Mavs win first league game against Bowling Green

The Mavs' hockey team earned their first conference victory of the season when they defeated Bowling Green 3-1 on Halloween night.The Mavs improved to 4-0-2 overall and 1-0-1 in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. Bowling Green slips to 0-5-1 overall and 0-1-1 in the CCHA.

UNO played arguably their best game of the season, holding the Falcons to 16 shots while playing most of the game on their end of the ice.

"I thought we were better in a lot of little areas, like face-offs and finishing our checks," head coach Dean Blais said. "Everything was a little bit off last night, but certainly a better effort, I thought, tonight."

Junior forward Rich Purslow scored two goals to lead the Mavs. Senior defenseman Eddie DelGrosso also had a goal and an assist.

"We wanted to come out and make a statement," DelGrosso said.

The Mavs controlled the game from the opening face-off. The Falcons spent much of their time in their own zone, trying to thwart the Mavs' offensive pressure.

"We wanted to pressure their defense all night, get the puck in and forecheck hard," Purslow said. "We didn't forecheck as hard as we wanted to last night, so that was our main focus tonight was to put all the pressure on their defense and play in their zone the whole game."

The Mavs scored in the first period when Purslow received a pass from DelGrosso near the net and fired a wrist-shot under the goalie's right armpit. The score came during a power play for the Mavs with 1:44 in the first period.

"Rich is a sniper," Blais said. "He's got good hockey sense and good hands and can put the puck away. He's surprised me this year with another good game tonight and his execution. If we had a sniper right now, it's Richy."

The second period was thoroughly dominated by the Mavs. The offense put constant pressure on the Falcons throughout the period, and Bowling Green was unable to gain any offensive continuity. DelGrosso put the Mavs up 2-0 when he deked an opponent and fired a shot into the upper-right of the goal with less than a minute to go before the end of the period.

"I think that's one thing why we're so hard to play against for some teams, coach gives us a lot of freedom and its on us to just work hard and get down there," DelGrosso said.

The third period featured quick goals for both teams. Bowling Green scored on a loose puck after a face-off to cut the lead to 2-1, but Purslow responded 30 seconds later with a backhanded goal in front of the net. The goal gave the Mavs a 3-1 lead with a little more than 17 minutes left in the game, and the Mavs held on for the win.

Facing constant pressure on both sides of the ice, Bowling Green finished with only 16 shots and had no shots on three power play attempts.

"I thought the guys put a lot of pressure on the other team," Blais said. "They have a pretty good idea of what they're going to do. And you have to give the players credit for blocking shots, getting good stick position, and being quick on the puck when they dumped it in."

Senior goaltender Jeremie Dupont started in net for the Mavs and earned his first victory of the season, saving 15 shots in the effort. Blais is hopeful about the team's goaltending prospects now that it appears he has two capable players with Dupont and redshirt freshman John Faulkner.

"I think he got himself [Dupont] back in the mix," he said. "I think they've each had their chances. Jeremie had kind of a tough start in the Icebreaker Tournament, and John went in there and established himself as a goaltender you can count on, even being a freshman. Jeremie is certainly in the mix of things right now, though."

The win came on the heels of a very controversial ending to Friday's game, which ended in a 3-3 tie. Bowling Green was awarded the victory with a 1-0 shootout score.

In the tie, the Mavs and the Falcons went to a shootout to determine the winner of the game. Bowling Green's Jordan Samuels-Thomas scored the only goal of the shootout, but he was supposed to be ineligible due to NCAA rules stating that a player in the penalty box at the end of the overtime period is not allowed to participate in the shootout. Samuels-Thomas was serving a penalty when the overtime period ended, and his participation in the shootout went unnoticed by game officials.

The Central Collegiate Hockey Association released a statement on Saturday about the incident.

"After a review of the circumstances surrounding the completion of last night's game between Bowling Green and Nebraska Omaha, it is clear that our officiating crew made an error in permitting a player who was serving a penalty when the overtime period concluded, to participate in the shootout," CCHA Commissioner Tom Anastos said in a statement. "This error in rules enforcement during the course of the game, while unfortunate, can only be corrected during the course of the game. Once the game is concluded, there are no further actions that can take place to correct the situation."

The team was more upset with their own performance than anything the referees did.

"I think yesterday was a big disappointment for us," DelGrosso said. "We got lucky we got that point, but [it's] still a big disappointment. You go home and sit there and think about the game for maybe an hour, think about what you did wrong, then everyone turns their focus to the next game. You got to move on."

Purslow echoed DelGrosso's statements.

"We were all disappointed with that outcome," he said. "I don't think anyone slept too well last night after that disappointing loss. We knew we had to come out tonight and play for 60 minutes and the outcome would take care of itself."

The Mavs travel to East Lansing next week to take on Michigan State in a two-game series. UNO will return home on Nov. 13 and 14 to take on Lake Superior State in a two-game series.