Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Get Back to CCHA Action, Host UNO
November 28, 2006 | Ice Hockey
Nov. 28, 2006
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
Media Notes vs. UNO (25 pages)
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GAME #15-16
BGSU vs. Nebraska-Omaha
Dec. 1-2, 2006 BG Ice Arena, 7:05 p.m.
RECORDS: BGSU 3-10-1, 1-7-0 CCHA // UNO 4-7-4, 3-6-1 CCHA
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1) - Andy Evans--pre-game starts 30 mins. prior.
SERIES: UNO leads 10-9-2
The Bowling Green State University hockey team will look to snap a six game losing streak this weekend as they play host to the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks in a pair of Central Collegiate Hockey Association contest. Opening faceoff for both nights is set for 7:05 p.m.
Series With Nebraska-Omaha
BGSU trails 9-10-2 in the all-time series with the Mavericks, with the two teams splitting a four game series last season. The Falcons walked away with a 7-3 and 4-3 win at home back on Nov. 4-5, while UNO rebounded with a pair of 4-2 wins in Omaha, Nebraska in the first round of the CCHA tournament. Bowling Green is 3-1-1 all-time inside the BG Ice Arena against the Mavericks.
Recap of the Past Weekend
BGSU 0, Clarkson 5
BGSU 0, St. Lawrence 4
The Orange and Brown were shutout in back-to-back games for the first time since Jan. 10 & 16, 2004 in games with Notre Dame and Michigan State. The last time it happened in back-to-back games on the same weekend was on Oct. 13-14, 2000 in a 3-0 and 2-0 sweep by Alabama-Huntsville.
Minor Penalty
Last season the Falcons averaged 19.1 penalty minutes and 8.5 penalties per game. This season the Falcons are averaging just 13.6 penalty minutes and 6.4 penalties per game, both which rank fourth-lowest in the country. BGSU trails only UMass Lowell (11.2), St. Cloud (11.6) and UMass (12.2) in penalty minutes per game. In fact, the 19.1 minutes per game last year has been surpassed only twice this season with 20 minutes versus Notre Dame (11/10/06) and 31 minutes versus Ohio State (11/17/06).
Freshman Impact
BGSU welcomed 13 new players to the 2006-07 squad and 12 of them have already seen action. Tomas Petruska (4g, 4a), Todd McIlrath (1g, 4a) , Tim Maxwell (0g, 5a), Kai Kantola (1g, 2a), James Perkin (1g, 2a) and Kyle Page (0g, 2a) have all recorded points this season. Tommy Dee (8 games), Brian Moore (4 games), Josh Boyd (1 game), Brett Molnar (1 game) along with goaltenders Eddie Neville (1-5-1, 3.84, .867) and Phil Greer have also dressed. Overall the newcomer class owns 27% (7 of 26) of the team's goals, 40% (19 of 47) of the team's assists and 36% (26 of 73) of the team's total points.
Young Guns
As stated before, 12 newcomers have seen playing time this season (with six playing in every game), but combine that with five sophomores that have been regularly dressed the Falcons are dressing just eight or nine upper-classmen per game (Derek Whitmore, Jonathan Matsumoto, Ben Geelan (who is out with an injury), Rich Meloche, John Mazzei, Jon Erickson, Mike Nesdill, Jeremy Bronson and Michael Hodgson).
Last Year at Home Versus UNO
Last season the Falcons fired 32 shots on Friday (Nov. 4) en route to a 7-3 win, their first CCHA win of the year. Brandon Svendsen recorded his first career collegiate goal in the win, as the Falcons also went 2-for-8 with the man advantage. Six different Falcons recorded goal in the victory as the Falcons scored six goals in the first two periods.
The following night the Falcons entered the third period trailing 3-2, but goals by John Mazzei and the game-winner by Ryan Barnett gave the Falcons their first two-game sweep of the season. The ten freshman Jimmy Spratt went 2-0-0 in the sweep, while also posting a 3.00 gaa and an .897 save percentage.
Last Year on the Road Versus the Mavericks
The Falcons traveled to Omaha, Nebraska for the opening round of the CCHA playoffs last year, giving them seven games at UNO in the past four seasons. The opening night the Mavericks stormed out to a 3-0 lead just 26 minutes into the contest, but two Jonathan Matsumoto power-play goals in the next 20 minutes got the score to 3-2. UNO added an empty net tally with just 59 seconds left to secure the 4-2 win and a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.
The following night UNO scored two second period goals, but a John Mazzei goal at the 4:34 mark of the third got the score to 2-1. Scott Parse added his 20th goal of the year just four minutes later to stretch the lead to 3-1. Mike Falk scored an extra attacker goal at the 19:49 mark, but UNO's second empty-net goal of the weekend, eight seconds later, concluded the 4-2 score.
Spratt Stones Mavericks
Sophomore netminder Jimmy Spratt has had arguably his best success versus the Mavericks compared to any other CCHA school. He led the Falcons to a weekend sweep over UNO back on Nov. 4-5, 2005, with 25 and 27 save performances, while giving up three goals in both games. He also made 18 saves in a 4-2 loss (gave up 3 goals) in the opening round of the CCHA tournament. In three games Spratt is 2-1-0, while posting a 3.02 GAA and an .886 save percentage.
Unbalanced Scheduling?
With the Mavericks among the Falcons' cluster mates this season (along with ND and Alaska) the Falcons will play four games with UNO this year, which will make for eight contests in two seasons for the Falcons and the Mavs. In fact, since the 2002-03 season the Falcons and Mavericks will have played at least 14 times following the end of the 06-07 campaign.
Falcons In Non-Conference
With three-fourths of the non-conference schedule complete, the Falcons are 2-3-1 in those six games. In terms of non-conference action remaining the Falcons will play Miami and either Ohio State or Minnesota-Duluth at the Christmas tournament in Columbus, Ohio. Derek Whitmore (5g, 1a), Jonathan Matsumoto (3g, 3a) and Michael Hodgson (0g, 4a) are the top point-getters in non-conference action this season.
Schedule is Doing BG No Favors
Through 14 games this year the Falcons have already squared-off with #1 Boston College, two games with #7 Miami, and two with #9 Notre Dame. BGSU also played one game with Providence and two with Lake Superior, while both of them were also receiving votes in the weekly polls. This past week the Falcons played Clarkson and St. Lawrence, also teams that can be found in the polls. To close out the first half of the season the Falcons travel to play Alaska, who is currently ranked #14. Overall the Falcons will have played seven games against teams in the top-20 (all on the road) and another five games (3 on the road) against teams that are ready to crack into the polls (12 total) in their first 18 games.
This note is on when BG played their opponent, not their current status in the polls.
Matsumoto Closes in on 100
In 86 career games, the junior assistant captain has scored 92 points (41g, 51a) and is just eight points shy of becoming just the 68th Falcon in school history to reach the 100 point plateau. The last Falcon to do so was D'Arcy McConvey, who scored 102 points (31g, 71a) in 153 career games from 2000-04.
