A Fitting End

The Bowling Green Falcons' 2009-2010 regular season came to a close on Saturday night in very fitting fashion, as the Falcon seniors made an impact when it counted. The Falcons defeated the Michigan State Spartans in a shootout after a 2-2 tie in regulation.

Michigan State's Andrew Rowe scored in the first period, but Bowling Green answered with a pair of power play goals. David Solway scored in the 2nd period, set up by Jordan Samuels-Thomas and senior Tomas Petruska. In the 3rd period, Samuels-Thomas scored a goal of his own, assisted by David Solway and senior Tommy Dee.

Just when it looked like the Falcons might skate away with a 2-1 victory in regulation, MSU's Chris Forfar evened the score with five minutes of play remaining. Neither team managed to score again, and the game went to OT.

After a scoreless extra period, the teams took the ice for a shootout.

As was the case last weekend, Tomas Petruska came up big in the shootout, playing the hero for the Falcons. He beat MSU goaltender Drew Palmisano for the only successful shootout attempt, and the BGSU Ice Arena roared its approval.


(Photo by Todd Pavlack)

The raucous crowd of over 3,000 saluted freshman BGSU goaltender Andrew Hammond as he left the playing surface. Hammond stopped 34 of 36 Spartan shots, including all three OT attempts to get the Falcons to the shootout.

The Falcons will now travel to Nebraska to take on "Duh Mavs" of UN-O in a first-round CCHA Playoff series.

Other notes:

MSU forward Corey Tropp received a 10-minute misconduct penalty and sat out most of the third period as a result. Having to watch the game from there must have really given him a sore neck. Tropp was noticeably absent on the scoresheet, appearing only for his misconduct penalty.

BGSU Head Coach Dennis Williams and the senior class (Tomas Petruska, Tommy Dee, James Perkin, Josh Boyd, Phil Greer, Kyle Page, Brian Moore, and Kai Kantola) took a curtain call after the game, much to the delight of the Falcon faithful.

BGSU alumnus, 1980 Miracle On Ice player, and 4-time Stanley Cup Champion Ken Morrow was honored in a pre-game ceremony and was available for photos and autographs with fans during the game.

A special hat-tip goes out to the BGSU mascots whose identities were unveiled during Falcon athletic events during the day. For those who don't know, I spent a year as the BGSU mascot, and it is a very special and exciting honor to serve as Freddie and Frieda Falcon. The identities of the students performing as the mascots are kept secret all year and revealed at the end of the year. Congratulations to the newest class of Birds.