Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Open CCHA Action With Trip To #7 Miami
October 24, 2006 | Ice Hockey
Oct. 24, 2006
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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The Falcons will open 2006-07 CCHA action this weekend (Oct. 27-28) with a trip to Oxford, Ohio for a pair of road contest with the RedHawks of Miami. Friday's action will start at 7:35 p.m., while Saturday's game will be at 7:05 p.m. inside Steve Cady Arena.
Series With The RedHawks
BGSU leads the all-time series 57-28-7, but in the last 11 contests the Falcons are just 2-7-2, and have lost their last six games on the road versus the RedHawks. Last year Miami won all four contest, with three of the four games having a deficit of two goals or less.
Recap Of The Past Weekend
BGSU 4 at Providence 2
BGSU 1 at #1 Boston College 5
Last Friday the Falcons captured a 4-2 contest over the Friars of Providence College in Providence, RI. Four different Falcons recorded goals in the win and freshman Eddie Neville, making his first career collegiate start, stopped 23-of-25 shots in the victory. The Falcons' 4-2 win at Providence on Friday was their first over a Hockey East school on the road in over 20 years. The last one came on Oct. 18, 1986 when they beat New Hampshire to complete a two-game sweep. On Saturday the Falcons fell to #1 Boston College 5-1. In the loss Derek Whitmore recorded his fifth goal of the season and sophomore Jimmy Spratt recorded a career-high 38 saves.
Falcon PK Is Killing
The Falcons opened the first weekend of the season a perfect 10-for-10 on the penalty kill. They also stopped all seven of the oppositions power-play opportunities versus Providence last Friday. The following night versus Boston College the Falcons finally surrendered a power-play goal on the Eagles second attempt of the night, snapping an 18-for-18 stretch. On the season the Falcons have killed 21-of-23 (.913) opportunities, which ranks seventh in the country and third in the CCHA.
vs. UConn 3-3 (1 shot)
vs. Alabama-Huntsville 7-7 (1 shot)
vs. Providence 7-7 (2 shots)
vs. Boston College 4-6 (9 shots)
Total 21-23 (13 shots)
Minor Penalty
As good as the Falcon PK has been to start the season, the opportunity to shutdown the opposition has been few and far between. This season the Falcons are averaging just 5.75 penalties and 11.5 penalty minutes per game, both lowest in the nation.
Freshman Impact
BGSU welcomed 13 new players to the 2006-07 squad and nine of them have already seen action. Todd McIlrath (1g, 2a), Tomas Petruska (1g, 2a), Tim Maxwell (0g, 2a), Kai Kantola (1g, 0a) and Kyle Page (0g, 1a) have all recorded points this season. Tommy Dee (2 games) and James Perkin (4 games) along with goaltenders Eddie Neville (1-0-1, 1.98, .918) and Phil Greer have also dressed.
Falcons and the First Four Games
• BGSU has a 2-1-1, the second-best start in the Paluch era.
• The Falcons PK is seventh-best in the country at 91.3%
• 13 different Falcons have scored points and six Falcons have recorded goals.
• BGSU is the lowest penalized team in the nation (5.75 penalties/game and 11.5 penalty mins/game).
• The Falcons have out-shot their opponents in three-of-four games. Only Boston College held a shot advantage over the Orange and Brown.
Falcon Fast Start
The 2-1-1 start for the Falcons this season is one of their better starts in past years. The Orange and Brown started 0-4-1 last season, 1-4-0 in 2003-04, 1-5-0 in 2002-03, 0-2-2 in 2001-02, 1-5-1 in 2000-01 and 1-3-0 in 1999-00. The one exception was 2004-05 when the Falcons started 4-1-1.
Whitmore Opens 06-07 With A Bang
Junior Derek Whitmore has scored a goal in each of the first four games this season, including a pair of lamp-lighters versus UAH for a total of five this season. The Rochester, New York native recorded his fifth goal of 2005-06 on Dec. 10, 2005 (13th game) and his fifth goal of the 2004-05 season came on Dec. 4, 2004 (13th game). The junior is currently on a five-game point streak (dating back to last season), scoring five goals and two assists in that span.
Hodgson Has Solid Weekend
Junior captain Michael Hodgson matched his career-best with three assists in the 4-2 win over Providence last Friday, the fourth time he has accomplished this feat. In 2005-06 the then sophomore added three helpers in a 4-0 win over Colgate, and in his freshman campaign the defenseman added three assists versus both Wayne State (W, 7-3) and Alaska (W, 6-2).
