After a tough loss last night at the hands of Clarkson, the Bowling Green Falcons (5-11-1; 4-8-1 CCHA) rebounded for a gritty win against #12 St. Lawrence, upending the Saints, 6-4, at the BG Ice Arena on Saturday night.
The Falcons may have thought it was déjà vu all over again against another
team from the ECACHL. Bowling Green jumped out to a two-goal lead after a
period of play, then watched the Saints (11-6-1; 6-2-0 ECACHL) crawl back into the game in a matter of moments in the second period.
Last night, the Falcons let a 3-0 second period lead slip away in a 6-4 loss
to the Golden Knights.
On Saturday night, the Falcons did not fold. Rather, they picked up a timely
goal from Brandon Svendsen to regain the lead, then managed to keep the
momentum on their side to pick up the victory.
The goal by Svendsen was especially sweet for the Falcons, as he was the
player who was carted off the ice on a stretcher and taken to the hospital last night following a collision with the goalpost and then the boards in the loss
against the Golden Knights.
“It was a huge goal,” said BG head coach Scott Paluch. “Anyone could have
gotten that goal and it was going to be a big goal. It’s a great sidebar that
Brandon gets it based on what a serious situation it was last night. It was
good to see him come back and play extremely well.”
“He’s an extremely tough, courageous kid,” Paluch continued. “and you can
see that in the way he plays.”
Svendsen showed no ill effects of his injury, even racing full-tilt toward
the same net where the injury occurred for a loose puck, with no apparent
thought for his own personal being.
When asked if he was a bit gun shy coming into tonight’s game, Svendsen
replied, “No. Not at all. I knew I had to go out there and play the same way as I did the night before.”
Senior netminder John Horrell got the start in goal for the Falcons, and made
the saves down the stretch when the game was on the line.
“Johnny Horrell was outstanding,” said Paluch. “He made some really big
saves when it was 4-4. He made so many saves in key situations.”
Horrell seemed to disregard personal safety at times, as well. During a late
third period flurry in front of his own net, he dove after the puck twice,
went spread-eagle, lost his stick, and finally rolled on top of the puck in an
effort to keep the one-goal lead for the Falcons. Horrell stopped 35 shots on
the night.
St. Lawrence head coach Joe Marsh was disappointed with the loss, although he
thought his team played well against the Falcons.
“We played pretty well, to be perfectly honest,” said Marsh. “We had our
chances. We had a couple of serious miscues, though. Our damage control wasn’t what it should be. We had a couple of real bad turnovers, and [BG] took advantage of those mistakes. They were opportunistic. We didn’t play as smart of a road game as we did last night, and that has a lot to do with [the loss].”
Bowling Green opened the scoring at the 10:57 mark of the opening period on a
power play tally. Senior winger Mike Falk took a pass from Alex Foster in
front of the net and backhanded it home for his third goal of the year.
Jonathan Matsumoto assisted on the goal.
The Falcons increased their lead with just 23 seconds left in the period.
Derek Whitmore picked up a rebound off the shot of point man Michael Hodgson and beat goaltender Justin Pesony for his 4th goal of the year. John Mazzei also assisted.
The Saints tied the game in the second period on a pair of goals by the
team’s leading point-getter T.J. Treveleyan.
At the 2:55 mark of the period, Treveleyan picked up a rebound in the right
circle and fired a wrister to beat Jon Horrell on the glove side. Mike Madill
and Kevin DeVergelio assisted on the power play goal.
Treveleyan tied the game for the Saints at 6:52, as he skated around two
Falcon defenders and beat Horrell again. Zach Miscovic assisted on the play.
The Saints seemed to have some momentum at that point, but it was short-lived.
“I kind of hoped that [the momentum was shifting], but then we had that
breakdown,” said Marsh. “Momentum is a funny thing. It’s real, make no mistake about it, but sometimes the momentum shifts don’t always have to be
cataclysmic. It doesn’t always have to come with a goal or something like that.”
The Falcons regained the lead at 10:29. Svendsen, scored his 4th goal of the
year, poking at a loose puck in the crease and getting it through the five-hole of Pesony for the 3-2 lead. John Mazzei assisted.
Matsumoto gave the Falcons another two-goal edge less than a minute later, as
he took a blueline to blueline pass, deked a defender, and fired a wrist shot
into the top corner of the net for the 4-2 lead. Don Morrison assisted on
the marker.
Treveleyan notched his third goal of the night at 17:26 of the period. He
took a pass from behind the goal line by winger John Zeiler, and one-timed it
past the BG netminder for the hat trick, his third career hat trick.
The Saints tied the game at 5:51 of the third period on a bouncing puck in
front of the net that found its way across the line courtesy of sophomore Mark
Wallmann. He found the puck on his stick during a scramble and slammed it home
for his 5th goal of the year. Brock McBride and Matt Generous assisted on
the goal.
The Falcons would get the game winner at 14:29 of the final period. Senior
Don Morrison fired a shot from the point through a screen and found the back of
the net for his 3rd goal of the year. Mike Falk and Alex Foster added the
helpers on the play.
BG’s Derek Whitmore would add an insurance goal at 19:57 of the period, his
2nd goal of the night.
The Saints outshot the Falcons, 39-27 on the night. St. Lawrence finished 1
of 5 on the power play, while the Falcons were 2 of 6.
“It’s a really big win for our team,” said Paluch. “I like the way we
competed all the way through the game. We got ourselves in trouble with some
turnovers, not getting the puck out against their pressure, but it was a big win for us.”
“It’s a big step for us, especially going into Christmas break,” affirmed
Svenden “It’ll help us have some momentum going into the second half.”
