Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Host Merrimack and Boston College This Weekend
October 11, 2005 | Ice Hockey
Oct. 11, 2005
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University hockey team opens their 2005-06 season this weekend (Oct. 14-15) with a pair of home contests. The Falcons will play host to both Merrimack (Fri.) and Boston College (Sat.). Both contests are slated to begin at 7:05.
Falcons Open 2005-06 Season (6 pages)
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A Look At Merrimack
Merrimack College, located in North Andover, Mass., is a member of the Hockey East Association. They are coached by first-year head coach Mark Dennehy, who takes over a ball club that finished the 2004-05 season with an 8-26-2 overall and 1-22-1 conference record. The Warriors are led by senior defenseman Bryan Schmidt (13-18--31) and junior forward Matt Johnson (10-17--27). They also return junior goaltender Jim Healey who finished last season with a 3.73 gaa. and an .889 save percentage.
Sophomore Hank Carisio scored two goals and added two assists, freshman Rob Ricci and senior Matt Johnson each scored two goals, and Merrimack went 6-for-9 on the power play to defeat the University of New Brunswick 8-4 in an exhibition college hockey game last Friday night at J. Thom Lawler Arena. The game was the first for new Merrimack head coach Mark Dennehy.
Junior Jim Healy started for Merrimack, making five saves in the first period. Senior Frank McLaughlin stopped 15 shots in the second period, and freshman Patrick Watson made 11 saves in the third period.
A Look At Boston College
Boston College comes to the Ice Arena ranked #4 by the USCHO.com/CSTV poll. The Eagles are also a member of the Hockey East Association. They are coached by former BGSU coach Jerry York, who has an all-time coaching record of 723-479-73 (33 years). While with the Falcons, York compiled a 342-248-31 (.576) record in 15 years en route to four league championships, as well as their lone NCAA crown in 1984. Bowling Green head coach Scott Paluch served under York as a volunteer assistant from 1990-92 (with the Falcons), as well as an assistant coach from 1994-95 (with BC) and an associate head coach from 1995-2002 (also with BC).
BC owns an 8-3 all-time series advantage over the Falcons. The last Falcon victory over the Eagles came back in the 1996-97 campaign when BGSU swept a home weekend series back on October 18-19, 1996, with scores of 8-3 and 4-2.
This weekend will mark the second time Paluch and York will face-off, with the first showdown coming back on December 27, 2002, resulting in a 6-5 BC win.
Falcons Closing In On Two Million Fans
The BGSU Ice Arena is 4,449 fans short of the two million mark entering the weekend. The Ice Arena, which opened up back in 1967, has seen 1,995,551 fans walk through its doors in 36 years of Falcon hockey. The Falcons cracked the one million mark in the home opener back in the 1988-89 versus Ohio State back on October 22, 1987. In 36 seasons BGSU has averaged 2,943 fans per game at home and own an all-time record of 443-195-40 (.683) inside the Ice Arena.
Morrison Named Team Captain
Senior Don Morrison will wear the "C" for the Falcons this season, and will be the only Falcon captain for the season. The last time BGSU had a lone captain was back during the 1987-88 season when now head coach Scott Paluch wore the "C". Morrison will join Paluch (1987-88), George Roll (1984-85), Mike Bartley (1973-74), Chuck Gyles (1972-73), and Glen Shirton (1971-72) as lone season captains.
