BG defeated OSU by a score of 5-4 this evening at the Ice Rink in Columbus.
OSU jumped out to a 1-0 lead 7 minutes in on a goal by Phil Cadman off a BG
turnover in their own zone.  With time winding down in the first, the Falcons'
Chad Ackerman wound up from the right point and beat goalie Kurt Brown just as
the buzzer sounded to tie the game up as the teams headed off the ice.
 
OSU regained the lead 3 minutes into the second on a nice play by Steve
Richards to set up a goal.  Richards skated up center ice, drew two defensemen,
and dumped the puck to John E. Graham streaking up the left wing.  BG
goaltender Aaron Ellis stepped out to block Graham's shot but the puck rolled
into the crease and Bill Rathwell put it home.  BG scored one minute later to
tie it at 2-2 as Brian Holtzinger took a pass from Ackerman, broke in alone on
Brown, and as Brown reached out to block the puck, it deflected up and over
him, into the net.
 
At 6:27, it was BG taking their first lead of the game on the power-play as
Jeff Wells took a pass from Brandon Carper and rocketted a shot from the top of
the left circle that went over Brown's left shoulder, into the top corner of
the net.  The target on that shot was about the size of a puck and Wells put it
there for a 3-2 lead.  Another turnover in the Falcons' zone allowed OSU to
knot the  score again.  Sacha Guilbault intercepted a clearing attempt and
tried to put a backhand by Ellis.  Ellis stopped the shot, but the rebound came
out to his left where Bill Rathwell tried to slap it home, but his shot was
sailing wide until Steve Richards put his stick on it to deflect it by Ellis's
right leg.
 
BG would score the next two goals of the period and take a 5-3 lead into the
2nd intermission. At 14:05 of the second, Carper found himself at the center of
the blue line, during a power-play, and let loose a shot that everyone around
me heard deflect off someone to go in, but he received credit for the goal
anyway.  At 16:59 of the second, BG closed the second period scoring with a 2
on 1 that saw Jamie Williams keep the puck himself along the left wing, break
in on Brown, and take a shot that hit Brown in the right shoulder but popped up
in the air and rolled down his back and into the goal.
 
OSU tried to make a game of it in the third.  With 6 minutes remaining, OSU's
Glenn Painter flipped the puck over a pile of bodies in front that were
scrambling for the loose puck.  The puck bounced off the crossbar, off the
right post, and down just behind the goal line.  Ellis had made a couple of
initial saves, but the puck was never cleared and OSU converted.  With less
than a minute remaining and Brown on the bench, OSU mounted three good attacks,
but could not light the lamp.  Painter got the puck on his stick, 4 feet from
Ellis, but his shot went wide, and Ron White just plain missed a tip-in.  It
was exciting, but the game ended 5-4 for the Falcons, sending OSU to their 11th
consecutive loss.  OSU is now 0-15-1 in their last 16 ganmes, having last
beaten Cornell at the Cleveland Classic in December.  The Bucks are 0-17-1 in
their last 18 league contests having not won since Kurt Brown shut out Ferris
State on December 5.  The good news for the Bucks is that they have found some
offense of late.  They have scored 16 goals in their last 4 games which was
their total for the previous 12.  The downside of that is that they allowed 32
goals in those same four games and "only" 68 in the previous 12.  (Yes folks,
that is 100 goals against in 16 games versus 32 goals for...you aren't going to
win many that way, and the Bucks haven't.)
 
Trust me Cornell fans, even though OSU beat the Red in December, the Buckeyes
are much more pathetic than the Red...I should know...I root for both of
them...sigh, I hear spring training has started....:-)
 
Give a big hand and pat on the back to Kurt Brown who played his best game in
goal to date...including those two shutouts he has. (Those shutouts were a case
of the opposition not testing him.)  Brown stopped 44 of 49 while BG's Ellis
stopped 14 of 18.  The Bucks finish up the season at home against Michigan and
Western Michigan next weekend.
 
 
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        *        Dave [log in to unmask]         *
        *                  Cornell '91 OSU Med '95                     *
        * I may be in debt for the rest of my life, but I get to wear  *
        *             this cool, white lab coat all the time.          *
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