Falcons Lose Heartbreaker to Notre Dame Late In Overtime, 2-1

Friday, November 27

South Bend, Ind.

7:35 PM

Bowling Green State University

Notre Dame

Photo by: Todd Pavlack / BGSUHockey.com

November 27, 2009 | Ice Hockey

By: by Ryan Gasser, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

Box score

Bowling Green Falcon hockey took to the road to continue play within their cluster on Friday night when they hopped on I-80 west to Notre Dame, Ind. for a two-game series with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

The Falcons wasted no time and before much of the crowd were in their seats, the Falcon offense had scored the lead goal of the evening. Sixteen seconds into the contest, Falcon senior Tommy Dee took a shot from the left side of Irish cage only to be stopped by freshman UND goaltender Mike Johnson. Though Johnson made the save, the puck bounced out in front of the net and BG freshman Nathan Pageau collected the loose puck to pound the rebound between the legs of Johnson for the goal and a Falcon lead, 1-0.

Bowling Green went on their first power play chance at the 7:20 mark when freshman Kyle Palmieri was whistled for a roughing after the whistle penalty putting the Falcons one man up. The Falcons struggled on their first power play opportunity, but strong goaltending would make the first period a successful one.
On a Falcon turnover during their own power play, UND sophomore winger Billy Mayday intercepted a Bowling Green pass and took it the length of the ice beating the defense for a one-on-one scoring opportunity with BG goaltender Nick Eno. Mayday going to Eno's right rang the post with a short-handed shot that missed on the Irish's best scoring opportunity of the first period. The Falcons could not convert on the power play getting no shots on goal in their first power play attempt. Neither team would put a shot on goal during each of their lone first period power play chances.

The Falcons ended the first period on their heels defensively as turnovers made the end of the period interesting on Eno. Notre Dame put eleven shots on goal to Bowling Green's seven. The Falcons survived the Irish charge and took a 1-0 lead into the locker room after one period.

Notre Dame came out of the locker room carried their offensive intensity over from the first period. Within the first two minutes, Eno would be tested with four shots, two of which would get through the Eno for successful saves before the Falcons got into penalty trouble.

Senior defenseman Brian Moore was first called on a tripping penalty from behind the Falcon cage to give the Irish an extra attacker at 16:59 in the second period. Forty seconds later, senior captain Kyle Page was penalized for cross-checking after Eno made a goal-saving stop. After the penalty on Page, the Irish ran a 5-on-3 power play offense on the Falcons. Twenty-eight seconds later, Notre Dame tied the game up at one after Riley Sheahan set up fellow freshman Kyle Palmieri inside the left circle for an shot that hit the back of the net at 15:51. Bowling Green would kill the upcoming 5-on-4 chance for Notre Dame.

The Falcons caught a break when David Solway was checked hard into the boards hard from Notre Dame junior Calle Ridderwall, resulting in Ridderwall's removal from the game for a five-minute major and game misconduct penalty for checking from behind. The Irish would lose one of their five team-leading scorers for the duration of the game and Bowling Green would go on a five-minute power play. The Falcons charged the net but UND netminder Mike Johnson made a pair of saves while his defense blocked two shots as UND killed the Bowling Green power play.

Bowling Green would remain on their heels as they would kill back-to-back penalties within the last 4:30 after Brian Moore and Nick Eno were both called for obstruction at different times. Bowling Green left the second period with minimal damage allowing only one early goal in the second and took a 1-1 tie into the second intermission.

The third period featured the Falcons and the Irish exchanging penalties within the first five minutes of the final frame of regulation after Page was called for interference and UND's Kyle Lawson for tripping Kai Kantola on a break-away effort. Bowling Green put three hard shots on goal against Johnson of UND while they had 1:47 of a power play remaining, but could not score on the attempt.

With a shade under five minutes remaining in regulation play, the Falcons caught the opportunity they needed when Notre Dame forward Billy Maday was put into the penalty box for two minutes for high-sticking. The Irish reversed the momentum early in the power play when an intercepted BG pass turned into a UND 3-on-2 break to the Falcon net. Assistant captain Kyle Lawson received the final pass outside the far circle with a still shot, but missed wide of the Falcon cage. Bowling Green's Kai Kantola turned up the heat on goaltender Mike Johnson with a pair of shots during the man advantage. To end the power play, freshman Max Grover took a long shot from the top of the near-side circle that missed the post by mere inches, wide to the right.

The final 2:56 of regulation went back and forth between the two teams as tough defense prevailed to send the game into overtime with a 1-1 tie after three periods of play. The Falcons outshot the Irish in the third frame 9-6 but trailed in shots on goal in regulation, 31-21.

In the overtime period, Bowling Green had the first true chance to break the tie when freshman Jordan Samuels-Thomas broke up the Notre Dame offense and went on a breakaway only to lose the puck his skate before getting a shot off. Josh Boyd brought the puck back up the ice and from within the near-side circle would shoot just wide of the UND cage.

The battle would be decided in the last minute of play when for nearly the last forty-five seconds the Falcons and Irish battled up and down the boards for possession of the puck. Once Notre Dame acquired possession, one shot decided 64-plus minutes of ice time. Notre Dame's Ian Cole took a shot from between the circles that Eno saved initially, but the rebound took an awkward bounce off the junior goaltender and managed to fall in the Falcon net for the game-winning goal with 2.4 seconds remaining on the clock.

The Falcons went scoreless on the power play in five chances while the Irish finished 1-for-7 on the evening. They have now been unsuccessful in their last ten power play opportunities, spanning over the last two games. Bowling Green was outshot 33-21 by Notre Dame, though the Falcons put two more on net than UND in the third period, 9-6. The two Notre Dame goals are the fewest number of goals the Falcons have allowed in a loss this season. The Falcons eight penalties are the most penalties the Falcons have committed since their 5-1 loss to Ferris State on Nov. 6.

On an individual level, Nick Eno earned the second star of the night honor despite the loss, after making 31 saves on 33 UND shots. His counterpart, Mike Johnson, saved 19-of-20 BGSU shots on goal.
Tomas Petruska had his career-high five game point scoring streak snapped after not scoring a point Friday night. All three Falcon point scorers in Friday night's game (Pageau, Dee and Perkin) have now scored points in two of their last three games.

The Falcons overtime loss to the Irish leaves them with a 2-10-1 overall record, 2-6-1-1 in conference play. The Irish improve to 7-5-3 overall and 4-2-3-2 in the CCHA. Bowling Green will return to the Joyce Center Saturday night for a 7:05 p.m. EST puck drop for game two of the weekend series with Notre Dame. Full coverage of the weekend capper can be found at BGSUFalcons.com.