his shot to the left side of the slot found the top half of the net after a great setup from linemate Dan Sexton. Sexton picked up an assist on the play, along with centerman Todd McIlrath, who collected his 13th helper of the season.
BG finished the first period with a 1-0 lead and a 14-10 edge in shots on goal as Spratt turned aside all 10 shots he faced in the opening 20.
The Falcons once again got a quick start to the second stanza as they found the net on the power play for the first time after 43 scoreless opportunities. Solway netted his fifth extra-man goal of the season when he collected his own rebound off the pad of Nanook goaltender Wylie Rogers and stuff it home for his ninth goal of the year. Kantola and Perkin picked up the assists at 1:11 of the second period.
UA wouldn't let the Falcons enjoy their two-goal lead for long though. Just 2:45 later, forward Ryan Muspratt found the net off Spratt's stick after he attempted a wrap-around from right-wing side of the net. The puck hit Spratt's pad before hitting his stick and proceeded to find its' way into the net between the junior goaltender's legs as Nathan Lawrence and Jeff Penner tallied the assists.
However, just when it looked like the Nanooks might have found some momentum, senior forward John Mazzei silenced it, picking up his third goal of the year at even strength at the 9:59 mark. Tim Maxwell and Jacob Cepis both got credited for helpers in the effort.
Kantola then finished off BG's scoring on the night with the Falcons' second goal on the power play at the 13:05 mark to open the lead up to, 4-1. Solway and Perkin assisted as Kantola slid the puck past Rogers from the left side of the crease after a good job of positioning himself in front for quick dish off.
BG took a 4-1 lead into the second intermission and held tight in the third, despite having to withstand a final Nanook push that saw them shrink the Falcons' lead to two just 3:18 in. Dustin Sather found the net past Spratt after a shot by Penner hit his body and deflected in.
It would be as close as UA would get though, as Spratt made 11 stops in the final period to help preserve the win and end BG's one-game skid.
Spratt's counterpart, Rogers, would finish his night with 31 saves on 35 Falcon shots as BG held a slight 35-33 advantage in the final count,
The Falcon power play went 2-for-4 on the night, while the penalty-kill held the Nanooks scoreless on four extra-man chances.
The same two squads will conclude their series on Saturday with faecoff scheduled once again for 7:05 p.m. All the action can be heard on WBGU 88.1 FM as Danny Nieves and Everett Fitzhugh will bring you all the play-by-play.
NOTES:The win for BG was their first against Alaska in three games ... they are now in position to sweep the Nanooks for the first time since a two-game home sweep in January of 2005 ... Kai Kantola's current three-game point streak marks a new career-best for the sophomore forward ... Kantola has tallied all six of his goals this season in Falcon wins and is now tied for fifth on the squad with four multiple-point games ... Derek Whitmore's 22nd goal puts the senior tri-captain just three goals away from BG's top-20 list for career goals and has him just seven points shy of 100 for his career ... Whitmore now has 19 goals this season in 14 Falcon wins as he has tallied nine goals in the last nine games ... the Falcon power play hadn't scored a goal with the man-advantage in six games prior to tonight's contest ... BG is now 10-0-0 this season when tallying four or more goals in a game ... the Falcons are also 12-2 when scoring the game's first goal and 12-1 when leading at the first intermission ... the Falcons have out-scored their opponents 19-4 in the first period this season in their 14 wins.
