Hockey Falls 4-2 In Home And CCHA Opener To No. 12 Notre Dame

Tuesday, October 23

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:05 PM

Bowling Green State University

Notre Dame

October 24, 2007 | Ice Hockey

Oct. 24, 2007

Final Stats

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Though the Falcons would own a lead on two separate occasions in the game, a late second period goal and a shorthanded goal early in the third period would give the No. 12 Notre Dame Fighting Irish a 4-2 victory over the Bowling Green State University hockey team in front 2,424 fans Tuesday evening at the BGSU Ice Arena in their home opener. The game marked the start of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association season for BG, as they now fall to 1-2-0 on the season and 0-1-0 in the CCHA, while the Irish improved to 3-2-0 and 1-0-0, respectively.

After BG collected leads of 1-0 in the first period and 2-1 in the second period, the Irish would go on to score three unanswered goals to earn the win. Irish forward Evan Rankin would tally the eventual game-winning goal with just 1:14 remaining in the second period, as he was able to beat BG junior goaltender Jimmy Spratt to give ND a 3-2 lead heading into the final intermission. A shorthanded marker just 4:35 into the third period then by Erik Condra gave ND a two-goal cushion that was just too much for the Falcons to overcome.

"We had the right energy and the right focus at the start of the game," said BG coach Scott Paluch of his team's effort. "Our team played a real good first period, but ultimately the penalties we took kind of took a little bit of steam out of our team. We had to use too many of the same players early on in the game, the same energy and I don't think the same energy we had and the ability we had to win a lot of puck battles early in the game was there as the game wound down. We just couldn't win enough one on one battles as we needed to.

BG would commit a total of six penalties for 23 minutes in the first period, as they went on to finish the game with 29 total minutes in penalties. The Irish would finish with just 12.

Despite the major pile up of penalty minutes in the first period, the Falcons would kill off all, but one of the four ND power plays to start the game, as the ND power play would finish just 1-8 on the evening. The Falcons would finish 0-5.

Early on, the game looked like it could be a defensive battle, as the two teams had a combined nine shots on goal towards the middle of the period. However, the Falcons would use some crisp passing to take advantage of one of the few first period opportunities they had, as senior forward Derek Whitmore and sophomore forward Todd McIlrath would find freshman forward Dan Sexton open on the left-side off some sharp tape to tape passes to give BG the early 1-0 lead.

BG would end the first period with just seven shots on net, while the Irish recorded just eight.

Despite limited first period chances on their own end, ND wouldn't let BG get too comfortable in the lead, as forward Mark Van Guilder took advantage of a 5-minute major and game disqualification penalty on Falcon forward Kai Kantola. Irish defenseman Brock Sheahan and forward Ben Ryan would aid in the lone Irish power play tally of the evening, as Van Guilder was able to find the net on the left side of the net, just outside the crease at the 17:43 mark of the first period to tie the game up at 1-1.

Scoring chances wouldn't be hard to come by for the Irish in the second period, as they'd rack up 18 shots on goal to just three for the Falcons. Despite the limited chances, the Falcons would find themselves in lead again just 1:50 into the second period.

After a pile up in the BG net that would generate a delayed penalty call, junior defenseman Kevin Schmidt would start a Falcon rush to the opposite end of the ice that would conclude with the Falcons grabbing their second lead at 2-1. Schmidt would find Sexton, who would find Whitmore on a nice pass from right to left across the slot, as Whitmore tallied his third goal of the young season on a nice shot into the upper part of the net that beat Irish goaltender Jordan Pearce.

Whitmore (1g, 1a) and Sexton (1g, 1a) would finish the night leading all Falcon scorers' with two points.

Once again however, like their first lead, the Falcons would see the Irish counter within just a matter of minutes. With 61 seconds past from the time of Whitmore's goal to give the Falcons a 2-1 lead, Irish forward Garrett Regan would tie the game at 2-2 on a scramble in front of the net, as he beat Spratt for his third tally of the season.

Spratt would go on to finish the game with 26 saves for the Falcons on 30 Irish shots, while his counterpart, Pearce, would finish with 18 saves on 20 BG shots.

BG will return to action on Fri., Nov. 2 when they head to Kalamazoo, Mich. to battle CCHA clustermate Western Michigan. Face-off in game one of the home-and-home series that will conclude with a 7:05 p.m. game at the BGSU Ice Arena is scheduled for 7:35 p.m. Both games can be heard on WBGU 88.1 FM with Danny Nieves providing all the play-by-play.