Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
MICHIGAN STATE
Falcons Allow Two Third Period Goals In Loss At Michigan State
February 20, 2009 | Ice Hockey
Feb. 20, 2009
EAST LANSING, MICH. - Michigan State scored two third period goals 26 seconds apart and then held on as Bowling made a strong bid to tie the game in the final moments before posting a 3-2 victory Friday night at Munn Ice Arena.
The Falcons opened the scoring in the first period when senior Kevin Schmidt's shot from the point found the back of the net with traffic in front of Spartan goalie Jeff Lerg. Juniors Kai Kantola and James Perkin earned the assists on the scoring play at 13:44. It was Schmidt's fourth goal of the season. With approximately 1:30 left in the period, BG senior goalie Jimmy Spratt stopped Spartan defenseman Jeff Petry on a breakaway to keep the shutout intact. BG has a 13-11 edge in shots on goal for the period.
Michigan State tied the game at 1-all with a second period power-play goal by Matt Schepke on a point shot that beat Spratt with traffic in front. That goal came at the 7:00 mark. The Falcons took a 2-1 lead to the locker room at the second intermission on the strength of a goal from junior Tomas Petruska, his first of the season, at 14:40. Petruska knocked home the tally from in front to the left of Lerg on a pass from Wade Finegan that came from the right of Lerg at the goal line. Freshman Cameron Sinclair drew the other assist, his first collegiate point. BG had a 16-9 edge in shots for the middle period.
In the final period, the Spartans had the better of the play early in the period and parlayed that into the tying and winning goals.
Freshman Daultan Leveille evened the score at 2-all at 6:06 on an even-strength tally and freshman defenseman Brock Shelgren scored an unassisted even-strength goal at 6:32 for the game-winner. It was Shelgren's first collegiate red-lighter.
The Falcons weathered two Spartan five-on-three situations for a total of 3:29 between approximately the 10-minute mark and the four-minute mark of the final period to give themselves a chance to tie in the final minutes.
But. Lerg was good in goal and made the Shelgren goal stand up as the decider even though the Falcons played the last 1:50 of the game with Spratt pulled in favor of an extra attacker. The Falcons had a couple good opportunities to tie the game but could not get another shot past the Spartan goalie.
Spratt had 29 saves in the game while Lerg was credited with 35 stops. The Falcons were one-of-five on the power-play while Michigan State finished one-of-six with the man-advantage.
With the loss, BG falls to 10-20-3 overall and 7-17-1-0 in Central Collegiate Hockey Association action. The Spartans, who are 3-0-2 in their last five games, improve to 10-18-5 and 7-14-4-3 in league play. The same two teams meet in a 5:05 contest Saturday at the BGSU Ice Arena.
The game on Saturday will mark the final home contest for the three BGSU seniors who will be honored in a pregame ceremony. Forward Brandon Svendsen, an alternate captain, defenseman Kevin Schmidt, also an alternate captain this season, and goalie Jimmy Spratt will be honored prior to the start of the game Saturday.
BGSU head coach Scott Paluch
"It was a hard-fought game that I thought our guys deserved better in."
(on Tomas Petruska scoring his first goal of the season)
"It was a big goal, and hopefully it will spark him."
(on BG's play in the third period)
"Our penalty kill was tremendous. It certainly gave us a chance at the end of the game. Our play on both those five-on-threes was outstanding."
