Ryan Wetterberg took a pass off the boards and streaked into beat Nathan Marsters over the right shoulder to give the Bowling Green Falcons a 2-2 tie in the second game of their weekend series against the Rensselaer Engineers.
Wetterberg’s made the reception from Taylor Christie and before the Engineer defense knew it, had streaked in front to put himself in a position to beat Marsters high.
The Falcons trailed 2-1 after taking the 1-0 early in the first period. Steve Brudzewski found a puck that had bounced into the crease after a Marc Barlow shot and tucked it into an open net.
The Engineers came back to tie it on a five-on-three power play. Marc Cavosie received a pass from Matt Murley and quickly beat Jordan Sigalet to tie the game.
The Engineers took the 2-1 lead in the second period, also on the power play. Carson Butterwick banged home a rebound in a scrum in front when Sigalet let an Andrew McPherson shot get loose.
The Engineers appeared to take a 3-1 lead when a shot came in on Sigalet after he had fallen into the net. But assistant referee Bill Jones signaled that the puck had not crossed the line.
After the Falcons took the lead, Sigalet was forced to leave the game as he received a hit directly to his head and Tyler Masters replaced him. Neither he nor Marsters let anything more past as the game ended in a 2-2 tie, though there were some scary moments for Masters in the closing minutes of regulation and overtime as Cavosie and Murley barely missed four scoring opportunities.
“It was a very similar game to last night,” said Engineer coach Dan Fridgen. “The difference was that they jumped out in front of us and capitalized a few seconds later, and then we went on the power play and got a big one there.
“The second period was strong and in the third period we just couldn’t close them out. We had some real good opportunities to close them out but we couldn’t get it done. The positive thing was that they scored a goal in the third to tie it up and we didn’t let them get another one. We were just bounces and inches away from winning in overtime and in regulation.”
“I thought both teams played better tonight that they did last night; it was a very entertaining game,” said Falcon coach Buddy Powers. “Both goaltenders made some big stops, especially Masters at the end of the game when Cavosie got that long pass up the middle and went in alone. That saved the game right there.
“There was good action at both ends of the rink and we wanted to win the game, but we had to settle for the tie.”
The Falcons’ top line of Greg Day, D’Arcy McConvey and Scott Hewson were kept off the board for the second night in a row, while the Engineers’ top line of Carson Butterwick, Marc Cavosie and Matt Murley combined for nine of the team’s 12 points on the weekend.
“I don’t think that’s pressure — I think they enjoy doing that,” said Fridgen of his top line accounting for almost all the scoring. “When you’re a player and you do something and you’re capable of doing that and you bring that to the table, I don’t see that as pressure. From a player’s perspective, it’s fulfilling.”
“It’s not often that Day’s line is kept off the board all weekend,” said Powers. “We’ve played a lot of games against a lot of teams. Butterwick, Murley, Cavosie, that’s as good a line as we’ve played against — that includes Michigan State, Denver, Maine. Those guys are dominant virtually every shift they have.”
The Falcons (6-15-5) will head to Michigan for a pair next weekend while the Engineers (8-9-3) will host Vermont and Dartmouth.
