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Bowling Green State University Athletics
1999-2000 Falcon Hockey Outlook
December 29, 1999 | Ice Hockey
July 29, 1999
Last season, the Bowling Green State University hockey team was the fourth-most improved team in Division I hockey behind NCAA tournament participants Denver, Maine and St. Lawrence. This season, the Falcons look for continued improvement and another jump in the league standings.
BG lost four letterwinners from the 1998-99 squad including leading scorer Dan Price (21-32-53), a second-team All-CCHA selection, No. 1 goaltender Mike Savard (16-14-2, 3.23, .889), backup goalie Jason Piwko (0-0-0, 1.51, .950) and forward Stewart Nowosad (1-0-1).
Despite the losses, there is renewed enthusiasm in the Falcon locker room. BG head coach Buddy Powers brings back 19 letterwinners from a team that improved four places in the always tough Central Collegiate Hockey Association.
First-Team All-CCHA honoree Adam Edinger (23-25-48) returns to lead the BG offense which ranked first in the CCHA in goals (3.40) per league game. Edinger, who was elected an assistant captain for 1999-2000, fully recovered from knee surgery in February 1998 and led the NCAA in power-play goals last season with 14.
"We have a lot of veteran forwards that have gained tremendous experience over the last couple of years," said Powers. "Adam (Edinger) developed into an all-league performer and we look for him to be the leader of our offense this year."
Others who should help lead the way offensively are senior Craig Desjarlais (10-15-25), juniors Ryan Murphy (10-23- 33) and Chris Bonvie (11-18-29) and sophomore Greg Day (10-11-21). Desjarlais doubled his goal output from his sophomore to junior year, while Murphy nearly tripled his point-production from his rookie campaign. Bonvie has scored 23 goals in his first two seasons.
"Day had a good freshman year," added Powers, "he could have the biggest jump of all our players this year."
Powers is looking for junior Curtis Valentine (4-8-12) and senior Zach Ham (4-8-12) to have breakout years. "Ham is one of the strongest defensive forwards in the league," said Powers. "We have guys that established themselves solidly in given roles. Ryan Wetterberg (1-3-4), Dennis Williams (4-1-5, 55 PIM) and Scott Hewson (1-6-7, 45 PIM) can stir the pot."
Other returning forwards include sophomore Austin de Luis (4-3-7) and senior Brad Newman (0-0-0).
"Our defense could be a real strength with this year's team," said Powers. BG returns all seven defensemen from a year ago and will look to improve on its penalty killing and goals against. BG was ninth in the league in defense allowing an average of 3.50 goals per league contest, while finishing last in penalty killing percentage (77.8%).
"I really like our defensive corps," stated Powers. "We have a real good blend of size and skill on defense."
Senior Michael Jones (8-21-29) was selected as the CCHA's Best Offensive Defenseman a year ago, while classmate B.J. Adams (0-1-1) is one of the top defensive defensemen in the loop.
Junior Doug Schueller (7-5-12) was tabbed as BG's captain for the upcoming season after serving as an assistant captain this past year. Classmate Louis Mass (0-2-2) led the team in plus/minus (+9) rating. Mass was on the ice for 15 even- strength goals against in 35 games last season.
Sophomores Grady Moore (6-10-16) and Marc Barlow (1-8-9) gained considerable experience last season. Moore was a key figure in the Falcon power-play. He was on the ice for 32 of BG's 47 man-advantage markers, while Barlow played in all but four contests. Sophomore Joe Statkus saw action in four games last year.
"We should be able to have a physical presence in our zone with Adams, Schueller, Mass and Statkus," said Powers, "Plus we have three players in Jones, Moore and Barlow that are offensively talented and can lead the transition to offense."
The biggest question mark for the upcoming season is between the pipes. Junior Shawn Timm (1-4-1, 4.93, .795) will vie with newcomers Tyler Masters (Kindersley Klippers) and Tom Lawson (Markham Waxers) for the No. 1 goaltending job vacated by the graduation of Mike Savard.
"We would like to see Shawn return to the form he displayed as a freshman, but he will be challenged by two incoming freshmen that both seek the opportunity to play right away," said Powers.
The long and short of it on the incoming goalies is Masters at 5-9, 160 and Lawson at 6-5, 190 will give opponents two different types of goalies to prepare for. According to Powers, Masters plays his angles very well, has a good glove and is a leader on the ice. Lawson is real big goaltender, in the Patrick Roy style, that fills the net and is an extremely competitive individual.
The Falcon coaching staff has recruited two right wings in Tyler Knight (Vernon Vipers) and Ryan Fultz (Cleveland Junior Barons) that combined for 74 goals and 172 points last season. "Both Tyler and Ryan are coming off tremendous junior careers and will be looking to establish themselves in our lineup," said Powers. "Both players are gifted offensively and should help in our overall production.
"In special teams, our power play should be even stronger with only Price gone from the top two units," added Powers. The Falcons led the conference in power-play percentage (21.1%) last season. "I am looking for the penalty killing to improve quite a bit with our veteran corps of defensemen and the experienced gained in killing penalties by some of our other players."
The Falcons will play six non-conference games plus a home exhibition against the University of Toronto. BG opens the 1999-2000 campaign with two games in Boston. The Falcons face Boston College on Oct. 15 and Northeastern on Oct. 16. Bowling Green's home non-conference series is against Alabama-Huntsville, while the holiday tournament will be Dec. 29-30 in Troy, New York.
The University of Nebraska at Omaha joins the CCHA and the new league schedule format consists of 28 conference games. The format also includes the return of two-game weekend sets against the same opponent.
The Falcons play five of their first seven CCHA games on the road including weekend sets at Western Michigan and Michigan State. BG plays six of its seven games in January at home and finishes with four of its final six regular-season games at the BGSU Ice Arena.
"The league as a whole is going to be very competitive. Michigan should be the favorite going in and both Michigan State and Northern Michigan return a lot of quality players, but after that it should be wide open for the other two home ice berths," said Powers. "It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out."
Ten schools will qualify for the CCHA tournament with the top five teams hosting a best-of-three series. Winners will be re-seeded with a tournament play-in game between the fourth and fifth seeds taking place on March 14 at the site of the No. 4 seed. The top three quarterfinal series winners plus the play-in winner advance to the CCHA Championships at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on Friday and Saturday, March 17-18.
NCAA Regional action will be held at the Mariucci Arena (March 24-25) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Pepsi Arena (March 25-26) in Albany, New York. The Frozen Four will be on April 6 & 8 at the Providence Civic Center.
