Bowling Green State University Athletics
Hockey To Host Alabama-Huntsville For A Pair
January 17, 2000 | Ice Hockey
Jan. 17, 2000
BG ICERS SPLIT WITH OHIO STATE, FACE ALABAMA-HUNTSVILLE FOR THE FIRST TIME
The Bowling Green State University hockey team split a home-and-home series against Ohio State this past weekend. The Falcons won 3-0 at home on Friday, before suffering a 4-1 setback in Columbus on Saturday.
BG will play its final regular-season non-conference series this weekend (Jan. 21-22) when the Chargers of Alabama- Huntsville come to Bowling Green. UAH is coached by former Falcon icer Doug Ross, who compiled 129 points on 65 goals and 64 assists in two seasons (1973-74, 74-75) at BG.
According to the NCAA, games against teams who have recently submitted reclassification applications to be considered Division I schools will count in a team's overall record and statistics, but not toward consideration for the NCAA. In addition to Alabama-Huntsville, some other teams which fall into the same category are Wayne State, Bemidji and Mercyhurst.
UPCOMING GAMES ...
Bowling Green will play their final 12 regular season contests against CCHA members beginning with the Jan. 28-29 home series versus Northern Michigan.
BG will have its final regular-season two-game road weekend Feb. 4-5 when the Falcons travel to Omaha to face the CCHA's newest member, the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks.
THE COACH ...
Falcon mentor Buddy Powers has a 3-0-1 record against Alabama-Huntsville, all coming while he was the head coach at Rensselaer. The Engineers won twice in Huntsville (6-3, 8-7) on Nov. 30-Dec. 1, 1991. RPI garnered a win (4-1) and a tie (5-5) at Houston Field House on Jan. 15-16, 1993.
THE SERIES ...
Bowling Green has never faced the Chargers of Alabama-Huntsville in hockey. CCHA teams are 5-0 (FSU 2-0, OSU 2-0 and MSU 1-0) versus teams in College Hockey America (CHA).
PREVIEWING UPCOMING OPPONENT ...
Alabama-Huntsville is 9-4-4 overall and 6-3-1 in CHA after playing two overtime games at home this past weekend against Niagara (lost 4-3 on Friday, tied 2-2 on Saturday).
Three of the Chargers four losses this year have come versus Niagara, while the fourth loss was at Michigan State (5-0 on Dec. 11).
UAH is led in scoring by senior forward Nathan Bowen (9-11--20, 5 PPG), junior forward Dwayne Blais (6-14--20, 4 PPG), and two senior defensemen - Shane Stewart (5-10--15) and Marc Lalonde (4-10--14). Senior goalie Steve Briere (7-3-2, 2.67, .906) has seen the majority of time in the Charger cage. Briere is backed-up by freshman Mark Byrne (2-1-2, 3.06, .883).
The Charger power-play is clicking at 22.2% (18 for 81), while the UAH penalty-killing is operating at 81.1% (77 for 95).
REVIEWING THE OHIO STATE SERIES ...
Bowling Green freshman goalie Tyler Masters turned aside 25 Ohio State shots in Friday's 3-0 BG win at the Ice Arena.
Sophomore Austin de Luis' power-play goal 3:50 into the third period was the first goal of the contest. Rookie Tyler Knight scored a man-advantage goal midway through the period, while junior Curtis Valentine added an unassisted empty-net mark with 1:21 remaining in the game.
De Luis goal was assisted by Adam Edinger and Knight, while Knight's lamp-lighter was assisted by sophomore defenseman Grady Moore and Marc Barlow.
The Falcons scored on two of their five power-play chances, while stopping all five Buckeye man-advantage opportunities.
Saturday's contest started out much the same way as Friday's game until OSU freshman Miguel Lafleche scored a four-on- four goal with 1:40 left in the middle stanza to give the Buckeyes a 1-0 lead. The second period featured 21 penalties (after only two were called in the opening period), including 12 on Bowling Green.
OSU increased its lead to 2-0 on Andre Signoretti's power- play goal 27 seconds into the third period. Valentine scored short-handed at the 6:27 mark to pull BG within one at 2-1. Luke Pavlas tallied a power-play goal at 7:05 (during the same penalty) and Jean-Francois Dufour scored an insurance goal with 5:34 left in the game.
Masters made 22 saves including 11 in the second period as BG killed off six Buckeye power plays in that period. Aho stopped 31 of 32 Falcon shots. BG did not score on its six power-play chances, while Ohio State scored on two of its 10 man-advantage opportunities in the contest.
FALCON NOTES ...
Bowling Green junior left wing Curtis Valentine scored an empty-net goal on Friday and his first collegiate short-handed goal on Saturday to give him three goals in the last four games. In the 49 games before this current streak, he had one goal.
Senior defenseman B.J. Adams, who had one assist in a 52- game span, has two helpers in the last four games. Adams currently ranks 16th on the BG all-time penalty minute list with 268.
Senior Zach Ham snapped a seven-game pointless streak with an assist on Saturday at Ohio State.
Despite suffering the loss in Saturday's contest, freshman netminder Tyler Masters stopped 47 of 51 Buckeye shots this past weekend for a .922 save percentage. He also lowered his overall goals-against average from 3.24 to 3.07.
Masters recorded his second collegiate shutout on Friday, in only his 15th game. The school record for career shutouts (complete games only) is four set by Terry Miskolczi (1969-73) and equalled by Mike Liut (1973-77) and Al Sarachman (1973-77).
The Falcon power-play had been six-for-25 in its previous four games before blanked on six chances by Ohio State on Saturday.
If the BG goaltending can continue its current pace of a save percentage of .889, it will be the highest for one season since 1978-79 (.910). With two shutouts already this year, a check of the record books shows the last time the Falcons recorded three or more shutouts in a year was 1978-79 (four).
Ten players have at least three goals apiece, while 13 players have at least three assists. Eight players have between 10-14 points.
Bowling Green is 4-4 in its last eight contests, after recording a 3-9 mark in its first 12 games of the season.
ABOUT ALABAMA-HUNTSVILLE
Since 1986, UAH has been known as the "Hockey Capital of the South." The UAH intercollegiate hockey program began in 1979 and enjoyed immediate success. Led by coach Joe Ritch, the Chargers recorded an overall mark of 85-5-2. The team also won the Southern Hockey League title and the 1982 Club National Championship.
In 1982, Doug Ross became the second coach for the Chargers and led the team to two more national club championships in 1983 and 1984. UAH was elected to varsity status and accepted into the NCAA in 1985, and played at the Division II level. In 1987, when the NCAA no longer sponsored a Division II national championship, UAH tested the waters in Division I, but would return to NCAA Division II level play in 1992 when a Division II championship was reinstated.
The 1995-96 squad was unbeaten (26-0-3) and claimed the Division II national title.
