Falcons Achieve 800 Wins and Invitation to Championship Round

Friday, November 26

Troy, N.Y.

4:00 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Alabama Huntsville

November 26, 2010 | Ice Hockey

Bowling Green defeated Alabama-Huntsville for the third time this season en route to program win #800.

By: by Ryan Gasser, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- Bowling Green scored three times in the second period to solidify a 5-1 victory over the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers in the opening round of the 60th annual RPI Holiday Tournament, Friday night. The win was the third against the Chargers this season and made for a milestone 800th win in program history.

Box score (.html) | Box score (.pdf) | Updated statistics (.html)
Post game audio (.mp3) -- Chris Bergeron | David Solway
Post game video -- click here

Bowling Green's biggest dent on the scoreboard came in the second period with three goals all scored inside of a two minute span of time and all in close proximity to the Charger cage. The Falcons intensified their attack to the Alabama-Huntsville net with a lot of attempted shots early in the period. Near the mid-way point, Bowling Green added to a 1-0 lead when Camden Wojtala (Fr., Trenton, Mich.) scored his third goal of the season when finding the puck just outside the crease and put home Bowling Green's second goal of the night at 12:32.

Just under a minute later, UAH got on the scoreboard when Justin Cseter corralled his own rebound and sniped a laser in the middle of the slot, making the score 2-1. Bowling Green retaliated just seconds later.

Shortly after the UAH goal, the Chargers committed a penalty that resulted in Bowling Green's third goal of the game. While on the power play, the Falcons' Chad Sumsion (Fr., Woodstock, Ontario) was the next benefactor from aggressive play from in front of the net. Brett Mohler (Fr., Yorba Linda, Calif.) missed with a saved shot but there to clean up the mess was Sumsion for his second goal of the season. The goal at 14:09 was the Falcons' fourth power-play score of the year and gave the squad a 3-1 advantage.

Just nine second after, Bowling Green added to the lead with their fourth goal of the game via Wade Finegan (Sr., Toronto, Ontario). Again with more intense play in front of the Alabama-Huntsville cage, Cameron Sinclair (Jr., Windsor, Ontario) won the faceoff and immediately led a Falcon attack between the circles. Following the puck, Finegan put home his second goal of the year, providing a 4-1 Falcon advantage.

Bowling Green sophomore Jordan Samuels-Thomas (South Windsor, Conn.) scored the tournament's (and Falcons') first goal and gave the Falcons a 1-0 edge late in the first period. Just as both teams entered the final minute of play in the first period, Samuels-Thomas took a chip pass from Marc Rodriguez (So., Aurora, Ill.) in the neutral zone all the way through the slot. Fighting through three Charger defenders, Samuels-Thomas charged through the slot and between the dots, launched a wrist shot to beat Alabama-Huntsville goaltender C.J. Groh top-shelf. Scored with 00:25 remaining in the period, the Falcons took that lead into the locker room after one period of play.

In the third period, Jake Sloat (Fr., Lousiville, Colo.) left no doubt regarding the certainty of a Falcons win with his first collegiate goal while on the power play. Marked at 12:54, Sloat took a wide open shot at the top of the slot and won the top-shelf battled with Groh. The goal also marked the first time this season that the Falcons scored multiple power-play goals. They finished 2-for-five on the power play while holding the Chargers scoreless on four attempts while a man up.

Bowling Green rebounds after being outshot by the nationally-ranked Miami RedHawks, 32-9, by putting 27 shots on goal to UAH's 20.

Aside from the one blemish against Nick Eno (Howell, Mich.) in the second period, the senior goaltender put together a solid performance ending the night with 19 saves. His opposition, C.J. Groh, finished with 22 saves on the night. Eno finished the night one save short of 1,500 career saves and stands at 1,499 in his fourth year at BGSU.

Brett Mohler has now scored a point in five of his last six games with his two assists on Friday. He was one of four Falcons with multiple points on the night. He now has eight points since Nov. 6 with a line of 5-3-8.

The Falcons now eclipse last year's win total (6) and also obtain the program's 800th victory in the school's history. Bergeron follows former head coaches Buddy Powers (#600, #700), Jerry York (#300, 400, 500) and Ron Mason (#100, 200) as coaches that brought home milestone victories to the Falcon hockey program.

Bowling Green (6-9-0) will return to the Houston Field House (Troy, New York) Saturday to play in the championship round of the 60th Annual RPI Holiday Tournament. They will play the hosts of this tournament, Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute (6-3-3), on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. EST. RPI defeated UConn in a back-and-forth 6-5 decision in Friday's nightcap.