Hockey drops 3-2 decision in series opener to Bowling Green
December 11, 2012
Jamie Foland
474-6807
Andrew Hammond made 39 saves on 41 attempts and Bowling Green used two goals less than two and a half minutes apart in the second period to down Alaska 3-2 for a CCHA victory on Friday night at the Carlson Center.
The Falcons improved to 3-9-3 on the year and 2-6-2-1 in conference play while the Nanooks fell to 6-8-3 overall and 4-7-2-0 in the CCHA.
BGSU saw goals from Bryce Williamson, Brett Mohler and Mark Cooper while Bobby Shea had a pair of helpers. Hammond made a remarkable 21 saves in the final stanza on 22 shots and 39 for the game to earn First Star of Game.
Alaska had goals from sophomore left wing Max Dumond (Orleans, Ontario/Civil engineering) and senior left wing Chad Gehon (Kelowna, B.C./Business finance) and sophomore goalkeeper Sean Cahill (Calgary, Alberta/Finance) made 13 saves on 16 Falcon shots.
Despite being outshot 41-16, including 22-4 in the third period, Bowling Green held a 41-23 advantage on face offs. The visitors went 0-for-4 on the power play while Alaska was 0-for-2 with a man-advantage.
The Falcons opened the scoring 9:19 into the first period when Bryce Williamson found the back of the net off a rebound. Marcus Perrier fired a slap shot that was initially saved by Sean Cahill but the Nanook goaltender didn't recover in time to make the save on Williamson's tally.
The Nanooks squared it at 1-1 just over four minutes into the second when Hammond made a pair of saves by Hammond off shots by Trevor Campbell (Kansas City, Mo./Mechanical engineering) and Alec Hajdukovich (Fairbanks, Alaska/Business administration) but the puck ended up on Dumond's stick and he slid it under Hammond for the game-tying score.
BGSU regained the lead at 14:12 of the second when Mohler tipped it past Cahill for the go-ahead tally and the visitors saw the game-winner come from Cooper at 16:38 when his backhand shot snuck past the pads of Cahill to give the Falcons a 3-1 lead.
Alaska cut the deficit in half 6:50 into the final period when Justin Tateson (Scandia, Alberta/Business administration) fired a shot just outside the left circle and Gehon redirected it over Hammond's glove side.
The two teams complete the series Saturday night at 7:05 p.m.