BUFFALO, N.Y. – The last non-conference game of the season looked like an upset in the making as ninth-ranked Adrian College (10-3) trailed 5-2 with 18:20 left in the game on Friday night at Buffalo State. The Bulldogs then went to work as they turned a three-goal deficit into a two-goal win claiming a 7-5 victory over the Bengals at a stunned BSC Ice Arena.
The Bulldogs trailed 2-0 after 20 minutes despite owning a 12-9 edge in shots on goal in the first period. Mike Dahlinger took a boarding minor at 12:05 of the first and Buffalo State scored 23 seconds later on the power play as Trevor McKinney scored the first of his two first-period goals at 12:28 from Sean Murray and Justin Knee. The Bengals made it 2-0 on McKinney's ninth goal of the season at 16:24 from Knee and Mac Balson.
Adrian got within one just 17 seconds into the second period on the power play as John Corrigan got a high-sticking minor at the end of the first.
Shawn Skelly's eighth goal of the season assisted by
Eric Miller and
Jeremy Klaver made it 2-1.
Brad Houston tied it up at 2-2 at the 9:15 mark for his eighth goal of the year assisted by
Bobby Hineman.
Buffalo State ended the second up 4-2 as Mike Zannella scored just eight seconds after the Houston goal to make it 3-2.
Brad Fogal was replaced by
Mike Morissette in goal but it took just 22 seconds for BSC to make it 4-2 as Nick Petriello's fourth goal of the year from Zannella at 9:45 put Morissette right back on the bench in exchange for Fogal.
The Bengals (6-6-2) secured a 5-2 lead at 1:40 of the third as Drew Klin scored his third of the season from Petriello and Zannella. Houston scored his second of the game just nine seconds later to cut the lead to 5-3 from
Jordan Watts and
Joel Workman. Skelly's second of the game at even strength at 2:42 from
Zach Graham and
Kyle Gallinger made things very interesting with Adrian down 5-4.
Each team traded minor penalties at 8:05 and 11:03 with neither team being able to score on the power play. Watts got an unassisted goal for his fifth of the season with 4:58 remaining to tie the game at 5-5.
Josh Cousineau needed just 2:10 off the clock to score the game-winner for his second of the year at 17:12 and Watts collected his third point of the period on an empty-net goal with four seconds left for the 7-5 win.
Fogal made 25 saves including nine in the final period. Kevin Carr made 35 saves for the Bengals. Adrian outshot Buffalo State, 42-30, including a 18-10 edge in the third period. Adrian went 1-for-5 on the power play and killed 6-of-7 penalties on the night.
