Bowling Green State University
FERRIS STATE
BG Earns Split With Ferris State
February 15, 2009 | Ice Hockey
Feb. 15, 2009
BOWLING GREEN, OHIO - The Bowling Green State University hockey team scored in every period and rode the strong goaltending of senior Jimmy Spratt to a 3-1 victory over Ferris State Saturday night at the Ice Arena breaking a season-high six-game losing streak.
The Falcons got the all-important first goal for only the second time in the last seven games as junior James Perkin took a touch pass from junior Todd McIlrath at the blue line and skated in on Bulldog goalie Taylor Nelson letting a shot go from between the circles that beat him low to the glove side. Junior defenseman Kyle Page also drew an assist on the goal at 9:27 of the first period.
It was Perkin's fifth goal of the season.
The Falcons extended their lead when sophomore Wade Finegan knocked home a goal, his second of the year, at 13:49 of the second period. McIlrath hit Finegan with a perfect pass who was coming down the slot and Finegan lifted the puck beating Nelson high to the glove side. Like the first Falcon goal, Page earned the second assist.
Ferris State kept it close with a goal just 23 seconds after Finegan's that sent the teams to the locker room at the second intermission with the game still in doubt and the Falcons holding onto a 2-1 edge.
But, 5:52 into the final stanza, junior Tommy Dee tipped a pass from sophomore Patrick Tiesling in to give the Falcons some breathing room. And Spratt did the rest making 13 saves in the final period and kept the Bulldogs off the board as they enjoyed a six-on-four situation for the final 1:05 of the game with the goalie pulled for an extra attacker and BG with one player in the penalty box.
Spratt made 26 saves in the contest to record his 10th win of the season, Spratt has now allowed three goals or fewer in nine of his last 11 games and has a 5-5 record over the period. Nelson was credited with 19 stops.
Neither team capitalized on the power play with Ferris State failing on three attempts and Bowling Green on four. All four goals in the game were of the even-strength variety.
It was the first multi-point games for both Page and McIlrath this season and the first in the 104-game career of Page, the BG captain this season.
By salvaging a split of their weekend series with Ferris State, the Bulldogs won Friday night by a 3-2 count, the Falcons improve to 10-19-3 overall and 7-16-1-0 in Central Collegiate Hockey Association play. Ferris State is now 12-13-7 overall and 9-10-5-2 in league play.
Bowling Green will play a home-and-home series with Michigan State next weekend with a contest in East Lansing on Friday before the Falcons honor the three seniors, Brandon Svendsen, Kevin Schmidt, and Spratt, on Saturday in their final home game. The Saturday contest will begin at 5:05 p.m.
Head Coach Scott Paluch
"It was important to finish it off and get the win. It was a really good effort out of our team. Very similar to a lot of these we have had the last four or five games. The important thing is in this one it was the first time in the last few games when we have scored the first goal. It is an important component for a team that has not been able to win games and has been on kind of a down streak. The first goal can be pretty important. And that was the case tonight. And then we got a great goal from Wade (Finegan) to extend it."
"From Jimmy (goalie Jimmy Spratt) on out it was a real solid game there. I liked our penalty-kill and our power-play was pretty good despite the fact we didn't get many shots."
"We wanted to make sure the puck headed northward when we were in our own zone, toward the line and out, as opposed to bringing it back toward our tired defense sometimes."
"It was a really nice goal by Perkin (James) to start the game. Then Wade (Finegan) and Tommy (Dee) chipped in. We had three goals and Danny (Sexton), Brandon (Svendsen) or David (Solway) were not involved. That is kind of unique for us. It was good to have other guys chip in."
Junior Todd McIlrath
"When you can get that first goal, it definitely puts a little more jump in your stride and puts you in position to close. There were stretches last night when we were playing good hockey, but were not getting any results. It's frustrating to be doing good things and not get anything for it."
"Last night was a game that everybody felt we should have won. It was really frustrating and we talked about that this morning and for a little bit before the game tonight. We came out with the same effort as last night and we got some bounces and it paid off."
