Falcons Soar in Weekend Home Finale, 3-2 Versus Broncos

Saturday, January 23

Bowling Green, Ohio

5:05 PM

Bowling Green State University

Western Michigan

The Falcons earned their fourth win of the season with a 3-2 victory over the Western Michigan Broncos on Saturday night.

January 23, 2010 | Ice Hockey

By: by Ryan Gasser, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

Box score
Post game audio - Jordan Samuels-Thomas
Post game audio - Dennis Williams
Photo gallery

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- After skating to a 4-4 tie with the Broncos and earning the shootout win on Friday night, the Bowling Green Falcons looked to acquire not only five of the maximum six points available this weekend, but their first win against a CCHA opponent since their victory over the Michigan Wolverines on Nov. 20, 2009. With physical play brewing from both benches, a late BGSU goal lifted the Falcons to a 3-2 victory on Saturday night.

The Falcons skated through the first nine minutes without a score before the Brown and Orange struck first blood with one of their two power-play goals on the night. Stemming from a penalty called on WMU's Matt Tennyson, the BGSU power play unit went to work. On a charge toward the Bronco net, James Perkin (Sr., F) put a shot on net that the WMU goaltender, Riley Gill, angled the save off his pillow but right back to Perkin. Perkin tossed a pass to James McIntosh (So., F) who began creeping into the slot before dishing a hard shot past Gill for the Bowling Green score. The marker gave the Falcons a 1-0 lead at the 9:32 point of the first period.

Western Michigan did not allow the lead to stand long when the Broncos took advantage of a Bowling Green turnover in the 13th minute of the first period. Bowling Green, trying to clear the puck out their own zone, suffered from a poke-check courtesy of Kyle O'Kane who took it the length of the ice and converted a one-on-one opportunity against Falcon goaltender, Nick Eno (Jr., G) to tie the game at one goal apiece.

In the second period, Bowling Green went back on the power play and converted its second chance while a man up on the Broncos. Following a shot on goal by Ian Ruel (Fr., D), the rebound off of Gill squirted off of McIntosh and met Josh Boyd (Sr., F) out in front of the WMU cage. Creeping inward with the puck, Boyd fired the puck past Gill lighting the lamp for the Falcons for a 2-1 lead.

Again, the Broncos returned fire after taking advantage of a rebound off of a Chris Clackston shot on Eno. The rebound went straight back to Clackston and went five-hole on Eno to tie the game at two midway through the second period.

Both teams were silent until 14:52 when Bowling Green took the lead for good on a game-deciding goal by Jordan Samuels-Thomas (Fr., F). Skating five-on-five, Cameron Sinclair (So., F) extended an invitation for one toward the Bronco net with a perfect pass to Samuels-Thomas that was received at the Western Michigan blue line. With the perfect setup complete, Samuels-Thomas went one-on-one with Gill and with a slick move in the slot, he sent the puck between the open legs of the Bronco goalie. The score was Samuels-Thomas' ninth of the season, now a team-high.

The Falcon defense held the Bronco offense in-check for the final 5:08 of the game to complete the victory over the Broncos, their fourth of the season. The win also signified the first BGSU win over a conference opponent since Nov. 20, 2009 when the Falcons beat the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich., 4-2.

Nick Eno made 14-of-16 saves on the night while his counterpart, Gill, made 34-of-37 saves. With a pair of power-play goals, Bowling Green totaled four on the weekend, the first time the team has had back-to-back games with multiple power-play tallies and the most power-play goals on an entire weekend.

With the win, BGSU improves to 4-18-4 overall and sports a 3-13-4-3 conference record. They now rest next weekend with a bye week. On Thursday, Feb. 4 the Falcons will engage in cluster play against the Michigan Wolverines in a pair of week day games to open up the month.