Bowling Green State University
OHIO STATE
Falcons Lose In Overtime To Ohio State
January 11, 2009 | Ice Hockey
Jan. 11, 2009
BOWLING GREEN, OHIO - The Bowling Green State University hockey team had two one-goal leads in the series finale with Ohio State Saturday night at the BGSU Ice Arena. Ohio State also had two. The problem was, Ohio State had the most important one - the last one - as the Buckeyes skated to a 4-3 overtime victory and a road sweep of the weekend series.
In a game much different than the opening night 8-5 scorefest, both teams took turns gaining the momentum in a back-and-forth contest that ended at the 2:44 mark of the overtime period on a goal by Buckeye sophomore Kyle Reed, who came into the contest with one goal this season.
The Falcons drew first blood on a goal by junior Kai Kantola just 4:13 into the contest. Junior Tomas Petruska sent Kantola up the side boards and Kantola tipped the pass past a Buckeye defenseman and skated in on OSU sophomore goalie Dustin Carlson and beat him with a backhand shot between the goalie and the left pipe. Junior defenseman Russ Sinkewich also earned an assist on the goal.
A little more than four minutes later, Ohio State tied the game before BG senior defenseman Kevin Schmidt was sent in alone on Carlson by fellow defenseman Andrew Krelove and Schmidt knocked in the rebound of his first shot on the Ohio State netminder. Schmidt's goal came at the 15:04 mark of the first stanza and sent the two teams to their locker rooms with the Falcons holding a 2-1 advantage.
But, a pair of Ohio State tallies in the second period, both on the power play, swung the momentum back the Buckeyes way. The first OSU score came at the 5:52 mark on a 5-on-4 situation. The Falcons then took their second and third consecutive penalties and the Buckeyes capitalized to take their first lead of the game scoring at 8:36 with just two seconds left on a 5-on-3 situation. BG killed of the rest of that penalty, but the damage had been done and OSU led 3-2 heading into the last 20 minutes.
BG managed 10 shots in the final period looking for the equalizer, but it was the eighth shot that evened the score sending the game to overtime. Sophomore Dan Sexton carried the puck into the Falcon zone and settled along the boards to the right of Carlson where his first shot from a severe angle popped right back toward him where senior Brandon Svendsen tapped the puck back to Sexton and his second shot from almost the same spot found the back of the net. The score came with just 1:09 left in regulation and just two seconds after BG had pulled sophomore goalie Nick Eno for an extra attacker.
Ohio State had the better of the play in the extra period getting 10 shots, five on goal, to one for the Falcons. The game-winner came after a shot from around the face-off dot to the left of Eno was saved but the rebound at the right corner of the net was punched past Eno by Reed.
Both teams had 25 shots in the game, but the two power-play goals by the Buckeyes were the difference. OSU was 2-of-7 with the extra man while the Falcons, who had scored twice the previous night and seven times in the last four games with the man-advantage, were shutout in eight opportunities.
Eno was credited with 21 saves in his first start of the season after playing a little less than half the game last night in a relief role, while Carlson had 22 stops.
The loss drops the Falcons to 7-12-3 overall and 4-9-1-0 in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association while Ohio State won its 10th-straight contest to improve to 15-6-1 and 8-5-1-1 in conference action. BG has lost its last six league games, four of those at home, with four of those losses to top-ranked Notre Dame.
The Falcons will battle Michigan in a home-and-home series next weekend that starts with a 7:35 p.m. game in Ann Arbor on Friday before the two teams return to Bowling Green for a 5:05 p.m. game on Saturday.
