Hockey Point in Time: Falcons Sweep Top Ranked Ohio State On Way To National Title

The Bowling Green State University Athletics Department is celebrating 50 years of the BGSU Ice Arena this season, culminating on Feb. 11, 2017 to honor the 50th anniversary of the arena's grand opening on Feb. 25, 1967. The Falcons will host Mercyhurst on that date, in what will be the team's final non-conference game of the 2016-17 season.

Leading up to the anniversary, BGSU Athletics is taking a look back at some of the great moments in BGSU Ice Arena history. This week, we look back to Dec. 3, 1983, when BGSU finished a sweep of Ohio State and became the top team in the country en route to a national championship.

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Original Release

The Bowling Green State University hockey team began the 1983-84 season with 13 wins in their first 14 games. By the time December arrived for the Falcons, the team was ranked third in the country. Their first December opponent? The Ohio State Buckeyes, who were the nation's top-ranked team.

The Falcons began the weekend on Dec. 2 in Columbus, Ohio with a 4-2 victory over the No. 1 Buckeyes. The weekend series reverted to the BGSU Ice Arena for a key Saturday matchup and a possible sweep.

In front of a home sellout crowd, the game swung decidedly in favor of Ohio State during a furious first period. Goals from Paul and Perry Pooley, as well as Andy Browne, vaulted OSU to an early 3-0 lead. BGSU responded with goals from Jamie Wansbrough and John Samanski, but the Buckeyes scored twice more for a 5-2 edge near the end of the first period.

Falcons' head coach Jerry York saw the game slipping away and chose to replace goaltender Wayne Collins with Gary Kruzich. Collins and Kruzich had split starts for the season's first 15 games, and in Columbus, Kruzich had helped BGSU to victory with 18 saves against 20 shots.

Samanski added a second goal to pull the Falcons within two after the first 20 minutes. Dave O'Brian brought BGSU even closer early in the second period; however, Bruce Tillotson gave OSU another two-goal lead. Garry Galley dove to try to stop the shot, but his pad deflected it past Kruzich.

From that point, the contest was dominated by BGSU. Kruzich stopped 26 of 27 shots during the final two periods while the Falcons were adding five goals, including the final four. Samanski posted his first hat trick of the season and closed the gap to 6-5 before the end of the second frame.

Bowling Green's offense authored three goals in the final 20 minutes. Gino Cavallini tied the game, then Samanski found sophomore Dave Randerson for the eventual game-winning goal. Dan Kane, who led BGSU's title team with 72 points, scored a final goal for insurance in the 8-6 victory.

Wansbrough's goal gave him an eight-game goal streak, one shy of the school record. Samanski added two third-period assists to his hat trick. Kruzich, just a freshman, used the win to vault into the starting role at goalie. He started 20 of the team's final 28 games, including the championship match against Minnesota-Duluth.

The win over the Buckeyes was part of a 17-game winning streak and earned BGSU the top spot in the new coaches' poll, one point ahead of Minnesota. Nearly four months later, York's team captured the 1983-84 national championship.

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