Falcons Skate to Tie with Lakers, Fall in Shootout

Friday, December 3

Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

7:05 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Lake Superior State

December 03, 2010 | Ice Hockey

By: by Ryan Gasser, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. -- The Falcon hockey team took their talents to Sault Sainte Marie, Mich. to begin a weekend set with the Lake Superior State University Lakers and made those in attendance wait until the very end to decide a “victor”. Bowling Green took a 1-0 lead into the final period of play, but it took all 20:00 minutes following, an overtime period plus all three rounds of the ensuing shootout to declare Lake Superior the winner of two points toward the conference standings.

Box score (.html) | Box score (.pdf) | Updated statistics (.html)

Lake Superior erased the 1-0 lead the Falcons took into third period and a phenomenal save by Nick Eno (Sr., Howell, Mich.) with one swipe of the stick by Rick Schofield. Laker defenseman Matt Cowie put a shot through traffic that Eno made a quick kick save that silenced the crowd temporarily but Schofield followed up with his sixth goal of the season, going top shelf over a sprawled out Eno. Regulation time ended with a 1-1 score leading to five extra minutes of play.

Both teams had scoring opportunities through the five-minute overtime period, but each team's netminder tossed aside each of the two shots they faced. Bowling Green forward Brett Mohler (Fr., Yorba Linda, Calif.) nearly ended the game fighting through traffic when linemate David Solway (Sr., Green Bay, Wisc.) hit him with a pass through the slot but the shot sailed wide of the Laker cage. Defenseman Bobby Shea (So., Harrison Township, Mich.) also had an opportunity with a one-time shot from inside the blue line but his attempt was knocked down prematurely by LSSU defenseman Kyle Haines. Time expired granting each team a tie in the standings and forced each team to send out its top three shooters to decide the winner of an extra point in the conference rankings.

Bowling Green sent out the trio of Jordan Samuels-Thomas (So., South Windsor, Conn.), Solway and Mohler to match Lake Superior's Chad Nehring, Domenic Monardo and Ben Power.

Samuels-Thomas began the shootout with his approach to the net favoring the near side and as he swooped into the slot delivered a disrespectful shot to beat LSSU goaltender Kevin Kapalka low and to the tender's left side, giving the Falcons a 1-0 edge early.

Nehring followed with a head on approach toward Eno and wristed his attempt top-shelf, glove side for a good tally evening the score at one.

Solway's shootout try was marred with controversy when after his entry from the far side and while attempting his shot, the net came off its moorings when Kapalka backed into the net as he fell to the ice. The preliminary call was that the shot was no good despite the mooring dislodging and was upheld after a short conference between the officials.

Eno equaled the effort when he stuffed Monardo with a kick save on his try to go low on the senior netminder, leaving the last BGSU shooter, Brett Mohler, to bring a Falcon tally to the ice.

Mohler took the challenge and tried to find an unguarded corner of the Laker net, but his shot sailed wide and gave Lake Superior the opportunity to end the game. Centerman Ben Power did just that. Power, like Nehring, went top-shelf, glove side on Eno and hit his mark to sound the horns and brighten the lights at Taffy Abel Arena and giving his team the shoot out victory, Friday night.

Bowling Green (6-10-1, 2-8-1-1) receives a tie and with the shoot out loss, one point in the conference standings. Lake Superior (5-9-3, 3-6-2-1) earned their first shoot out win of the season and a pair of points for their effort.

After a scoreless first period, the Falcons took the momentum by scoring first for the seventh time this season. Chad Sumsion (Fr., Woodstock, Ontario) took a pass through the slot from Marc Rodriguez (So., Aurora, Ill.) and beat Kapalka near the far post to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead early in the second period. The goal was Sumsion's third of the season, all while BGSU have been on the power play.

The scoreless first period marked the seventh time the Falcons had done so this season. After tying the Lakers, their record when holding an opponent scoreless after the opening frame is now 4-2-1, with losses coming from nationally-ranked Miami and RPI.

Scoring first has come almost as frequently as holding a team scoreless through one period. The Falcons are now 6-1-1 when taking the lead early, this season.

The Falcons also surpassed a new season-high in shots on goal in single game against the Lakers. After amounting a two-period total of 22 shots, tying their season-high mark against Northern Michigan on Nov. 12, BGSU went on to finish the night with 37 total shots on goal. The Lakers finished with only 27 on the night.

Bowling Green also remains without a loss when taking a lead into the third period of a game. Though the Falcons lost a third period lead for the first time Friday night, the tie with LSSY does not allow a loss to enter that stat column as they stand 5-0-1 when possessing a third period lead.

Eno finished the night with 26 saves on 27 chances against and stopped all three shots taken against him while the Lakers were on the power play. Bowling Green finished the night 1-for-3 on the power play and held their opponent scoreless on three chances. This is the third game in a row the BGSU penalty kill unit has held a team scoreless while on the power play.

Bowling Green and Lake Superior will return to Taffy Abel Arena on Saturday night to wrap up the weekend series with a second 7:05 p.m. drop of the puck. Full coverage can be found on the home of Falcon Athletics, BGSUFalcons.com.