To appear in College Hockey Weekly. PRE-printed with permission.
Keith
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BG & MSU PUT IN OVERTIME
 
The Bowling Green Falcons played in their second two-overtime weekend
in three weeks when they dueled with Michigan State last weekend.
Friday in BG, the home Falcons struck in the extra stanza to win 2-1.
Saturday in East Lansing, the home Spartans fought back to earn a 6-all
tie.
 
The first game of the series was a defensive struggle where the
goaltenders took control. BGSU's Will Clarke saved 24 (96%) and MSU's
Mike Gilmore stopped 27 (93%).
 
Martin Jiranek's power-play goal staked BG to a first-period lead and
Peter White tied it with his own PPG in the second. MSU pressured
Clarke with 11 shots in the second, but the BG defense tightened up and
only allowed 4 wide-angled shots in the third.
 
The game-winner came with just 54 seconds left in OT. BG defenseman
Greg de Vries held the puck in at the blue line and sent it deep into
the zone. The puck took a funny bounce and caromed to Brett Harkins,
who fed a waiting Jim Solly in the crease. Solly banged in the biscuit
and the referee decided to let the goal count, sending the Falcon fans
into a frenzy.
 
Dwayne Norris of the Green and White almost single-handedly slowed the
BGSU juggernaut Saturday night. He netted a power-play goal in each
period and scored 4 markers in all. His fourth was the game-tyer and
came with merely 8 ticks remaining in regulation.
 
The Falcons opened up a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes behind goals by
Harkins, Jeff Wells and Martin Jiranek. BG maintained its 2-goal margin
into the third period, but the Brown and Orange could not withstand the
Spartan barrage of 30 shots (18 on net) and 4 tallies in the third.
 
MSU's Michael Burkett and Joby Messier fueled the comeback with goals
of their own. Wells added a second twiner in the period. In goal,
Clarke saw 35 shots and Gilmore faced 29.
 
Bowling Green moved up to 7th place in the CCHA. They play Miami this
week with a chance to climb into 5th. Michigan State fell to third in
the league and will take on arch-rival Michigan at Joe Louis Arena
next.
 
 
OVERTIME MADNESS
 
The 9 overtime Division I games last Friday night shattered the
previous high of 6 in one day (since the 1986-87 season). On 11-10-90,
6 of the 20 games (30%) went into OT and on 12-5-87, 6 of 17 (35%)
needed extra time. The previous high for percentage of games going into
overtime in one day (with 10 or more games) was 38%: 5 of 13 on
11-29-86. Friday's percentage was 45% (9/20).