Falcons Overwhelmed in Final Frame

Friday, January 7

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:05 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Ferris State

January 08, 2011 | Ice Hockey

Box Score

By: by Ryan Gasser, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- Though Bowling Green held the visiting Ferris State Bulldogs scoreless through two periods of play the twentieth ranked team in the nation poured it on the Falcons in the third period. After taking a one goal lead into the third period of play, the Bulldogs answered by firing off four unanswered goals leading to a 4-1 Falcon loss, Friday night.

Box score (.html) | Box score (.pdf) | Updated statistics (.html)
Post-game press conference with Chris Bergeron -- audio | video

Sophomore Jordan Samuels-Thomas (South Windsor, Conn.) put the Falcons up one goal by scoring the game's first goal late in the second period. On a Falcon drive toward Pat Nagle and the Bulldog net, defenseman Andrew Krelove (Sr., Thunder Bay, Ontario) put a shot on goal that was deflected by Nagle. Streaking the slot, Samuels-Thomas scooped up the loose puck and back-handed the rock to score his sixth goal of the season and at the same time giving Bowling Green a 1-0 advantage.

Bowling Green goaltender Nick Eno (Sr., Howell, Mich.) held up his end of the bargain through two periods stopping all nine shots on goal against him. Both teams combined for five shots in the second period alone and kept pace with one another in the total shot count during that time. Through two periods, the defenses for both teams were on showcase. Combined, Bowling Green and Ferris State attempted 43 shots (21 for Bowling Green, 22 for Ferris State) but only 19 were on target. The Falcons finished with a two-period total of ten shots on goal while the Bulldogs ended with nine.

Ferris State began scoring at will as soon as the turn of the third minute of the period. Kyle Bonis hit the first of his two goals on the night by taking a pass from Chad Billins and hitting the back of the net from inside the slot to tie the game at one. At 6:31, Todd Pococke broke the tie and hit the eventual game-winning goal benefitting from his own saved shot and pounding home the rebound. Just 24 seconds later, Matthew Kirzinger shot a wrist shot over Eno's stick-side shoulder scoring the Bulldogs' third goal of the period. Ferris State's Bonis finished the night's scoring by tossing home an empty-net goal from outside the near faceoff circle in his own zone at 17:42 to extend the lead to three goals.

Bowling Green forward Ryan Viselli (Fr., Windsor, Ontario) extended his point streak to three games after recording an assist on the game's opening goal. He now has three assists in as many games dating back to Dec. 29 in the UConn Classic opening round game versus Princeton.

The Falcons (7-14-2, 2-11-2-0) and Bulldogs (10-8-4, 7-6-3-2) will play again on Saturday night, January 8, for the series finale. The puck drops at 7:05 p.m. at the BGSU Ice Arena. Special priced tickets will be available for Bowling Green residents when the Falcons celebrate BG Community Day. General admission tickets for residents will be priced at $6 for the game.