Falcons, Wolverines Play Tuesday Night Affair

Jan. 8, 2007

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -

GAME #23
BGSU vs. Michigan

Jan. 9, 2007  Yost Ice Arena (Ann Arbor, Mich.), 7:35 p.m. p.m.

RECORDS: BGSU 5-16-1, 3-11-0 CCHA // UM 13-8-0, 8-5-0 CCHA
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1) - Andy Evans--pre-game starts 30 mins. prior.
TV: Comcast Local

BGSU vs. Michigan Game Notes (29 pages)
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The Bowling Green State University hockey team begins a five game road swing, starting on Tuesday night with a 7:35 p.m. tilt with the University of Michigan Wolverines inside the Yost Ice Arena. Following the contest with Michigan, the Orange and Brown play two games versus the Mavericks in Omaha, Nebraska, and follow that up with a trip up north to Marquette, Michigan the following weekend.
Series with Michigan
The Wolverines hold a 68-31-3 all-time series advantage over the Falcons, with the two teams splitting a weekend series last season on Jan. 20-21. The first night saw UM skate away with a 6-1 win in Yost, but the following night BGSU captured a 5-2 win over the Wolverines for their first with over UM since January 25, 2002. Junior Derek Whitmore (3-2-5, 5 games) and senior James Unger (3-1-4, 8 games) are the top Falcons for their careers versus UM.
Recap of Western Michigan Series
BGSU 5, WMU 1
BGSU 0, WMU 5
The weekend series with Western Michigan was a tale of two completely different games. On Friday night the Falcons captured a 5-1 win with the help of goals from five different players (Kevin Schmidt, Derek Whitmore, Jonathan Matsumoto, Brandon Svendsen and Tomas Petruska), as well as three assists from freshman Kai Kantola. Sophomore Jimmy Spratt was stellar in net, stopping 18-of-19 WMU shots.
The following night the Broncos turned the table on the Falcons, shutting them out 5-0. WMU went 2-for-9 with the man-advantage, while BGSU was held scoreless on their nine attempts, also allowing two short-handed goals to the Broncos after allowing just one short-handed tally in their first 21 games.
Planes, Trains And Automobiles
As stated above, the contest with Michigan begins a five game road trip for the Orange and Brown. Following the UM trip, Bowling Green travels west to Omaha, Nebraska (706 miles) for a pair with the Mavericks. Just a few short days later they hit the road to Marquette, Michigan (511 miles) for two games with the Wildcats. Not to mention, the Falcons have also already traveled to Fairbanks, Alaska (3,750 miles), Providence, Rhode Island (758 miles) and Potsdam, New York (562 miles).
Home Sweet Home?
With all the travel the Falcons have made this season, they have only been home for five weekends through the first three months of the season and don't return home again until Jan. 26-27 when they face the Nanooks of Alaska. So, from Dec. 3 through Jan. 25 (53 days) the Falcons will have had just two home games (Jan. 5-6) versus Western Michigan.
One Last Note On The Schedule
The Falcons are currently in a span that will see them play seven games in just 15 days, after playing no games from Dec. 10-28. They played two games on Dec.29-30 at the Ohio Hockey Classic and follow that up with a Jan.5-6 weekend series in Bowling Green, Ohio with Western Michigan. They then play on Jan. 9 (Tuesday) at Michigan and hit the road for a pair with UNO, out in Omaha, Nebraska (Jan. 12-13).
100 And Counting
Junior Jonathan Matsumoto scored a goal and added an assist on the Falcons' last goal on Friday night, giving him 100 points for his career (54g, 46a) in 94 games. He became the 68th Falcon in school history to accomplish this feat. He is also just the eighth Falcon in the last 10 years to score at least 100 points in their careers. Matsumoto, who averages 1.06 points/game for his career is just one of 45 players in school history to have 100 points and average at least one point per game for their career. See page three for who Matsumoto could be passing in the BGSU record books the next few weeks.
Jack Bauer Is Not The Only Exciting "24"
"24", a hit show on Fox begins season six on Jan. 14 (their lead character's name is Jack Bauer), but Bowling Green fans have been seeing an exciting 24 of their own the last few weeks. Freshman Todd McIlrath, who wears number 24, has four points (3g, 1a) in his last six games (dating back to Dec. 8, in Fairbanks, Alaska). He scored goals in back-to-back games versus the Nanooks, added his third goal at the Ohio Hockey Classic versus Minnesota Duluth, and picked up an assist this past weekend in a 5-1 win over WMU. Also, in that span he leads the team with a plus-4 rating, recording at least a plus-1 in four of those six games.
"Shot" Clock Violation
This past weekend the Falcons surrendered only 45 shots in two games to the Broncos, matching their season-best after allowing just 45 shots over the weekend versus UConn and Alabama-Huntsville to open the 2006-07 season. On Friday, BGSU held WMU to just 19 shots, out-shooting the Broncos in all three periods. The following night BGSU once again outshot WMU, this time 37-26. Bowling Green also posted more shots than the Broncos in all three periods on Saturday night as well, out-shooting the Broncos in all six periods this past weekend. Friday night: 12-8, 9-7, 14-4: 35-19 Saturday night: 10-8, 17-11, 10-7: 37-26
Freshman Impact
BGSU welcomed 13 new players to the 2006-07 squad and 12 of them have seen playing time throughout the season. Tomas Petruska (6g, 5a), Todd McIlrath (4g, 6a) , Tim Maxwell (0g, 9a), Kai Kantola (3g, 5a), James Perkin (2g, 3a), Kyle Page (0g, 4a), Tommy Dee (1g, 2a), Brett Molnar (0g, 1a) and Josh Boyd (1g, 0a) have all recorded points this season. Brian Moore (6 games) along with goaltenders Eddie Neville (1-6-1, 4.24, .863) and Phil Greer have also dressed. Overall the newcomer class owns 36% (17 of 47) of the team's goals, 42% (35 of 83) of the team's assists and 40% (52 of 130) of the team's total points.
Last Season Versus Michigan
Game one saw the Wolverines capture a 6-1 win inside Yost Ice Arena. UM held a 37-27 shot advantage, while the Falcons went 0-for-6 on the power play. Then freshman Jimmy Spratt made 31 saves in the loss.
The following night Bowling Green rebounded with a 5-2 win inside their own building. James Unger, Michael Hodgson and Derek Whitmore all recorded goals in the first 27 minutes on the contest. Following a UM goal, Rich Meloche and Whitmore extended the Falcons' lead to 5-1. BGSU was 3-for-6 on the night with the man-advantage, as the Orange and Brown fired a season-best 49 shots in the win.
Spratt's Last Six Starts
After rotating goalies for most of the season sophomore Jimmy Spratt has taken control between the BG pipes, starting the last six games. In those contests he has a 3.53 gaa and an .878 save percentage, while posting a 2-4-0 record, with three of those losses coming by one goal.
Whitmore Nearly Matches Last Season's Total
The first half of the 2006-07 season has been a memorable one for junior Derek Whitmore. Through 22 games the Rochester, New York native has 18 points (11g, 7a), and is just two points shy of his 20 point (13g, 7a) effort set all of last season (34 games). In fact, he is currently on pace for 30 points, which would be just seven points shy of his first two years combined in the Orange and Brown. Whitmore opened the 06-07 campaign scoring a goal in each of his first five games, including a pair in a 5-5 tie with Alabama-Huntsville, and had a career-high three assists in a 4-3 loss at Alaska.
Maxwell's House
Sophomore Tim Maxwell, in his first year with BGSU, has had an impressive start to his Falcon career. The transfer from Maine recorded a helper in each of his first two games, had an assist in a 4-2 win over LSSU and had three assists in the weekend at Alaska. His nine points (0g, 9a) rank him fifth on the team in scoring and first among defenseman. In fact, in games where Maxwell records a point BGSU is 3-3-1 and are 1-1-0 when he has a pair of points.