Lakers Edge Falcons

The last time Brian Mahoney-Wilson played at Bowling Green he left the ice on a stretcher after a goalmouth collision with a Falcon player.

One season later the Lake Superior goalie stopped 20 of 21 shots as he helped his team beat Bowling Green 2-1 on Friday night.

“It was a little bit eerie going into practice on Thursday and being on that one end in the second and just remembering getting hit that way,” Mahoney-Wilson said. “It was rewarding coming in here, making a good amount of saves.”

Of his 20 saves, the biggest came in the third period as the Lakers clung to a one goal lead. With Bowling Green on the power play to start the third period Mahoney-Wilson made two big stops down low and then with 9:20 remaining he made a breakaway save to stop Tomas Petruska with the right pad.

“Brian Mahoney-Wilson won us the game,” Lake Superior coach Jim Roque said.
Two Laker defensemen gave their goalie all the support he would need as Matt Cowie and Simon Gysbers each scored in the first period.

First Cowie gave Lake Superior an early lead as his shot from the point found its way through a slew of players in front of the net and over Bowling Green goalie Nick Eno’s left shoulder.

It was Cowie’s first goal of the season while Rick Schofield and Ben Power each picked up assists on the goal.

Another point blast, this time on the power play, helped Lake Superior double their lead with 1:56 remaining in the opening period as another defenseman, Gysbers beat Eno five hole through traffic.

“They were no more open than normal, the first one was up an over I don’t know how it went in the net,” Roque said. “We never beat the guy [Eno] on a clean shot.”

Bowling Green cut Lake Superior’s lead in half with 1:43 to go in the second period as Petruska scored on a 4-on-3 mad advantage.

Petruska took the pass from David Solway and fired a slap shot from the top of the left circle that beat Mahoney-Wilson just inside the right post.

“That was huge, that was a great power play goal. The movement was perfect and from our angle I don’t think Mahoney-Wilson had a chance on it,” Bowling Green coach Dennis Williams said.

The Falcons momentum from Petruska’s late second period tally continued over to the third period, as BG had two great scoring chances in the first two minutes.
About 40 seconds into the period Jordan Samuels-Thomas skated down the left wing faked out Mahoney-Wilson and almost found a wide-open teammate by the far post.

Moment later Bowling Green was put on a power play thanks to a Gysbers hooking penalty, which almost resulted in the tying goal.

Despite their many third period chances, including Petruska’s late breakaway,
the Falcons couldn’t beat Mahoney-Wilson who made sure Lake Superior improved to .500 on the season (7-7-3).

With the loss Bowling Green dropped to 2-10-2, however both ties resulted in shootout wins.

The two teams will meet again tomorrow at the BGSU Ice Arena; opening faceoff is scheduled for 5:05 pm.