NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Another ranked opponent, another night of success for Bowling Green’s hockey team.
The Falcons spotted ninth-ranked Notre Dame a 2-0 lead Saturday night, but rallied for a 5-4 shootout win
in a Central Collegiate Hockey Association game.
The game counts as a tie for each team, but BG earned a second point for winning the best-of-3 shootout
1-0.
Jordan Samuels-Thomas scored the only goal on the first shot of the shootout, while BG goalie Nick Eno
stopped ND’s first two shots and the third hit the post.
Eno finished with 33 saves on a night the Falcons were out-shot by a 37-25 margin.
But it was the Fighting Irish who forced overtime on Ryan Thang’s power-play goal — ND’s third of the
game — with 8:54 remaining in regulation.
Thang’s goal came just 73 seconds after the Falcons had taken a 4-3 lead on Marc Rodriguez’s second goal
in the last three games.
The Falcons, who split with No. 9 Alaska and No. 16 Michigan the last two weekends, nearly won Friday at
ND as well. But ND scored with 2.4 seconds left in overtime for a 2-1 win.
BG is 2-10-2 overall and 2-6-2-2 in the CCHA. The Falcons have 10 points in the league to tie 10th-place
Lake Superior. Those two teams meet this weekend in the Ice Arena.
ND is 7-5-4, 4-2-4-2.
“We continue to get better,” BG coach Dennis Williams said. “We competed hard and these last three
weekends should our give our guys confidence that they can play with these teams. We put our skates on
just like every other team and if we continue to work hard and be improve, we can be successful.”
The Fighting Irish used their special teams to build their 2-0 lead in the first period.
They killed two BG power plays in the first six minutes and then scored with the extra man on Calle
Ridderwall’s power-play goal at 7:53. Ridderwall scored again on the power play for a 2-0 lead at 10:10.
After failing to score on two more power plays later in the period, the Falcons finally tied the game in
the second period on goals from Samuels-Thomas at 5:04 and Ian Ruel just 56 seconds later.
Samuels-Thomas leads BG with six goals, while Ruel’s goal was the first for the BG freshman defenseman.
Ridderwall’s hat-trick goal gave ND at 3-2 lead at 8:45, but BG’s Tommy Dee tied the game at 3:38 of the
third period.
The Falcons held a 12-9 edge in shots in the third period.
“We’ve scored two goals in a period before,” Williams said. “After the first period, we just the team to
keep working and win each period. If we did that, we’d give ourselves a chance.
“It was a real gutsy effort. I’m really proud of them.”
The shootout came with some of the best players from both teams in the penalty box. CCHA rules prohibit
any players who are in the penalty box at the end of overtime from participating in the shootout.
BG was without David Solway, Kai Kantola and James Perkin, while ND couldn’t use Ridderwall and Kevin
Deeth. Kantola, Perkin, Ridderwall and Deeth received minor penalties for a skirmish in front of Eno
with just 11 seconds to go in the five-minute extra period. Solway went off with 1:55 left in overtime.
Eno stopped 64-of-70 shots in the series, including 22 in the first two periods Saturday.
“He was great,” Williams said.
The BG power play was 0-of-5 for the third straight game, while ND was 3-of-6. BG has allowed eight
power-play goals in the last five games.
But the Falcons killed off Solway’s minor late in overtime.
“They were zipping the puck around pretty well on the power play,” Williams said. “They’re a good
power-play team, but we had some key kills.”
Although the Falcons were scoreless on the power play, they had the four 5-on-5 goals. ND entered the
game second in the country in goals allowed (1.73 per game)
“That was an indicator of how well we played,” Williams said. “It’s good to see us score some goals.”
BGSU 4, NOTRE DAME 4, TIE
GOALS BY PERIOD
BGSU
2
2
—4
NOTRE DAME
2
1
1
—4
(BGSU won shootout 1-0)
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1, ND Ridderwall 8 (Maday, Deeth) 7:53 (5-4 pp). 2, ND Ridderwall 9 (Maday, Blatchford) 10:10
(5-4 pp).
Penalties: Maday, ND, slashing, 0:42; R. Ryan, ND, tripping, 3:52; Moore, BG, obstruction/cross-checking,
6:13; Palmieri, ND, roughing after the whistle, 7:03; Page, BG, roughing after the whistle, 7:03;
Vargas, BG, roughing, 9:14; Ringel, ND, contact to the head-elbowing, 12:38; Blatchford, ND,
cross-checking, 14:47; Palmieri, ND, unsportsmanlike conduct/spraying the goalie, 18:47; Ruel, BG,
roughing after the whistle, 18:47.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 3, BG Samuels-Thomas 8 (Krelove) 5:04. 4, BG Ruel 1 (Petruska, Moore) 6:00. 5, ND Ridderwall 9
(Maday, Ringel) 8:45.
Penalties: Krelove, BG, cross-checking, 12:47; Moore, BG, hooking, 13:47.
THIRD PERIOD:
Scoring: 6, BG Dee 5 (Samuels-Thomas, Solway) 3:38. 7, BG Rodriguez 2 (Page) 9.53. 8, ND Thang 3
(Blatchford, Maday) 11:06 (5-4 pp).
Penalties: Deeth, ND, obstruction-interference, 0:17; Shea, BG, clipping, 10:18; Ruth, ND, tripping,
15:25; Samuels-Thomas, unsportsmanlike conduct/diving, 15:25.
OVERTIME
Scoring: None.
Penalties: Solway, BG, tripping, 3:05; Perkin, BG, grasping the facemask, 4:49; Kantola, BG, grasping the
facemask, 4:49; Ridderwall, ND, grasping the facemask, 4:49; Deeth, ND, grasping the facemask, 4:49.
SHOOTOUT
BG 1 (Samuels-Thomas goal, Rodriguez save, Page missed net).
ND 0 (Maday save, B. Ryan save, Thang post).
SAVES BY PERIOD
Eno, BG
9
13
8
3
—33
Phillips, ND
6
3
4
—13
Johnson, ND
X
X
6
2
—8
Goalie statistics (goals against/minutes played): (BG) Eno 4/65; (ND) Phillips 4/50:12, Johnson 0/14:48.
Penalties-Minutes: BG 11-22, ND 10-20. Power plays: BG 0-5, ND 3-6. Attendance: 2,544.
