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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
ALASKA
Nanooks Top Falcons, 4-1, On Saturday Night At The BGSU Ice Arena
February 09, 2008 | Ice Hockey
Feb. 9, 2008
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Alaska senior goaltender Wylie Rogers made 46 saves on 47 shots to help lead the University of Alaska Nanooks to a, 4-1, victory over the Bowling Green State University hockey team on Saturday night in game two of their two-game series. The Saturday night Central Collegiate Hockey Association contest was held in front of 2,762 fans at the BGSU Ice Arena.
With the victory, the Nanooks improved to 8-16-4 on the year and 7-13-3 in the CCHA, dropping the Falcons to 14-14-0 and 11-11-0, respectively.
It was an early second period goal from Alaska defenseman Steve Vanoosten that wound up being the eventual game-winning marker. Vanoosten found the net right in front from the slot just 1:47 into the second period to give the Nanooks a then 2-0 lead. Aaron Lee and Ryan Muspratt tallied the assists on Vanoosten's first goal of the season.
The Nanooks held a 1-0 lead after the first 20 minutes and a 3-1 lead after 40 as the Falcons fell in game two of a CCHA series for the third-straight weekend. The win for the Nanooks earned them a split in the series after the Falcons earned a 4-2 win on Friday.
BG's lone tally on the evening came from senior forward and tri-captain Derek Whitmore, who lit the lamp for the 23rd time this season at the 4:39 mark of the second period. Whitmore's goal brought the Falcons within one at, 2-1, but it wouldn't be enough as the Falcons were turned aside 46 times by Rogers on a season-high 47 shots.
"I thought both teams played really hard tonight," said BG coach Scott Paluch. "The big difference in the game, in my mind, was Alaska being able to win the battles along the boards for the loose pucks and being able to put them in. But we were able to generate a lot of chances tonight. We just couldn't generate enough chances in the best scoring areas of the zone tonight. We had a few, but Wylie [Rogers] was solid throughout the night. He made saves, didn't give up too many rebounds and they just so happened to get those fortuitous bounces tonight, which I thought we benefited from last evening."
BG saw numerous opportunities to score slip away on the night due to pucks hitting the post or Rogers making a big save. The Falcons hit two posts on the evening and had a goal disallowed in the first period that would've tied the game at 1-1 due to a high stick. On other chances, Rogers just made himself a brick wall between the pipes as the senior turned aside 10 BG shots in the first period, 14 in the second and 22 in the third.
With Rogers playing big in net at the other end, the Nanooks took advantage of an early goal to roll into the locker room with a 1-0 lead. Just 27 seconds into the game freshman forward Landon Novotney gave the visitors the early jump in the game as he beat Nick Eno on a rush to net for his 13th goal of the season. Picking up the helper on the play was Tyler Eckford.
Late in the period, the Falcons thought they had the game tied when Tim Maxwell's shot from the point got re-directed in front of the Nanook net and found its' way past Rogers. However, the goal was waived off by the referee immediately, as the re-direction came about on a high stick.
The bad break for the Falcons turned into a momentum swing early in the second for the Nanooks as Vanoosten picked up his game-winning tally just 1:47 into the period.
The momentum wouldn't stay with UA for long though as the Falcons came after the Nanooks hard in the second, firing 15 second period shots on net. Just 2:52 after Vanoosten's goal, Whitmore picked up his second goal of the weekend on a highlight reel play to get his team back within a goal. The Rochester, N.Y native faked a pass from the right side of the crease to the right-wing circle, before doing a spin move on the Alaska defenders and throwing the puck upstairs past Rogers. Freshman forward Dan Sexton tallied his 11th assist of the season on the play.
Both squads battled hard for the remainder of the period as it looked as though the game would go to the final period with UA leading by just one.
That would change with 1:20 remaining however, in the second stanza. After BG goaltender Nick Eno made an initial save on a shot by Nanook forward Dion Knelsen on the right side of the crease, Knelsen proceeded to somehow get the puck past Eno in the middle of skirmish in front to give UA a 3-1 lead. Novotney tallied the lone assist as the Nanooks took a 3-1 lead into the second intermission, despite BG holding a 25-21 edge in shots.
It would be the final 20 minutes where Rogers was at his best, turning away a season-best 22 BG shots in the period to preserve the win.
Forward Adam Naglich finalized the game's scoring with an empty-net goal with 27 seconds showing on the clock as the Falcons fell to 3-5-0 on the season in game two of a CCHA series after winning game one.
The Falcons finished with a 47-28 edge in shots on goal as Eno made 24 saves on the evening.
BG was 0-for-6 on the night on the man-advantage, while the penalty-kill held the Nanooks scoreless on three chances.
The Falcons will return to the ice next Friday and Saturday when they travel to Nebraska to take on the Mavericks of Nebraska-Omaha. Both faceoffs are scheduled for 8:05 p.m. at the Omaha Civic Auditorium. All the action can be heard by tuning into WBGU 88.1 FM with Danny Nieves providing all the weekend's play-by-play.
NOTES:BG's 22 second period shots were just 10 shy of the all-time school mark of 32 shots in period, which occurred back in 1983 when the Falcons fired 32 shots on Illinois-Chicago in third period on Nov. 11th ... Derek Whitmore's 23rd goal puts the senior forward just two goals shy of entering BGSU's top-20 list for career goals and just six points shy of 100 career points ... His 28 points this season is one point off his single-season high of 29 scored last season ... Whitmore now has 10 goals in his last 10 games ... The Falcons are now 1-16-3 all-time against the Nanooks when scoring less than four goals.
