Nov. 19, 2011

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OXFORD, Ohio - Miami took the lead four times, but couldn't hold off a feisty Bowling Green squad in a back-and-forth affair as the Falcons rallied for a 4-4 tie Saturday night at Steve Cady Arena on hockey's Alumni Weekend. Senior forward and co-captain Alden Hirschfeld, junior forward Reilly Smith and freshman forward Austin Czarnik each tallied a goal and an assist to lead Miami (6-6-2, 4-4-2-1 CCHA), which extended its unbeaten streak to six games, but Bowling Green (6-6-2, 1-6-1-1 CCHA) battled back after falling behind each time to end a five-game conference losing streak.

The Red and White outshot BGSU 32-16 and attacked the net as time wound down in the third period and overtime, but was unable to net the game-winner, sending the game to a shootout where the Falcons' earned the 1-0 win in three rounds for the extra point in the conference standings.

"I thought we had certain guys play very well tonight," head coach Enrico Blasi. "We just couldn't get that next goal to go up by two, and they just kept coming back. Give them credit, they did a nice job on the power play, and they scored when they had to."

Miami got on the scoreboard first when Czarnik chased a Falcon defenseman behind the net on the forecheck, stole the puck and sent a quick centering feed to Smith, who buried it past Bowling Green goaltender Andrew Hammond at 6:17 of the first period. It was his team-leading eighth goal of the season and put the `Hawks ahead, 1-0.

The Falcons tied the game with 3:34 left in the opening period when Michael Fink, posted in front of the Miami net, deflected a slap shot by Mike Sullivan past senior goalie Cody Reichard to tie the game at one aside. The power play tally ended Miami's streak of 27 straight successful penalty kills.

The RedHawks quickly struck back just over a minute and a half later to regain the lead at 2-1 on Czarnik's fourth goal of the season. Czarnik took an outlet pass from senior defenseman Chris Wideman at the Bowling Green blue line and streaked by a Falcon defenseman before beating Hammond low, glove-side. Senior co-captain and defenseman Will Weber also earned an assist on the play.

The Falcons pulled level again with another power play goal at the 4:27 mark of the second period. After a scrum in front of the Miami net, BGSU's Dan DeSalvo flipped a rebound past Reichard to even the score at 2-2.

The RedHawks picked up a power play goal of their own when Hirschfeld shoveled a rebound past Hammond for a 3-2 Miami lead at 9:42 of the second frame. Smith set up the play from the left faceoff circle where he passed the puck to Wideman at the right point for a hard slap shot on goal. Hammond made the initial save on Wideman's shot but could not get repositioned to stop Hirschfeld's follow up shot in front of the crease.

Bowling Green again responded late in the second period however, when Bryce Williamson stuffed home his own rebound to tie the game at 3-3 with just 2:03 left in the second period.

In the third period, Miami jumped back on top 4-3 on a goal by freshman forward Tyler Biggs, his third of the year. Junior forward Curtis McKenzie carried the puck into the attacking zone along the left side and found Biggs wide open at the top of the right faceoff circle, where he sent a wrister into the back of the net just 1:49 into the final frame. Hirschfeld earned the second assist on the goal.

The RedHawks fought off the Falcons for most of the third period, but couldn't close out the win as BGSU's Ryan Carpenter went the length of the ice and scored with just 1:12 left in regulation to knot the game at 4-4, forcing Miami's fourth overtime game of the year.

In the extra period each team fired a shot on goal, but both Reichard and Hammond made saves to give both teams a point in the conference standings with the tie and send the game to Miami's second shootout in the past three games. Bowling Green netted a goal in the second round off the stick of Williamson while the RedHawks were unable to solve Hammond as the Falcons won the shootout, 1-0 for the extra point.

The RedHawks finished 4-for-6 on the penalty kill and 1-for-7 on the power play. Hammond finished with 28 saves on 32 Miami shots while Reichard made 12 saves on 16 shots.

Next up for Miami is a trip to Colorado for the Denver Cup Nov. 25-26 as Miami takes on Providence on Friday and the host and 11th-ranked Pioneers on Saturday.