Bowling Green State University
MIAMI
RedHawks End Falcons' Season With, 4-2, Victory In Game Two Of Second Round Series
March 15, 2008 | Ice Hockey
March 15, 2008
OXFORD, Ohio - Two goals in both the first and second periods, along with a 41-save effort from goaltender Jeff Zatkoff, helped fuel the #4 Miami RedHawks to a 4-2 victory on Saturday night over the Bowling Green State University hockey team in game two of their best-of-three second round Central Collegiate Hockey Association series. The Saturday night, series clinching contest was held at MU's Steve Cady Arena.
With the victory, the RedHawks improved to 31-6-1, while the Falcons ended their 2007-08 campaign with a final record of 18-21-0. The win gave the second-seeded RedHawks a two-game sweep of the series as they will now advance to Joe Louis Arena next weekend for the CCHA Semifinals, as the seventh-seeded Falcons will now have to start the off-season and say goodbye to their five seniors.
It was two MU goals in the first period that set the tone early as both Justin Mercier and Carter Camper lit the lamp to give the RedHawks an early 2-0 lead at the 13:22 mark of the period. BG would answer back just over a minute later to get within in a single goal, but that would be as close as they'd get on the night. The RedHawks scored twice more in the second to take a three-goal lead to the second intermission. Despite 16 third period shots on goal, the Falcons could only get one puck past Zatkoff though, as the Falcons' memorable season and playoff run came to a close.
"I'm really proud of the way our team played," said BG coach Scott Paluch. "Miami is a tremendous hockey team and I thought we battled them hard from start to finish. We generated lots of chances right from the start of the game, but [Jeff] Zatkoff was just outstanding for them. He [Zatkoff] was terrific all weekend, but particularly tonight.
Zatkoff made 27 saves alone for the RedHawks in the game's first 40 minutes as he helped his team to a 4-1 lead.
Getting the night's scoring started at the 5:57 mark was Mercier, who took a cross ice pass and one-timed the puck past Eno from the lower right-wing circle. Assisting on the play for his first of two assists in the period was Tommy Wingels, who fed Mercier the puck after he rushed up the ice on the left-wing side off a pass from Camper in the RedHawk end.
The second helper for Wingels came on the goal by Camper at 13:22 of the period, which gave MU a 2-0 lead. For Camper, it was his 14th of the season as Wingels and Mercier added the assists.
However, just when it looked like the RedHawks may be well on their way to closing things out, the Falcons struck back exactly 1:13 later to get within a single goal. Sophomore forward Tommy Dee recorded his third tally of the season as he stuffed in a rebound from the left side of the crease on a shot from Derek Whitmore on the right side to pull BG within one at 2-1. The helper was Whitmore's final point in the Falcon uniform as he ended his career-season with 27 goals and 10 assists for a career-high 37 points. Ben Geelan, also playing in his final game for the orange and brown also was credited for a helper on Dee's third goal of year.
BG fired 18 first period shots at Zatkoff, but trailed 2-1 at the first intermission, in spite of having a 18-7 lead in shots.
It would be much the same in the second as they out-shot MU 9-4, but found themselves once again on the short end. The RedHawks got a power-play goal from Nathan Davis at the 13:41 mark to make the lead 3-1, before Ryan Jones capped the RedHawk scoring with an even strength goal with just 1:06 left till the second intermission.
BG wouldn't give in though as they continued to fight to try and prolong their season. BG threw 16 more shots at Zatkoff in the game's final 20 minutes, but would only find the net once.
Brandon Svendsen notched the final goal of the Falcons' season on the power play at 16:48, but it was too little too late. James Perkin picked up his 18th assist on the play, while Tim Maxwell tallied his 16th as the game ended with its' final 4-2 count.
BG was lead on the night by six different players who had a point a piece, as freshman Nick Eno collected 18 saves between the BG pipes.
Leading the way for the RedHawks, were Camper (1-1-2), Mercier (1-1-2) and Wingels (0-2-2), who each tied for a game-high two points. Zatkoff finished with 41 saves on 43 Falcon shots as BG held a 43-22 overall lead in the final shot count.
BG finished 1-for-6 with the man-advantage, while MU finished 1-for-4.
"This season was a very positive step for our team and our program," said Paluch. "We were able to earn points for a majority of the season, we earned wins for the majority of the season and we won a very important playoff series. We have those feelings going for us right now and it wouldn't have been possible without our five terrific seniors. They're all outstanding kids and they deserve a lot of credit for being able to keep things positive throughout the season after what happened last year. They're great leaders on and off the ice and we're going to miss them."
The 2007-08 team had the most wins a Falcon hockey team has seen in the last decade and the most in 13 years since they won 26 games in 1995-96. They advanced to the second round of the CCHA playoffs for the first time since 2001.
