Falcons Make It A Thriller but Fall Short to OSU, 4-3

Saturday, January 9

Columbus, Ohio

7:05 PM

Bowling Green State University

Ohio State

January 09, 2010 | Ice Hockey

By: by Ryan Gasser, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

Box score
Dennis Williams post game audio
John Markell post game audio
Weekend Photo Gallery

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Falcon hockey returned to Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio for the weekend finale between the Buckeyes of Ohio State and Bowling Green State University. Following the Falcon's 8-2 loss Friday night, the Falcons sought a split with Ohio State on Saturday.

Ohio State was silent on offense for the first three minutes and change with their only recorded shot coming off of a puck tipped out to Andrew Hammond (Fr., G) on the opening faceoff but changed their luck in the 13th minute.

After a Bowling Green power play was killed successfully, the Buckeyes capitalized with a full-strength roster just 16 seconds later. While trying to advance the puck down the ice, OSU's John Albert (Jr., F) caused a turnover deep in the Falcon defensive zone. Albert pushed the puck to the near-side ice where C.J. Severyn waited with an open section of the net to shoot for. His shot beat Hammond glove-side to give the Buckeyes 1-0 lead with 13:52 left on the clock in the first period.

The Buckeye special teams returned to work after posting three power-play goals Friday night when later in the first period Ohio State extended the lead to 2-0 in the 14th minute of the game with an extra man on the ice. After Andrew Krelove (Jr., D) was put in the penalty box for hooking, Ohio State sent the offense down the ice. After Hunter Bishop charged the net, he opted to send a pass straight back to the center of the blue line where Devon Krogh wound up for a hard shot that flew through traffic and past Hammond for their second goal. Going into the locker room after 20:00 of play, Ohio State held a two goal lead.

The Bowling Green penalty kill fell victim to an unlucky bounce leading to the third OSU goal at 4:50 in the second period. Bishop tossed a shot high of the BGSU net and took a hard rebound off the glass bouncing in front of the Falcon cage. Matt Bartkowski of the Buckeyes sent a pass across the crease where Zac Dalpe scored his team-leading eleventh goal to give the Buckeyes a 3-0 lead with 15:10 remaining in the second period.

The tide would turn for the Falcons less than two minutes later when Bowling Green lit the lamp for the first time in the game, and for sophomore Cameron Sinclair the first time in his career. With a battle for the puck behind the Buckeye net ensuing, Brennan Vargas cleared the puck to Sinclair who rested on OSU goaltender Cal Heeter's right shoulder. While flying towards the cage, Sinclair pounded the puck home past Heeter for his first score wearing Brown and Orange and getting the Falcons on the board, 3-1.

The Falcons continued their scoring ways when Tomas Petruska (Sr., F) cashed in on an OSU turnover inside the neutral zone. After the Buckeye turnover caused by Jordan Samuels-Thomas (Fr., F), Petruska raced up the ice and handled the puck back behind the net going from post to post multiple times. After splitting three Buckeye defenders on the far-side post, Petruska with his back to the Buckeye goaltender flipped a backhand shot to his right that went top-shelf over Heeter's shoulder, good for the second straight Falcon goal bringing the Buckeye lead to one, 3-2. The Falcons took that score and the momentum into the second intermission for the championship period to come.

The period opened with a Bowling Green penalty on Kyle Page (Sr., D) for roughing and Ohio State brought the heat. The Bowling Green defense answered the call as on three OSU shots, Hammond needed not to make a single save. Max Grover (Fr., D), Ian Ruel (Fr., D) and Josh Boyd (Sr., F) all made key blocks out in front of the freshman goaltender to kill off the Buckeye power play and get back to even strength.

Bowling Green and Ohio State would trade goals within 34 seconds of each other in the sixth and seventh minutes of the third period. Ohio State struck first when Dalpe scored his second goal of the game when he cut behind the Falcon defense and received a pass from Sergio Somma before sending the puck over Hammond's shoulder, stick-side at 6:36.

The Falcons retaliated when Josh Boyd put his name in the scoring column with his fourth goal of the season, scored at 7:05. A delayed penalty was about to be called but with possession of the puck, the Falcons' Kai Kantola (Sr., F) sent a backhanded pass towards Boyd who was rushing the Buckeye net. Boyd cocked back and shot a bullet to Heeter's right side before it lit the red light and brought the Falcons back within a goal of the Buckeyes.

After the team exchanged shots and saves for the next three minutes, Bowling Green hindered their scoring attempt when James McIntosh (Jr., F) was penalized for hooking with 3:41 remaining, giving the Falcons only 1:41 left to score the equalizing goal after a successful penalty kill. Ohio State kept it in the Bowling Green zone until the 1:15 mark when Bowling Green gained possession and called their lone timeout to set up the last minute of regulation. The Falcons pulled Hammond out of the net to give Bowling Green an extra man on the ice.

The Brown and Orange attacked immediately when Samuels-Thomas and Kantola put shots on goal to which Heeter made acrobatic saves to keep the Falcons scoreless. However, OSU committed a penalty to give Bowling Green one more skater on the ice, good for a 6-on-4 Falcon power play opportunity. Kai Kantola put three shots on, two saved by Heeter and one wide, while Page had his lone attempt blocked before play stopped giving the Falcons 11.9 seconds to make their final move toward a Falcon score.

On the last possession, Page sent one more shot on goal but again blocked by the Buckeyes before the Scarlet and Grey gained possession of the puck and sent it into the Bowling Green zone to finalize the score at 4-3.

Bowling Green, despite an exicting finished, drops to 3-17-2, 2-12-2-2 in conference play while the Buckeyes improve to 9-12-1, 7-8-1-1 in the CCHA and complete the weekend sweep. The Falcons will prepare for their last weekend on the road when they travel to Marquette, Mich. for a road series against Northern Michigan to close out a seven-game road trip.