LEWISTON, N.Y. — Bowling Green’s hockey team couldn’t hold a one-goal lead in the
final minute of regulation Saturday.Niagara’s Chris Lochner scored with 50.4
seconds remaining, giving the Purple Eagles a 2-2 tie in the season-opener for
both teams.Lochner’s goal came just less than three minutes after BG defenseman
Bobby Shea scored to break a 1-1 tie.The Falcons held a 36-30 edge in shots.
Both goalies played well, as BG’s Andrew Hammond stopped 28 shots, and Niagara’s
Carsen Chubak had 34 saves.“We had a lead and weren’t able to hold it,” BG coach
Chris Bergeron said. “We’ve been concentrating on poise and execution, and we
weren’t able to execute.“But it came down to way more plays than that. There
were plays to be made around their net that we weren’t able to make, and they
had some chances and Hammy stood up there pretty well.”The teams traded goals in
the second period.Niagara’s Rocky Gruttadauria opened the scoring at 15:07, but
BG’s Cam Wojtala tied the game on the power play just 1:43 later later.Adam
Berkle, Dajon Mingo, Dan DeSalvo and Ryan Carpenter had assists for BG. Mingo’s
point was his first as a Falcon.Saturday was the NCAA’s official starting date,
meaning BG and Niagara were playing on the earliest day possible.The teams,
however, were allowed to have their coaches on the ice for two hours of
instruction per week starting Sept. 15.“For the first game, it wasn’t too bad,”
Bergeron said. “All in all, not a bad game. It’s just a matter of executing at a
higher level.”The Falcons were 1-of-7 on the power play and killed off all three
of Niagara’s chances in the extra man.BG had 14 shots on the power play, and
limited Niagara to just three shots with the extra man.“Our effort was good,”
Bergeron said when asked about the positives for his team. “Our penalty-kill
looked pretty good.”“We had created some opportunities, whether it was on the
power play or 5-on-5. There were some guys skating and taking the puck to the
net. But I don’t think we did a good enough job around the other team’s net in
terms of traffic. Our offensive zone play was pretty good.Niagara’s final power
play overlapped the final 51 seconds to regulation and the first 1:09 of
overtime. BG also failed to score on a power play in overtime.“I felt pretty
good about the power play,” Bergeron said. “There were some decisions that
weren’t great in terms of when to shoot and when not to shoot, but the fact we
were looking to shoot is a good thing. We moved it around pretty well and
created some opportunities from that.”Hammond also was sharp, making 24 of his
saves during the first two periods.The senior started every game last season and
has started BG’s last 52 games, dating back to the last seven games of his
sophomore season.“He was pretty strong, which isn’t necessarily a surprise,”
Bergeron said. “It was nice to see him get off to a good start.”Making their
Falcon debuts were forwards Mingo, Mark Cooper, Ben Murphy and defenseman Jose
Delgadillo. Freshman Tommy Burke was the backup goalie.Not dressing for BG were
forwards Brent Tate, Bryce Williamson and Chad Sumsion; defensemen Jake Sloat,
Rusty Hafner and Derek Hills; and goalie Scott Zacharias.The Falcons host the
University of Ontario Institute of Technology Sunday in an exhibition at 5:05
p.m.BGSU 2, NIAGARA 2, TIEGOALS BY PERIODBGSU 0 1 1 0 —2NIAGARA 0 1 1 0 —2FIRST
PERIODScoring: None.Penalties: Kohls, NI, high-sticking, 15:08; Murphy, BG,
hooking, 16:58.SECOND PERIODScoring: 1, NI Gruttadauria 1 (Ryan, Chartrain)
15:07. 2, BG Wojtala 1 (Berkle, Mingo) 16:50 (5-4 pp).Penalties: DeSalvo, BG,
elbowing, 2:00; Iuorio, NI, slashing, 9:32; Weiss, NI, tripping, 15:47; Ryan,
NI, hooking, 18:28; Divjak, NI, boarding, 19:23.THIRD PERIODScoring: 3, BG Shea
1 (DeSalvo, Carpenter) 16:19. 4, NI Lochner 1 (Albers) 19:09.Penalties:
Gruttadauria, NI, hooking, 8:47; Perrier, BG, checking, 19:09.OVERTIMEScoring:
None.Penalties: Weiss, NI, hooking, 1:37.SAVES BY PERIODHammond, BG 10 8 10 0
—28Chubak, NI 10 14 5 5 —34Goalie statistics (goals against/minutes played):
(BG) Hammond 2/65; (NI) Chubak 2/65.Penalties-Minutes: BG 7-14, NI 3-6. Power
plays: BG 1-7, NI 0-3. Attendance: 1,066.