Michigan Downs Falcons, 4-1, at Lucas County Arena

Saturday, November 21

Toledo, Ohio

7:05 PM

Bowling Green State University

Michigan

November 21, 2009 | Ice Hockey

Rodriguez scores first collegiate goal in Saturday's game

By: TOLEDO, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Box score
Dennis Williams post game audio
Kyle Page post game audio
Photo Gallery

TOLEDO, Ohio -- After a 4-2 win over the No. 15/16 Michigan Wolverines on Friday night in Ann Arbor, Mich. the Bowling Green Falcons hosted the Maize and Blue at the brand new Lucas County Arena. In front of an unofficial crowd of 3,321 the Falcons and Wolverines played the first collegiate sporting event in the new arena. The Wolverines, however, would dawn the first “W” on the ice.

The Wolverines got off to a fast start when 2:18 into the game's action Michigan's Carl Hagelin put the first puck past junior netminder Nick Eno. After receiving a pass across the crease from Brandon Burlon, Hagelin slapped one around the far-side post to give the Wolverines a 1-0 early lead in the opening period. Chris Brown was also credited with an assist on the score.

Michigan's A.J. Treais continued the scoring action after the half-way point of the first period. Though the defense stopped a David Wohlberg shot from reaching Eno when freshman Jordan Samuels-Thomas took one for the team with a block in front of the net, Treais found the loose puck out in from and lit the red light for the Wolverines for a second time. Preseason All-CCHA selection Louis Caporusso receiving credit for the assist for one of his two points on the night.

Bowling Green willed themselves back into the contest when freshman Marc Rodriguez scored his first collegiate goal in the fifteenth minute of the game. Michigan turned the puck over near their own blue line and with a one-on-one with U-M goaltender Bryan Hogan. The freshman fired the puck right past the junior goalie with assists coming seniors Tomas Petruska and Josh Boyd. With his helper, Petruska now has a six-game point streak in the making.

The celebration would be short-lived when Michigan struck back with their third goal of the period. With 3:09 remaining on the clock, Brian Lebler took advantage of a BG turnover for his own one-on-one opportunity with Eno. After having the puck tipped away by Anthony Cirualo, Lebler took it the rest of the way and made the Michigan fans rise to their feet celebrating a 3-1 lead going into the second period.
The second period featured no scoring but Eno was still busy between the posts as eleven shots were hurled the junior's way in the middle frame alone. After saving all eleven, Eno remained perfect for the duration of the second period and leading into the latter part of the third.

In the final period, the Falcons threatened while defending a U-M power play chance when senior Tommy Dee rang off two shots while being a man down. His first shot was saved off the pillow of Hogan. Dee collected his own rebound and sailed a shot wide of the cage after catching Hogan on his heels.
For good measure, the Wolverines added an insurance goal at the turn of the thirteenth minute when U-M's Brown received a textbook cross-ice pass from Wohlberg and put a fourth goal on the scoreboard for Michigan. Wohlberg recorded his second assist of the night on the play while Brown received his second point with the power-play goal.

Hogan and the rest of the Wolverines did their jobs for the rest of the game by keeping the puck in the Bowling Green or neutral zone for the last two minutes of the game, making the Falcons unable to pull Eno to create a man-advantage. The final buzzer rang shortly after 9 p.m. with the final score reading Michigan 4, Bowling Green 1.

The Falcons could not create opportunities on the power play as often as they had the previous night in Ann Arbor, going 0-for-5 on the night on the power play. Bowling Green only had three shots on goal while a man up. Michigan, after being shut out with an extra skater the night before, registered one power-play goal on five chances. Their lone power-play tally came on the last of their four power-play shots.

Bowling Green was outshot for the third consecutive game, this time having its lowest shot total of the season with 12 on net. Michigan finished with 30 shots on goal, 16 of which coming in the first period. Eno finished with 26 stops on the evening while his counterpart, Hogan, saved 11-of-12 shots he faced.
With the win, Michigan snaps a five-game snide after two weekend sweeps at the hands of No. 1 Miami and No. 14 Michigan State plus the Falcon win Friday night. They are now 5-7-0 overall and improve to 3-5-0-0 in conference play.

Bowling Green falls to 2-9-1 overall with a CCHA record of 2-5-1-1 for the season. The Falcons will travel to South Bend, Ind. to play the Notre Dame Fighting Irish for a Thanksgiving weekend series on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 27-28. Visit BGSUFalcons.com for more information as the week progresses.