Falcons Fall in East Lansing, 4-1 to Spartans

Saturday, December 12

East Lansing, Mich.

7:05 PM

Bowling Green State University

Michigan State

Photo by: Todd Pavlack / BGSUHockey.com

December 12, 2009 | Ice Hockey

By: by Ryan Gasser, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

Box score
Post game audio - Dennis Williams

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- After a disheartening 3-2 loss to the No. 14/13 Michigan State Spartans in overtime Friday night, the Bowling Green Falcons took to the road tom complete the home-and-home weekend series with the Green and White.

Michigan State came out extremely physical and controlled the puck much of the first five minutes of the opening period. Bowling Green elected to start freshman Andrew Hammond between the posts in the weekend capper, his first CCHA start since Nov. 6 at Ferris State.

The Spartans tested the first-year goaltender with a their first shot on goal eighteen seconds into the game to which Hammond made the save. Hammond made his first 15 saves in the first period before succumbing to a five-on-three power play charge by the Spartans in the final minute of the period.

After penalties only three seconds apart by both squads by the Falcons' Tomas Petruska and the Spartans' Dustin Gazley, Bowling Green and Michigan State skated four-on-four for forty-six seconds before Max Grover was charged with a major contact to the head penalty. After Petruska and Gazley both re-entered, Kyle Page was penalized for obstruction-interference, creating a five-on-three power play for Michigan State. The Spartans would have possessed the advantage for the duration of the first period, but MSU scored with the two man advantage when captain Jeff Petry was set up by Torey Krug for a one-timer from the left circle beating Hammond glove-side for a 1-0 lead at 19:16.

Coming out of the first intermission, MSU had 1:06 remaining on the Max Grover five minute major penalty. Hammond made a save on a Daultan Leveille slap shot from the top of the circles before Bowling Green killed the remaining time on the power play.

The penalty party continued when four additional penalties were assessed within the first six minutes of the second period. At 14:25, Grover was flagged for a minor facemasking penalty, but MSU's Matt Grassi received five minutes for facemasking on the same play. After Grover served his two minutes in the penalty box, Bowling Green went on a three minute five-on-four power play. The Michigan State special teams units stepped up and killed the BG power play after missing wide on shots twice and having another blocked.

In the final five-plus minutes of the period, it was Michigan State's mistakes that put the Spartans on the defensive. Following consecutive penalties 00:55 apart, the Falcons went on a five-on-three of their own with 1:05 to work with the two man advantage. They would only need thirteen seconds to tie the game at one when Kyle Page took a hard slap shot that sailed high of the cage bouncing off the glass toward linemate Tomas Pertruska. Petruska, while falling away from the net, poked at the loose puck at sent it over the red line past a diving Drew Palmisano in net. At 16:02, the Falcons made it an even contest, 1-1.

The lead did not last long when in the final two minutes the Falcons again fell victim to a late goal scored by the Spartans Corey Tropp. The goal was scored with forty-three ticks on the clock remaining in the second. With a 2-1 score, the Spartans took the lead into the second intermission.

Early in the third period, MSU put their third goal on the board when Tropp struck again by going five-hole in traffic on Hammond. Off of the faceoff, centerman Andrew Rowe and winger Daultan Leveille put together a string passes that set up Tropp in front of the net amongst a flurry of Falcons. Despite the bodies in front of the net, Tropp managed to get enough of the puck to slide it under Hammond for his second goal of the night and a 3-1 Spartan lead at 16:08.

Niether the Spartans or Tropp were content with the lead when after a Jordan Samuels-Thomas tripping penalty at 16:23, Michigan State went back on the power play for the sixth time in the game. Tropp completed the hat trick when he fought through traffic and found a puck bouncing off his own man and went near-side post with a quick wrist shot at 13:22 past Hammond for goal number three on the night.

With the final Tropp score, the game went final after a scoreless final six-plus minute span with a score of 4-1, Spartans win.

After outshooting their opponent in two consecutive games, Bowling Green was outshot by the Spartans 36-16 with 28 Michigan State shots coming from the first two periods. The Falcons went 1-for-4 on the power play Saturday night while MSU scored twice on six chances. There were 14 penalties between the teams for a combined 34 minutes and created ten power play opportunities.

The Falcons will not play again until Saturday, Jan. 2, 2010 following the holiday break. They will fly out to Minneapolis, Minn. for the Dodge Holiday Classic where they will play the Minnesota Golden Gophers at 7:00 p.m. EST. Sunday will feature the Falcons to face off against either fellow CCHA member Northern Michigan or Clarkson. Follow BGSUFalcons.com for details and complete coverage of the tournament as well as all BGSU hockey action.