Falcons Play Strong Early; Late Buckeye Burst Downs BGSU 7-2

Friday, January 8

Columbus, Ohio

7:05 PM

Bowling Green State University

Ohio State

January 08, 2010 | Ice Hockey

By: by Ryan Gasser, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

Box score
Dennis Williams post game audio

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Following their first win after the turn of the new year, the Bowling Green Falcons looked to begin a winning streak while continuing their seven game road trip in the state's capital. Inside of the Schottenstein Center, Value City Arena featured the first of two games between the Falcons and the Ohio State Buckeyes this weekend. Despite playing back-and-forth hockey with OSU through two periods, the Buckeyes late burst of offense in the third period led to a 7-2 Falcon loss on Friday night.

The game began with offense spouting out of both benches as on each team's first possession the puck was taken down the length of the ice and a shot was put on goal for each goaltender to contest. Nick Eno (Jr., G) made his first eight saves of the evening spanning over 14 minutes of the opening period. Once the clock hit six however, Ohio State scored the first goal of the game. After the puck was dumped into the Bowling Green zone, a scrum for the puck sent it off the boards and out in front of Eno and the Falcon cage. Cleaning up the loose puck was Hunter Bishop, beating the junior goalie to the far side of the post. The goal was Bishop's sixth goal of the season and gave the Buckeyes a 1-0 lead late in the first period.

The first period featured 30 total shots between the two teams with Bowling Green throwing 12 on sophomore Buckeye goaltender, Cal Heeter. Ohio State put 18 shots on goal, the most a Bowling Green opponent has had in the first period this season.

The second period began with both teams showing good defensive stands, but slowly turned into a scoring showcase between the Falcons and Buckeyes. Through the period's first four minutes only one shot was fired on goal, that by Bowling Green. Ohio State would shoot twice 45 seconds later, with the second shot doubling the lead for the Buckeyes.

Following a shot by OSU forward C.J. Severyn that Eno stuffed on the far-side post, the puck popped free of the Falcon goaltender out in front of the net. Coming in strong, Mathieu Picard (Sr., F) of the Buckeyes stuck his stick out and poked the loose puck through Eno's legs for their second goal of the game. Severyn and John Albert (Jr., F) were awarded assists, the second for both players.

Bowling Green would not leave the ice in the second period without responding to the two Buckeye goals. Following a wide shot by Ohio State, Ian Ruel (Fr., D) sent the puck up the ice to assistant captain Tommy Dee (Sr., F) where he stationed himself for a hard one-timer from the far-side faceoff circle. Dee's laser beat Heeter high and to his glove-side to halve the Buckeye lead, 2-1. The goal was the senior's seventh of the season and his fifth in CCHA play this season. With the assist, Ruel has recorded a helper in back-to-back games after his assist on Kai Kantola's opening goal against Clarkson (Jan. 3). Also assisting on the Falcon goal was freshman forward Nathan Pageau.

Before the period closed, OSU added to their lead with 3:01 remaining in the second period while on a 4-on-3 power play. After off-setting penalties on BGSU defenseman Andrew Krelove (Jr.) and OSU forward Sergio Somma (Jr.), David Solway (Jr., F) was whistled for hooking, giving Ohio State 1:21 with a man advantage. It only took 28 seconds for the Buckeyes to take advantage of the power play opportunity.

After setting up the offense in the Bowling Green zone, two passes put the puck on the stick of Buckeye defenseman Devon Krogh who shot to the near side of the Falcon cage for the third OSU score of the game.

As the second period wound down, the Falcon two-minute offense came alive to retaliate with their own power-play goal. Corey Schneider (So., F) was put in the penalty box at 19:11 for holding giving the Falcons a power play to close out the period. With eight seconds left on the board, freshman Jordan Samuels-Thomas received a pass at the point and instantly cracked a shot that was tipped out in front by Dee into the back of the net for a power-play score to close the margin to 3-2 for the Falcons. Assisting on the score was Samuels-Thomas and Pageau. With the goal, the Falcons scored their twelfth goal within the first or last two minutes of a period. It also marks the eighteenth goal with all scoring made by the freshman and senior classes.

The beginning of the third period was marred with penalties that eventually caught up to Bowling Green. After Ohio State successfully killed a Bowling Green power play less than a minute into the period, the Falcons had a second opportunity with an extra man at 4:31 but killed their own power play with a Solway tripping call. Following an additional penalty by Dee for slashing, Ohio State went on a 4-on-3 power play that they capitalized on. Following a pair of shots by the Buckeyes, one saved by Eno the second blocked by Kyle Page (Sr., D), Bishop pushed the puck home beating the Falcon defense for the second time on the night. With a 4-2 lead, the Buckeyes began pulling away from the Falcons in a hurry.

Following a holding call on Ruel at 8:15, OSU scored goal number five when Severyn broke loose while both teams sported four skaters and caught Eno on the near side of the net with a shot out of his reach far-side. With the lead stretched to three goals at 5-2, freshman netminder Andrew Hammond entered the game but was met with another wave of Ohio State offense.

Ohio State defenseman Matt Bartkowski scored the third power-play goal of the night for the Buckeyes at 11:25 in the third period giving the home team a 6-2 lead before extending the lead once again with a Taylor Stefishen (So., F) even-strength, unassisted goal with 9:43 remaining in the contest. With four third period goals, the Buckeyes held on to give Bowling Green the loss by a final of 7-2.

Dee's two-goal performance marked the third time he has done that in his Falcon career and the second time this season. His first career multi-goal game came in last year's CCHA first round tournament action versus Ohio State. Dee now also leads the team with four power-play goals scored this season. Pageau records his second multi-point game of his career with two assists on the night, both coming on each of Dee's goals.

Bowling Green falls to 3-16-2 (2-11-2-2, CCHA) while Ohio State improves to 8-12-1 (6-8-1-1, CCHA) on the season. The Falcons and Buckeyes will square up once again Saturday at 7:05 p.m. at Value City Arena. Complete coverage will be provided on BGSUFALCONS.com.