Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Play Home-and Home With Conference Leaders
November 21, 2005 | Ice Hockey
Nov. 21, 2005
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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The Bowling Green State University hockey team will look to build upon last week's win over Northern Michigan as they host the the conference-leading Miami Redhawks this weekend. Friday night's action starts at 7:35 in Oxford, Ohio, while BGSU will host the Redhawks Saturday night at 7:05.
The Series With Miami
BGSU owns an all-time series lead of 57-24-7 (.688). Junior Rich Meloche has four career points (2g, 2a) in four games versus the Redhawks to lead the Falcon returnees. Last season the Falcons took three of four points from Miami, capturing a 2-2 tie on Nov. 26, before a 2-1 Falcon win the following night. Last season former Falcon Steve Brudzewski scored a short-handed goal midway through the second period for the game-winner.
Recap of Last Weekend
Northern Michigan 6, BGSU 3
Northern Michigan 4, BGSU 8
The Bowling Green hockey team scored a season-high eight goals versus Northern Michigan last Saturday night with the help of seven different Falcons recording goals. The last time the Falcons scored eight-plus goals in a game came back on Nov. 9, 2001 in a 9-4 win over Miami. BGSU recorded six goals in the opening period in the 8-4 win. The last time the Falcons scored five-plus goals in one period came back on Feb, 13, 1999 in a 10-3 win over Alaska Fairbanks. For the series BGSU recorded 11 goals while NMU tallied 10 goals in the two games. The 21 goals for the team in a weekend series is the most in BGSU history since Feb 7-8, 1997 when the Falcons and Alaska Fairbanks split a weekend series (6-3 (BG win), 7-5(AF win)). Senior Jon Horrell recorded his first collegiate victory in the win. Also of note, sophomore Alex Foster recorded his first collegiate short-handed goal in the same contest.
Take Me To Your Leader
Sophomore Alex Foster may only have five goals on the season, but his 16 assists in 11 games ranks first in the country with 1.45 helpers per game. He also leads the country in points/game with 1.91. Three weekends ago the forward picked up four assists on four straight Falcon goals versus Nebraska-Omaha, before picking up two more assists the following night. His 21 total points (5-16-21) leads the team
Falcon Experience
Senior Mike Falk played in his 100th game last Saturday night. He is joined by Brett Pilkington (106), Don Morrison (116) and Jon Sitko (109) to surpass the 100 game plateau in their Falcon career.
The Incredible Falk
Mike Falk entered the 2005-06 season with a career 24 goals in 89 career games. This season alone he has already amassed 10 goals, which ranks first in the CCHA. The senior recorded eight goals in 27 games last season and had his career-best 11 goals in 35 games his freshman year. Falk ranks 4th in the country with .89 goals/game. He is currently on a four game goal scoring streak and has scored a goal in every game except three.
Falcon Penalty Kill Slams The Door...For The Most Part
For the most part, the BGSU penalty kill has had a stellar season, but when they give up a power-play goal they come in bunches. Versus Notre Dame the Falcons surrendered four power-play goals. They also gave up two PP goals to Boston College and Ohio State on Oct. 20. If you remove those three games the BGSU penalty kills is an amazing 52-57 (91.2%).
Shoot The Puck
BGSU has out shot their opponent in eight-of-11 contests this season. NMU's 36-33 shot advantage over the Falcons last Saturday snapped a six game streak where the Falcons out shot the opposing team (all conference opponents). BGSU held a 34-33 advantage over #4 Boston College, a 47-23 display over Merrimack, as well as six CCHA opponents in Ferris State (28-24), UNO (32-28 and 35-30), Notre Dame (33-28 and 38-22) and NMU (38-35).
Home Cooking
Bowling Green is currently on a home stand that will see them play six of their next eight games at home. BGSU just finished a two game series at home with Northern Michigan (Nov. 18-19). They also host a game a piece with Miami (Nov. 26) and Michigan State (Dec. 3). They finish the home stand with a pair of non-conference games versus Clarkson (Dec. 9) and St. Lawrence (Dec. 10) before a 19-day lay-off for Christmas break.
Spread The Wealth
Already this season BGSU has had 19 different players record points, while 14 different members have scored goals.
First Period Blues
The first 20-minutes of several contests this season have placed the Falcons behind the eight ball. They have trailed following the first period in every loss this season except the 3-2 defeat to Merrimack. On the season they have scored 17 goals, but have surrendered 22 goals in the opening session. In the Falcons three wins this season they led 3-1 over UNO and were tied 2-2 against the Mavericks (a game they won 4-3) in the opening 20-minutes. They also led NMU 6-2 last Saturday in the first. BGSU also had a 2-1 advantage in the first over #2 Ohio State, a game they tied 2-2.
Matsumoto, Foster and Falk Carry The Load
The combination of Alex Foster (5-16-21), Jonathan Matsumoto (6-12-18) and Mike Falk (10-1-11) have combined for 51% (21-41) of the Falcons goals this season. They also own 47% of the team's assists (33-70) and 45% of the team's total points (50-111). The trio also accounts for 69% (11-16) of the team's power-play goals this season. All three rank in the top-15 for CCHA scoring.
"The Others"
Much has been made about the Falcons top line, but the rest of the team has had a much larger impact on the Falcon's record. In games where BGSU gets 3-plus goals from players not named Matsumoto, Foster or Falk the Falcons are 3-0 this season. "The Others" recorded three goals in both wins over UNO and five goals in the 8-4 win over NMU last weekend. In fact, James Unger has scored a goal in all three of those wins, while freshman Brandon Svendsen and John Mazzei have each scored twice in in the three wins.
Offense, Offense and More Offense
The BG offense may have hit their stride this past weekend. In their past six games the Falcons have scored 28 goals for an average of 4.50 goals per game. They recorded seven goals in the win over Nebraska-Omaha back on Nov. 4, as well as eight goals in the win over NMU last weekend. On the season they are averaging 3.73 goals/game, which ranks 10th in the country and third in the CCHA.
No Sophomore Slump For Matsumoto
Jonathan Matsumoto recorded his first career hat trick back on Oct. 15 versus Boston College, and has 18 points (6g, 12a) in the first 11 games of the season. On his hat trick he recorded three power-play goals. In his brief Falcon career Matsumoto has recorded 24 goals (16 power play), 26 assists and 50 points in 47 career games. Matsumoto ranks 6th nationally with 1.64 points per game. He also ranks 2nd in the country with six power-play goals and 13th in assists per game with 1.09 per game. He is second on the team goals scored (6) and points (16).
So Close...
Of the Falcons seven losses this season BGSU was either leading or tied for the lead in four of those games this season. They had a 2-1 advantage late in the third period versus Merrimack. They were tied 6-6 early in the third versus #4 Boston College, and had a 2-1 lead five minutes into the third at Ohio State. Just last weekend they had a 1-0 advantage over Notre Dame near the end of the first, a game they eventually lost 9-4.
Falcon Power Play
BGSU has scored 16 power-play goals this season. The team is led by Matsumoto (6) and Mike Falk (4). James Unger (2), Kevin Schmidt, Don Morrison, Derek Whitmore and Alex Foster have also score PP goals this season. The Falcons rank 25th nationally and seventh in the CCHA on the power play (17.8%).
Falcon Penalty Kill
While facing some of the toughest competition in the country early this season the Falcon penalty kill has played solid defense. On the year they have killed 69-of-82 opposing power-play opportunities, holding #4 Boston College 2-for-9 and #2/3 Ohio State 3-for-14 (2 games) with the man advantage. They also held Merrimack 0-for-6 to open the season, and FSU 0-for-4 in their home opener. They held UNO 1-for-16 three weekends ago (2 games) and surrendered only two power-play goals in 15 tries versus NMU this past weekend. They rank 23rd in the country and sixth in the CCHA on the PK (84.1%).
