.png&type=webp)
Bowling Green State University Athletics
BG Hockey Clinches Playoff Spot
February 28, 2000 | Ice Hockey
Feb. 28, 2000
The Bowling Green State University hockey team, after splitting versus Ohio State (3-4, 7-1) this past weekend, will complete the regular-season with a home-and-home series against Michigan. The March 3 match in BG begins at 7:35 p.m., with the regular-season finale in Ann Arbor starting at 7:05 p.m.
UPCOMING GAMES ...
BG will participate in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association tournament for the 27th time in the 29-year history of the CCHA. The Falcons will face an undetermined opponent in a best two-of-three first round series the weekend of March 10-12.
THE COACH ...
Falcon mentor Buddy Powers is tied-for-81st place on the NCAA all-time win list with 227 victories. He is tied with current New Hampshire coach Dick Umile (90-present). They trail Fairfield's John McCarthy (1974-96) by two wins.
Powers has compiled a 2-17-1 record versus Michigan including a record of 2-5-1 at home against the Wolverines. The Falcons are 0-12 away from home versus Michigan under Powers, which includes an 0-11 mark in Ann Arbor (0-1 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit).
THE SERIES ...
Bowling Green trails in the all-time series versus Michigan with a 28-54-2 mark. Each team won its previous home contest earlier this season (BG won 4-2 at home on Dec. 3, while Michigan won 3-1 in Ann Arbor on Dec. 4).
BG snapped a four-game (0-3-1) winless streak at home against Michigan with its triumph on Dec. 3. The Falcons have lost their last 15 games in Ann Arbor since a 4-3 Bowling Green victory on Feb. 8, 1992.
Michigan has won nine of the last 10 contests overall and has a 13-1-1 mark against the Falcons in the last 15 meetings.
PREVIEWING MICHIGAN ...
Michigan is one win away from clinching the CCHA regular-season title. The Wolverines enter the final week of the regular-season with a conference record of 18-5-3. Their overall mark is 23-7-4.
Michigan defeated (4-2) and tied (3-3 OT) Michigan State last weekend. Goaltender Josh Blackburn has been the goalie of record in every Michigan game since returning to the lineup on Jan. 7. Blackburn has a 10-1-4 record with a 1.98 goals-against average and .919 save percentage. L.J. Scarpace (5-2-0, 1.85, .919) and Kevin O'Malley (8-4-0, 2.65, .880) are the back-up goalies.
Mike Comrie leads Michigan in points (50), goals (18) and assists (32). Andy Hilbert (17-13--30), Jeff Jillson (7-23--30) and Mark Kosick (16-13--29) are the other top scorers for the Wolverines. Kosick leads the squad with eight power-play goals while Geoff Koch has a team-leading three short-handed markers.
Michigan has scored on 49 of its 247 power-play chances (19.8%), while the penalty killing units have been successful on 185 of its 220 opportunities (84.1%). The Wolverines have outscored their opponents in every period (37-17, 43-32, 53-29, 2-0).
REVIEWING THE OHIO STATE SERIES ...
The Bowling Green State University hockey team fell behind 4-1 midway through the second period at Ohio State on Feb. 25 and rallied with two goals but could not score the equalizer despite outshooting the Buckeyes 37-24 in the contest.
OSU's Eric Meloche scored two power-play goals in the first period sandwiched around a Falcon power-play goal by Tyler Knight. Meloche's first marker came during a two-man advantage at the 9:13 mark. Knight's seventh of the year came at the 11:38 mark and was assisted by Adam Edinger and Craig Desjarlais. Meloche's 5-on-4 goal came with 2:19 left in the opening period.
The Buckeyes increased their lead to 3-1 at the 4:59 mark of the middle stanza on a 5-on-4 power-play goal by Jason Crain. OSU's final goal was scored by Luke Pavlas at the 13:45 mark of the second period with Buckeye Pete Broccoli in the penalty box for high sticking. BG's Ryan Fultz scored later in the same power play off assists from Grady Moore and Greg Day. Fultz's 12th of the campaign was scored at the 14:12 mark.
The lone third period goal was scored during a four-on-four situation by BG's Doug Schueller at the 3:55 mark. Schueller's second of the year was set-up by Craig Desjarlais.
Ray Aho made 34 saves in the Buckeye cage, while BG starter Shawn Timm made 12 saves. Tyler Masters replaced Timm after OSU's fourth goal and stopped all eight shots he faced.
Ohio State scored on three of its eight power-play chances, while the Falcons had two power-play goals in 11 man-advantage opportunities.
The Bowling Green State University hockey secured a spot in the 2000 Central Collegiate Hockey Association tournament with a 7-1 victory over Ohio State in front of 4,061 at the BGSU Ice Arena on Saturday, Feb. 26. The win moved the Falcons into an eighth place tie with Miami at 23 points.
BG's Greg Day scored the only goal of the first period with 4:27 remaining. Day's 12th of the campaign was assisted by Austin de Luis and Tyler Knight. After taking a feed from Knight, de Luis "nutmegged" an OSU defenseman and sent a pass to Day, who twirled around and beat Buckeye goalie Ray Aho.
Junior Ryan Murphy scored the game-winning goal 0:56 into the middle stanza when he knocked in his own rebound. Scott Hewson and B.J. Adams assisted on Murphy's eighth of the season. OSU's Eric Meloche scored his 18th of the season, and 13th power-play goal, at the 9:07 mark from just outside the crease.
The Falcons went ahead again by two goals when Ryan Fultz scored his first of the game at the 14:22 mark during a BG power play. Grady Moore's blueline blast bounced in off of Fultz. Michael Jones had the second assist on Fultz's 13th of the year. Adam Edinger completed the second period scoring with an unassisted goal with 2:11 remaining in the period. Edinger broke in and went top shelf with a backhand shot over Aho's glove.
Fultz started the third period scoring with a five-on-five goal at the 6:03 mark. His team-leading 14th goal of the year was assisted by Ryan Murphy and Adam Edinger. Ryan Wetterberg scored his first collegiate short-handed goal with 5:09 remaining in the contest off an assist from Louis Mass.
Fultz then completed BG's first hat trick in more than a year (Dan Price scored all three Falcon goals in a 4-3 overtime loss at Alaska Fairbanks on Feb. 12, 1999), when Greg Day and Marc Barlow assisted during a four-on-three Falcon power play with 1:02 left in the contest.
BG freshman goalie Tyler Masters made 19 saves, while Aho turned aside 23 of BG's 30 shots. Bowling Green scored on two of its six power-play chances, while Ohio State managed one man-advantage marker in its seven opportunities.
FALCON NOTES ...
Bowling Green did not allow a five-on-five goal in the weekend series against Ohio State. The Buckeyes scored three five-on-four power-play goals, one five-on-three power-play goal and one short-handed goal.
The hat trick in Saturday's 7-1 win over OSU by freshman Ryan Fultz, was the first hat trick by a Falcon freshman since Brian Holzinger scored three times in BG's 7-4 win over Michigan on Feb. 7, 1992.
Fultz, who has at least one goal in BG's last three games, currently leads the Falcons in goals (15) and power-play goals (six). He has more power-play goals than penalties (five).
Junior defenseman Louis Mass assisted on BG's short-handed goal in Saturday's win. It was Mass' first assist since Oct. 30 vs. Alaska Fairbanks. The lamp-lighter was also Ryan Wetterberg's first collegiate short-handed goal, and his first goal since Oct. 30.
Tyler Knight had a power-play goal on Friday and an assist on Saturday giving him six points on two goals and four assists in the last six games.
Eleven different players each had a single assist in Saturday's triumph over Ohio State.
Senior center Adam Edinger had an assist on Friday and a goal and an assist on Saturday to maintain his team lead in points with 28 on 13 goals and 15 assists.
Sophomore defenseman Grady Moore had an assist in each game versus the Buckeyes to take over the team lead with 16 assists.
After having its consecutive game streak with a power-play goal end at nine by Notre Dame on Feb. 19, Bowling Green scored on four of its 17 (23.5%) chances against Ohio State. Thirteen different players have scored a power-play goal for BG this season.
Freshman goalie Tyler Masters stopped all eight shots in relief on Friday and 19 of OSU's 20 shots on Saturday to improve his save percentage to 89.8 and lower his goals-against average to 3.00.
The Miami RedHawks enter the final week of the regular season with a league mark of 10-13-3, while BG will take an 11-14-1 record into its home-and-home series with Michigan. Miami plays at Ohio State on Tuesday (Feb. 29), and completes the regular-season with a home game against OSU on Saturday, March 4. The CCHA's first tiebreaker is league wins (BG currently leads 11-10), while the second tiebreaker is head-to-head record (2-2-0) with the third tiebreaker being goals for versus goals against in the head-to-head series (Miami wins 14-12).
