Bowling Green State University Athletics
Hockey Opens Season With Fall Trip To New York
October 16, 2007 | Ice Hockey
Oct. 16, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University hockey team will open their regular season with a fall trip to New York to play in a pair of non-confernce games. The Falcons will begin their 38th season of play on Thursday evening (Oct. 18) when they head to Buffalo to play at College Hockey America (CHA) opponent, Niagara. The Falcons and Purple Eagles will drop the puck at 7:05 p.m. from Niagara's Dwyer Arena. BG will then conclude their New York trip with a Friday night contest in Rochester against defending regular season Atlantic Hockey Association champion, RIT. Face-off between the Falcons and Tigers is scheduled for 7:05 p.m at RIT's Ritter Arena.
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Game #1
Bowling Green at Niagara
Oct. 18, 2007 • Dwyer Arena, 7:05 p.m.
TELEVISION:B2 Networks (Internet Only)
RADIO:WBGU (88.1): Danny Nieves (Play-by-Play)
Game #2
Bowling Green at RIT
Oct. 19, 2007 • Ritter Arena, 7:05 p.m.
RECORDS: BGSU 0-0-0, 0-0-0 CCHA // RIT 0-1-0, 0-0-0 AHA
TELEVISION:B2 Networks (Internet Only)
RADIO:WBGU (88.1): Danny Nieves (Play-by-Play)
Radio Broadcast
Thursday and Friday night's action from New York can be heard on WBGU 88.1 FM. Danny Nieves will be providing all the play-by-play of the action with a pregame show airing 30 minutes prior to the opening face-off. The broadcast can be heard locally on WBGU 88.1 FM and globally on both www.bgsufalcons.com and www.bgrso.org.
Internet Only Tv Broadcast
Thursday and Friday night's action from New York can viewed online through B2 Networks' Live TV package. The pay-site that has a video deal with both Niagara University and the Rochester Institute of Technology will be available to fans 10 minutes prior to face-off time for a price of $6 per-viewing.
To purchase the games, one must fill out an online form and have a valid credit card for payment. The links to the broadcast can be found online at bgsufalcons.com.
Live Stats
Live stats for Thursday and Friday's games will be available at www.bgsufalcons.com via gametracker, which can be found on the team's schedule page.
Falcon Quick Hits
• Senior forward John Mazzei and freshman forward Dan Sexton both enter the week fresh off collecting hat tricks. The two combined for nine points in the Falcons' 12-1 exhibition win over the University of Windsor on Friday evening at the BGSU Ice Arena in a contest that saw 17 Falcons find the scorer's sheet. Mazzei would add two assists to go along with his hat trick, as the Kelowna, B.C. native finished tied for a game-high five points with sophomore forward Tomas Petruska, who scored a goal and picked up four helpers. It was the first time the Falcons scored 12 goals in a game since a 1993 exhibition win over the University of Toronto and the 52nd time they've scored double digits at home.
• The five points scored by Mazzei and Petruska would've been just two points off the BGSU Ice Arena single-game record of seven points scored by RIT assistant coach, Brian Hills and former Alabama-Hunstville coach Doug Ross for the Falcons, had the game been a regular season contest.
• Had the game been a regular season game, it would've been the first time the Falcons had two players record hat tricks in the same game since Mike Johnson and Mike Hall did it during the 1995-96 season in at Alaska (11/23). (Last known time)
• Under Scott Paluch, the Falcons are 9-5-1 in their first two weekends of the season, which includes the exhibition contest and the opening weekend. Last season BG went 2-0-1, as they collected wins over Windsor (7-1) and UConn (2-1 OT) in their season opener, before tying Alabama-Huntsville (5-5).
• In season openers under Paluch, BG is 3-2 with a 1-1 record in true road games. Thursday's game against Niagara will mark the second-time Paluch has opened the season against the Purple Eagles in his six years behind the BG bench. The last time he met Niagara, the Falcons won 4-1 at the Lefty McFadden Invitational in Dayton, Ohio, where Paluch picked up his first career win in his first game as head coach.
• Bowling Green and RIT first met on Dec. 28, 1986, as part of the Syracuse Invitational where BG won 4-3. They last met two seasons ago at the BGSU Ice Arena where the Falcons won 3-2 on a goal by Jonathan Matsumoto on the power play in the final minute of the game.
• Bowling Green is 49-29-6 all-time in games against teams from New York. The Falcons also won the school's first and only national championship in New York back in 1984 in Lake Placid where they defeated Minnesota-Duluth, 5-4 in four overtimes.
• BG is 9-4-2 all-time against opponents from College Hockey America and 8-2-0 against Atlantic Hockey Association opponents.
• In his last seven games going back to last season, senior forward Derek Whitmore has scored nine points (7-2--9), which includes goals in both games of the CCHA playoffs at Nebraska-Omaha.
• Whitmore finished 38th in the CCHA last season in scoring with 29 points (19g, 10a) and is tied for 20th among those returning this season. He is also tied for sixth in the CCHA among those returning in goals (19).
• Mazzei is coming off a career-game that saw him record three assists in one period in the final game of the CCHA playoffs against Nebraska-Omaha. Those three assists were a new single-game high for Mazzei and tied a CCHA playoff record for most assists in one period.
• Senior defenseman Mike Nesdill, the leading defensive scorer last season, also had a big game to close out last season as the Phoenix, Ariz. native tallied two helpers on what was a career night for outgoing senior forward James Unger, who scored four of the five Falcon goals in the contest.
• In the annual Falcon "Face-off" on Oct. 6, Team White defeated Team Orange, 5-4. It was a game that saw a total of 17 points tallied with six of the 17 points coming from the freshmen class, as freshmen forwards Jacob Cepis (0-2--2), Dan Sexton (1-1--2) and David Solway (1-1--2) all collected two points in the contest. Also collecting two points were sophomore forward Josh Boyd (0-2--2) and junior defenseman Kevin Schmidt (1-1--2).
• Junior defenseman Russ Sinkewich was crowned the "fastest skater" on Oct. 6, as he defeated sophomore forward Kai Kantola in the Fastest Skater competition during the intermission of the Falcon "Face-off".
• Falcon freshmen Dan Sexton and David Solway both have some interesting ties to professional sports, aside from their ties to each other on the ice. Not only did the duo help lead Sioux Falls of the USHL to the Clark Cup championship last season, but they have family or friends that have made themselves popular in the world of professional sports. In Sexton's case, his twin brother Joe, has made his name as a professional snowboarder. In Solway's case and his family's, they have found themselves visiting the Favre family in Green Bay on quite a regular basis, as the elder Solway is one of Brett Farve's best friends in the Green Bay area.
Two states apart But so much in common
There will be no shortage of sidebars to Friday night's game between BG and RIT, as the two schools have much in common despite being two states apart and in different leagues. Below is a breakdown of the connections between the two schools.
The Family Connection ...
• Friday's game between the Falcons and Tigers will feature a match up of two brothers from Kelowna, B.C., as BG senior forward and tri-captain John Mazzei will be playing against his younger brother, Tyler Mazzei, who is a freshman forward at RIT.
• Friday's game will also be a homecoming for BG senior tri-captain Derek Whitmore, who is a Rochester, N.Y. native.
The Playing Connection ...
• Of the six full-time coaches in Friday's match up, five played their collegiate hockey at Bowling Green, as BG's all-alumni staff of Scott Paluch (1984-88), Doug Schueller (1997-2001) and Todd Reirden (1990-94) will being going against RIT head coach Wayne Wilson (1980-84) and assistant coach Brian Hills (1979-83). Wilson, a captain of BGSU's 1984 national championship squad recorded 101 career points as a defenseman for the orange and brown, while Hills finished his Falcon career with 270 career points, which ranks second on the all-time school list.
The Coaching Connection ...
• Of the six full-time coaches in Friday's game, five have also coached at Bowling Green at one point in time, as both Wilson and Hills were once assistant coaches under former Flalcon head coaches Jerry York (1979-94) and Buddy Powers (1994-2002).
• Wilson and Hills served as assistant coaches together at BG from 1994-99 under Powers, while Hills stayed till the 2001 season.
• Paluch and Wilson also served as assistants together under York from 1990-94, as they coached current BG assistant, Todd Reirden, who played from 1990-94.
What's Returning to the 2007-08 squad?
The Falcons return 20 players from last season, including eight of their top-10 scorers. Leading the group is senior forward and tri-captain Derek Whitmore, who finished last season with 29 points (19g, 10a), including a team-best 19 goals. Whitmore has increased his goal production each season he's played for the Falcons, going from 11 in his freshman campaign to 13 in his sophomore season to 19 a season ago, as he has become one of the premier players in the CCHA. Joining Whitmore up front will be returning forwards Tomas Petruska (8-9--17), Todd McIlrath (5-10--15), Brandon Svendson (6-8--14), Kai Kantola (5-6--11) and John Mazzei (2-9--11), who all finished in the top-10 on the team last season in points.
On the blue-line, the Falcons will return all, but one (Jeremy Bronson) defenseman from last season. Senior rearguard Mike Nesdill returns after leading all BG defensemen last season with 11 points (1g, 10a). Joining Nesdill in the defensive core will be Tim Maxwell (0-11--11), Kevin Schmidt (3-6--9), Michael Hodgson (1-6--7), Kyle Page (0-5--5), Russ Sinkewich (0-2--2) and Brian Moore.
A look at the Goaltending
One of the Falcons' biggest returnees in 2007 is junior goaltender Jimmy Spratt, who was named the team's Most Improved Player last season after being the squad's main workhorse in net. The Chesterfield, Mich. native dropped his goals-against average (3.64) and raised his save percentage (.886) last season, as he played in 31 games and got the starting nod in 30. His 817 saves ranked fifth in the CCHA, as he averaged just a little over 26 saves a game.
Joining Spratt in net this season will be returning sophomore Phil Greer and freshman Nick Eno. Greer who saw limited action in his freshman season, had a 4.07 GAA and .875 SV% for the Sante Fe Roadrunners of the NAHL prior to his first season with the Falcons. Eno, a 2007 draft pick of the Buffalo Sabres (#187 overall) is a 6-foot-3-inch, 190-pound goaltender who comes to BG after competing with Green Mountain of the EJHL last season where he finished in the top-10 in the leauge in both goals-against average (3.60) and save percentage (.902).
What was lost?
Despite having eight of their top-10 scorers returning this season, the Falcons lost one of the CCHA's top players in forward Jonathan Matsumoto, who signed a contract with the Philadelphia Flyers during the off-season. Matsumoto, who would have been a senior for the Falcons in 2007, recorded a team-high 33 points (11a, 22a) last season, ending his Falcon career tied for 62nd on the all-time scoring list with 103 career points. BG also had to say goodbye to forwards James Unger (7g, 3a) and Rich Meloche (2g, 0a), along with defensman Jeremy Bronson, who despite scoring limited points in his Falcon career became a key part of the BG defense, as he played in 32 games a season ago.
Reirden returns Home To Form First All-Alumni Coaching Staff
With the hiring of Todd Reirden as the new assistant coach this summer, the 2007-08 season will mark the first time in the now 38-year history of the Falcon hockey program that BG will be lead by three former players. Reirden, who played for the orange and brown from 1990-94 as a forward and defenseman, joins head coach Scott Paluch (1984-88) and assistant coach Doug Schueller (1997-2001) to form the first all-alumni coaching staff made up of former Falcons.
In his four-year BG career, Reirden recorded 76 points (24g, 52a) in 140 career games as a defenseman. He would go on to enjoy a professional hockey career that spanned 13 years and included stops with the Edmonton Oilers, St. Louis Blues, Anaheim Ducks, Atlanta Thrashers and Phoenix Coyotes. In 183 career NHL games, the Deerfield, Ill. native tallied 11 goals and 35 assists.
Other Tidbits Related to Reirden's return
• Reirden is just 1-of-21 Division I college hockey coaches (212 total, which includes head coaches, assistants, volunteers, etc.) to have played in an NHL contest.
• Reirden is 1-of-4 coaches in the CCHA to have played in the NHL.
• Of 41CCHA coaches only Reirden and Michigan head coach Red Berenson have played in 100 or more NHL contests.
• Only 12 coaches in Division I hockey in total have played in 100 or more NHL games (other notables: Ted Donato, head coach at Harvard; Mike Richter, assistant coach at Yale; Shawn McEachern, assistant coach at Northeastern; Tom Fitzgerald, assistant coach at UMass-Lowell; Randy McKay, volunteer coach at Michigan Tech).
Former Falcon Net-minder Will Serve as Goaltending coach
On Sept. 20th, Bowling Green State University head coach Scott Paluch announced that former Falcon-star Tyler Masters would be joining the Falcon hockey staff. Masters, who played for the orange and brown from 1999-2003, will serve as a volunteer coach and goalie coach, as he adds a fourth BG alum to the all-alumni staff.
Prior to BGSU, Masters played four seasons of professional hockey, which included stops in both the ECHL and UHL.
In his final professional season, Masters played in 36 games for the Fort Wayne Komets of the UHL where he posted a 20-12-2 record. He recorded four shutouts and posted a 2.68 goals-against average with a save percentage of .903. He ended the season with the Richmond Riverdogs where he played two games in net.
The Calgary, Alberta native earned a professional career after playing four seasons for the Falcons, ending his collegiate career ranking second in school history for games played by a goaltender (114). Masters also ranks second on the BG list for career saves (3,286) and career goals-against average (3.11), while his .906 save percentage ranks third.
Masters recorded seven shutouts in his Falcon career, which is still ranks tops on the all-time school list.
Senior-Trio To serve as Falcon Captains in 2007-08
For the first time since the 2004-05 season, the Falcon hockey team will be led in 2007 by a group of tri-captains. Falcon seniors Michael Hodgson, John Mazzei and Derek Whitmore will all don the captain's "C", as they become the first group of tri-captains since seniors Ryan Minnabarriet, Alex Rogosheske and Jordan Sigalet shared the honors during the 2004-05 campaign.
Hodgson, who last season became the first junior captain since D'Arcy McConvey (2002-03), will captain the Falcons for the second-straight season. This past season, the Surfside, Calif. native played in 35 games for BG, tallying a goal and six assists, as he helped anchor the Falcon blue-line. The senior defenseman tied a career game-high with three assists in a 4-2 BG win at Providence College on Oct. 20. His 20 blocked shots were tied for the third-best on the squad.
Mazzei, an assistant captain last season, played in 36 games for BG finishing his year with 11 points (2g, 9a). The Kelowna, B.C. native was sixth on the team with 16 blocked shots and tied a Central Collegiate Hockey Association playoff record with three assists in one period in the second game against Nebraska-Omaha. The three assists were also a new career game-high for the senior forward.
Whitmore, who last season became one of the premier offensive forces in the CCHA, played in all 38 games for the Falcons where he notched a career-high 29 points (19g, 10a). The native of Rochester, N.Y. set career-highs in both goals and assists, as he tallied six power-play goals and recorded the game-winning goal on two occasions. The senior forward notched BG's lone short-handed tally of the season against Ohio State (Nov. 17) and earned CCHA Offensive Player of the Week honors for the first time in his career after a four-point weekend against Michigan State (Feb. 23/24).
Whitmore also tied a career game-high with three points on three separate occasions and had three multiple-goal games.
Cepis ranked in the Top 20 incoming freshmen forwards
Incoming freshman forward Jacob Cepis was ranked among the top 20 incoming freshmen forwards in the nation, according to InsideCollegeHockey.com. The website which ranked the nation's top freshmen classes, as well as the top incoming individuals for each unit, compiled its 2007-08 rankings with extensive input from college and junior coaches, as well as professional scouts.
Cepis, a Parma, Ohio native, was ranked 16th as the list featured seven total Central Collegiate Hockey Association forwards. Michigan's Max Pacioretty was the top-ranking incoming CCHA forward as he was ranked sixth with two other incoming Wolverine forwards making the list. Wisconsin's Kyle Turris, the third overall pick of the 2007 National Hockey League Entry Draft by Phoenix, was the top-ranking incoming forward.
Cepis comes to BGSU after spending the past two seasons competing with Cedar Rapids of the United States Hockey League (USHL). This past season, the 5-foot-8-inch, 165-pound forward served as an assistant captain for the RoughRiders where he received First Team All-USHL honors and was selected to the 2006 USHL All-Star game.
Cepis led the USHL with 34 goals scored this past season, finishing third in the league in points with 72 (34g, 38a). He finished the season with 10 power-play, two short-handed and four game-winning goals with a plus-18 rating for the season. In the 2007 USHL playoffs, he tallied eight points (5g, 3a) in six playoff games.
Cepis becomes yet another highly-touted Falcon player from the greater Cleveland area, which includes three Falcons that have gone on to play in the NHL. Former Falcons and NHL players Aris Brimanis (Shaker Heights, Ohio), Brett Harkins (Cleveland, Ohio) and Hobey Baker Award honoree Brian Holzinger (Parma, Ohio) are all Cleveland players that donned the orange and brown in their college days.
Kantola ranked by Hockey Future's
Kai Kantola, who completed his first year with the Falcon hockey team this past season, was ranked the 19th best NCAA prospect by hockeysfuture.com prior to the National Hockey League Entry Draft this summer.
Kantola played in 36 games as a freshman, finishing with 11 points (5g, 6a). He finished in a tie for third on the team with three power-play goals, and had a career night with three assists in a 5-1 win over Western Michigan.
