Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Host Notre Dame in Rare Thursday Night Affair
November 03, 2004 | Ice Hockey
Nov. 3, 2004
Bowling Green, Ohio -
Week 3 Notes vs. Notre Dame
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BGSU Plays Notre Dame in Home-and-Home Series
BGSU plays its first of two home-and-home matchups this season against Notre Dame this week. The Falcons host the Irish in a rare Thursday night affair at the BGSU Ice Arena at 7:05 p.m., then travel to the Joyce Center and South Bend on Friday at 7:35 p.m.
BGSU vs. Notre Dame
The Irish are 8-2-0 against the Falcons in the past 10 meetings but they split their four games last season. The two teams have met 63 times in the all-time series with Notre Dame holding a slim 32-31-4 edge. At BGSU Ice Arena, the Irish are 13-20-1 versus the Falcons and at the Joyce Center the Irish are 18-11-3. In the last 11 games occurring since Feb. 6, 1998 at the Joyce Center, the Irish are 9-1-1 versus Bowling Green.
Notre Dame Irish
Notre Dame's 1-4-2 overall record is very deceiving. Of the Irish's first four opponents this season two advanced to last year's Frozen Four and three participated in the NCAA Tournament. All were nationally-ranked at the time the Irish played them this season. And the one victory that Notre Dame has had this year came against then top-ranked Boston College, 3-2, in South Bend.
What a Cluster...
BGSU and Notre Dame are part of a four-team cluster in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association that also includes Michigan and Michigan State. The Irish, Wolverines and Spartans all competed in the 2003-04 NCAA Tournament. Those three teams combined for a 70-46-8 record in 2003-04. The Falcons will face each of these teams four times in 2004-05, twice at home and twice on the road.
Fantastic Start for Falcons
BGSU continues to have its best start in eight years with its 3-1-0 overall record. The 1996-97 team began the year with a 6-0 record. Also, the last time the Falcons took at least two points from its CCHA-opening series was in 1999 when they split at Western Michigan.
Startin' the Season Right
BGSU's two victories at Union to start the season marked the first time since 1996 that the Falcons began the year with two victories. The pair of wins against the Dutchmen also marked the first road sweep for the Falcons since the first round of the 2001 CCHA Playoffs at Miami (March 8-9, 2001). The last time the Falcons opened the season on the road with a sweep came in the 1988 season when BGSU swept Alaska Anchorage (7-3 and 10-2).
Depth Showing for Falcons
The Falcons' depth is showing. In the first four games of the season, with nine goals scored, 15 different Falcons have tallied a point (assist or goal). Of the five Falcons who have multiple points, four are either freshmen or sophomores.
