In front of a record crowd of 5,353 at the BG Ice Arena, the BG hockey team lost to Ohio State 3-2 on Friday night. The Falcons lead the majority of the game 1-0; however Ohio State scored three goals in the last five minutes of regulation to beat the Falcons.
Forward Brent Tate scored in the first period with assists from Tyler Spezia and Dajon Mingo to give BG a 1-0 advantage. Ohio State answered with two goals late in the third period to give the Buckeyes a 2-1 lead.
Then, with less than two minutes in regulation, Brent Tate scored again to tie the game at two. Ben Murphy recorded an assist on that goal.
“It’s always good to contribute. It feels better when you contribute and get a ‘W’, that’s for sure,” Tate said.
With 34 seconds left in the third period, Ohio State scored again and defeated the Falcons 3-2 at the BG Ice Arena. Falcon goaltender Tommy Burke made 21 saves in the losing effort.
BG outshot Ohio State 27-24, and the Falcons killed all four penalties on Friday night.
“It was an unbelievable crowd. I want to thank everybody, students and fans alike for coming. Unfortunately, we didn’t play our best,” BG coach Chris Bergeron said.
On Saturday night, the teams traveled down to Columbus to finish the weekend series at Ohio State. This time, the Falcons won 3-2 to defeat Ohio State on the road.
Freshman goalie Chris Nell made 27 saves in the win for BG. His record is now 3-0-0.
“He hadn’t played in a while. To see him play the way we played tonight, it’s got to be a confidence boost for Chris (Nell),” Bergeron said.
The Falcons scored again scored first with a goal from Mike Sullivan in the first period. This was the defenseman’s first goal this season.
However, Ohio State scored less than five minutes later to tie the game 1-1. Late in the second period, Sean Walker scored on the power play to give the Falcons a 2-1 advantage.
Captain Dan DeSalvo and Pierre-Luc Mercier recorded assists on the play.
The Buckeyes answered with a goal late in the third period to tie the game. But, Brandon Hawkins scored the game-winning goal at the 17:20 mark in the third period to give the Falcons a 3-2 victory on the road.
“We’ve had really good third periods this year. We had a good period tonight,” Bergeron said. “It’s nice to see us respond and rally that way.”
With the win on Saturday night, BG improves to 8-3-1 overall and the Buckeyes are now 3-6-1 on the season. This was the BG’s first win on the road against Ohio State since 2008.
BG will be back home at the BG Ice Arena this Friday and Saturday night to play the conference opponent Bemidji State. The puck will drop at 7:07 p.m. on both nights.
