Team USA downs BGSU

Bowling Green hockey played host to the United States Under-18 Development team Friday night and lost, 7-2.

The U.S. National U-18 squad jumped out to a quick 3-0 start in the first period off of goals scored by Justin Faulk, Bill Arnold and Bryan Rust. Six minutes into the game, Justin Faulk scored the first of his two goals on the night. From the top of the left circle, Faulk blasted a shot to the glove side of starting freshman goaltender Andrew Hammond.

Midway through the first period, Bill Arnold caught a rebound off of a Hammond save and put the second Team USA goal home on a power play to make it a two-goal advantage for the Red, White and Blue. To end the first period, forward Bryan Rust would score his third goal of the season from inside the left circle.

The U.S. U-18 team continued the scoring in the second period at the 3:22 mark when Luke Moffatt scored an unassisted goal on Hammond’s glove side to put them up 4-0. The Falcons kept the U.S. National team scoreless for the next thirteen minutes-plus until Nick Shore scored the fifth Team USA unanswered goal with 2:12 remaining in the second period off a Jarred Tinordi setup.

The Falcons did not give in, despite the five goal deficit. Senior captain, Kyle Page, reared back and cracked the first Falcon goal past netminder Jack Cambell on a five-on-three power play opportunity to eliminate the shutout and make the score 5-1, 5:45 into the final frame. Junior defenseman Andrew Krelove added another score from in front of the net less than two minutes later coming off of assists from Page and fellow senior Josh Boyd.

Team USA would avenge the two Falcon scores soon thereafter. With 7:51 remaining in the contest, Faulk added his second tally of the night on a Team USA power play to make the score 6-2. With that goal, it made him the team’s high goal scorer with five on the season. Brandon Saad concluded the scoring for the night with his fourth goal of the season.

After all was said and done, Bowling Green took the 7-2 loss into the locker room. “They have a great team,” said head coach Dennis Williams. “I’d put them against any college hockey team in the nation. We will practice hard tomorrow and regroup for Providence.”

Bowling Green would score twice on their seven power play opportunities, while the opposition scored twice as well in its six chances. Team USA outshot BGSU 41-29 on the night and had double-digit shots on goal in all three period, with a high of 15 in the first period.

Hammond started between the posts and saved 14-18 shots he faced. Junior Nick Eno came in for relief early in the second period and stopped 17 of the 19 shots fired at him. Senior Phil Greer enter the game to play the final 3:35 of the match, stopping three of four shots in that time.

Page finished the game with two points on the evening (1-1) and three other Falcons would score points on the evening. Josh Boyd has now scored points in consecutive games for the first time this season and becomes the third Falcon to do so in 2009-10.

Of the game, Page said, “We’ve got to reset from here. The clock turns twelve at midnight and it’s a new day. We just need to get ready for Providence now.”

Bowling Green will have an off day on Saturday, but will prepare to host the Providence Friars next weekend, Oct. 26-27. Game time is set for 7:05 p.m. EST for both nights.