Falcons on Wrong End of Offensive Struggle

Friday, February 25

East Lansing, Mich.

7:35 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Michigan State

February 25, 2011 | Ice Hockey

By: by Ryan Gasser, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

EAST LANSING, Michigan -- The first period of the Bowling Green Falcons' Friday night contest with the Michigan State Spartans contained all the action with three goals in the first ten minutes of the opening period. The Falcons were on the wrong end of an offensive struggle between the two teams, losing 2-1 to the Spartans.

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

Michigan State forwards Brett Perlini and Zach Golembiewski each recorded two points on the night. Golembiewski notched two assists while Perlini split his points with a goal and a helper.

Brett Mohler (Yorba Linda, Calif.) was the lone scorer for Bowling Green, tallying an unassisted goal at 9:53 of the first period. Mohler turned a Michigan State turnover into a scoring chance after taking the puck into the Spartan zone and stationed himself for a shot. His liner skipped off a MSU defender out in front of the net and into the net for the Falcon goal. The goal was scored on the power play, stemming from a Jake Chelios slashing penalty.

The goal was the Falcons' third consecutive unassisted goal after they posted two in their loss last Saturday to NMU. It also was their fifth power-play goal in seven games after being held scoreless on the power play in their previous seven games.

Dean Chelios scored the opening goal just 1:16 into the opening period. Driving into the BGSU zone, Chelios received a pass from Perlini and went from far to near post with his move to the Falcon cage. While falling parallel to the net, Chelios released a shot that made its way to the back of the net.

Perlini added his own score at 9:02 of the first period. After putting a shot on from the top of the slot, Perlini followed the loose puck up and added a second shot attempt that initially clipped the mitt of Falcon goaltender Andrew Hammond (Surrey, British Columbia) and then bounced over his shoulder and into the net for the eventual game-winning goal.

Hammond finished the night perfect from that point on. At the end of the night, he made 24-of-26 saves in 59:15 of play. On the other side, Will Yanakeff stopped 16-of-17 shots against.

Bowling Green (8-23-4, 3-20-4-2) will take to the ice against the Spartans (14-17-4, 10-15-2-0) for their final regular season game on Saturday. Game time is set to begin at 7:06 p.m. and will be aired on the Comcast family of television networks. The game will be the Spartans Senior Night and head coach Rick Comley's final game at Munn Ice Arena.

Full coverage of Falcon hockey and all 18 varsity sports can be found on the official online home of BGSU athletics, www.BGSUFalcons.com. Be sure to follow the Falcons on Facebook by searching “BG Warriors” or follow them on Twitter through www.twitter.com/WEAREBGHOCKEY.