Despite being shorthanded for a second straight night, the Bowling Green Falcons held on to beat the Lake Superior State Lakers at BG Ice Arena on Saturday afternoon, 2-1.
The Falcons (3-1-0, 1-1-0 CCHA), playing without seven players, all of whom were suspended indefinitely for an off-ice incident that came to light last week, surprised the Lakers (1-5-0, 1-3-0), gutting out a victory. Senior netminder Jordan Sigalet stood tall in the pipes for the Falcons, stopping 34 of 35 shots on the afternoon.
“It was a tight, almost line-of-scrimmage game tonight,” said BG coach Scott Paluch. “I was very, very happy with the way our guys held up. We played with a lot of heart tonight. We made a lot of gutty-type plays down the stretch. It’s early in the year, but it’s a huge two points.”
The Falcons won the game, despite playing a day game with a shortened bench after a night game, a game in which they lost.
“Today was a huge advantage for us, believe it or not,” said Paluch. “After last night, it was real good for our guys to get back at it. We didn’t have to wait a long time and think about last night.”
For the Lakers, it was a hard-fought game in a losing effort.
“We obviously dominated territorially,” said LSSU coach Frank Anzalone. “We still have a number of guys that haven’t scored a goal. We’re not going to win like that. We need to have some guys that are going to score a few goals.”
The Falcons got on the board first. After a penalty to Lake State’s Jon Booras, sophomore winger Rich Meloche notched his first goal of the season, a one-timer that rattled off the crossbar behind Jakaitis for the 10- BG lead. The goal came 1:43 into the power play. Michael Hodgson and John Mazzei assisted on the goal, coming at 18:32.
The Lakers tied the game just 29 seconds later. Sophomore Matt Restoule picked up his first collegiate goal, crashing the BG net and picking up a loose puck to beat Sigalet att he 19:03 mark of the opening period. Steve McJannet and Mark Adamek assisted on the play.
Bowling Green scored the game winner early in the second period. Ryan Minnabarriet drove a shot toward the deep in the Laker zone which banked off the boards. The puck rebounded out front, where Meloche was waiting to stuff home his second goal of the night. The goal came at the 1:25 mark of the period.
The Lakers had chances throughout the period, outshooting the Falcons, 12-6 in the period. Bowling Greenhad difficulty staying out of the penalty box, being whistled for six infractions in the period. The Lakers were not able to capitalize on any of their five power play opportunities.
The Falcons finished the night 1-of-6 on the power play, while LSSU was 0-for-7.
Jakaitis stopped 26-of-28 shots on the afternoon.
The Falcons will face Notre Dame in a home-and-home series next week, with Bowling Green playing the host on Thursday night.
Lake Superior will next host Alaska-Fairbanks on Nov. 11-12.
