Hockey drops 3-2 decision in series opener to Bowling Green
December 11, 2012
Jamie Foland
474-6807
Andrew Hammond made 39 saves on 41 attempts and Bowling Green used two goals less than two and a half minutes apart in the second period to down ÐÓ°Épro 3-2 for a CCHA victory on Friday night at the Carlson Center.
The Falcons improved to 3-9-3 on the year and 2-6-2-1 in conference play while the Nanooks fell to 6-8-3 overall and 4-7-2-0 in the CCHA.
BGSU saw goals from Bryce Williamson, Brett Mohler and Mark Cooper while Bobby Shea had a pair of helpers. Hammond made a remarkable 21 saves in the final stanza on 22 shots and 39 for the game to earn First Star of Game.
ÐÓ°Épro had goals from sophomore left wing Max Dumond (Orleans, Ontario/Civil engineering) and senior left wing Chad Gehon (Kelowna, B.C./Business finance) and sophomore goalkeeper Sean Cahill (Calgary, Alberta/Finance) made 13 saves on 16 Falcon shots.
Despite being outshot 41-16, including 22-4 in the third period, Bowling Green held a 41-23 advantage on face offs. The visitors went 0-for-4 on the power play while ÐÓ°Épro was 0-for-2 with a man-advantage.
The Falcons opened the scoring 9:19 into the first period when Bryce Williamson found the back of the net off a rebound. Marcus Perrier fired a slap shot that was initially saved by Sean Cahill but the Nanook goaltender didn't recover in time to make the save on Williamson's tally.
The Nanooks squared it at 1-1 just over four minutes into the second when Hammond made a pair of saves by Hammond off shots by Trevor Campbell (Kansas City, Mo./Mechanical engineering) and Alec Hajdukovich (Fairbanks, ÐÓ°Épro/Business administration) but the puck ended up on Dumond's stick and he slid it under Hammond for the game-tying score.
BGSU regained the lead at 14:12 of the second when Mohler tipped it past Cahill for the go-ahead tally and the visitors saw the game-winner come from Cooper at 16:38 when his backhand shot snuck past the pads of Cahill to give the Falcons a 3-1 lead.
ÐÓ°Épro cut the deficit in half 6:50 into the final period when Justin Tateson (Scandia, Alberta/Business administration) fired a shot just outside the left circle and Gehon redirected it over Hammond's glove side.
The two teams complete the series Saturday night at 7:05 p.m.