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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Hockey Gets Back To Action With Home-And-Home CCHA Series With Broncos
October 30, 2007 | Ice Hockey
Oct. 30, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University hockey team will face its' second-straight Central Collegiate Hockey Association clustermate when they face the Western Michigan Broncos in a home-and-home series this weekend. Game one of the two-game set on Friday will start at 7:35 p.m. from Lawson Arena in Kalamazoo, Mich., before the series will conclude with a 7:05 p.m. face-off at the BGSU Ice Arena on Saturday. The contests will mark just the second and third CCHA games of the season for the Falcons while the Broncos are just one of three league teams yet to see CCHA action.
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Game #4
Bowling Green at Western Michigan
Nov. 2, 2007 • Lawson Ice Arena, 7:35 p.m.
Game #5
Western Michigan at Bowling Green
Nov. 3, 2007 • BGSU Ice Arena, 7:05 p.m.
TELEVISION (Saturday only):BCSN: Greg Franke (Play-by-Play), Buddy Powers (color analyst
RADIO:WBGU (88.1): Danny Nieves (Play-by-Play
Radio Broadcast
Friday and Saturday night's action between the Falcons and Broncos 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.
Television Broadcast
Saturday's action at the BGSU Ice Arena between the Falcons and the Broncos can be seen by tuning into BCSN. Greg Franke will be providing the play-by-play of the action with former Falcon hockey coach Buddy Powers doing the color commentary. The game, which will be tape delayed, will show at 2:30 a.m. Sunday morning and will be shown again at noon on Sunday as well.
Live Stats
Live stats for Friday and Saturday's game will be available at www.bgsufalcons.com via gametracker, which can be found on the team's schedule page.
Falcon Quick Hits
• The Falcons are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games against the Broncos and 4-2 in the last six meetings.
• The Broncos were 12-8-0 at Lawson Arena in 20 contests last season and 19-17-3 since the start of the 2005-06 season.
• BG has beaten the Broncos just six times in 118 meetings when scoring less than four goals and has never won a game in the series when scoring less than three, as they are 6-10-2 in games where the winning team scored three goals or fewer.
• Only three meetings in 118 meetings have occurred where each team scored less than three goals and never before has there been two or fewer combined goals scored in a contest between the schools.
• BG is 14-19-3 all-time in their first CCHA road contests.
• The dates Nov. 2 and Nov. 3 have been good to the Falcons in the past 38 seasons, as BG is 12-9 combined all-time on those two dates.
• Senior forward Derek Whitmore is tied for 20th in scoring in the CCHA with four points this season and tied for second in points per game average (1.33) behind only Nebraska-Omaha senior captain Bryan Marshall (1.67).
• Whitmore's three goals put him in a tie for ninth on the CCHA list.
• In his last 10 regular season games going back to last season, Whitmore has scored 13 points (10-3--13), which includes goals in both games of the CCHA playoffs at Nebraska-Omaha and a goal and an assist in the Oct. 23rd loss at home to Notre Dame.
• BG goaltenders Nick Eno (3.00) and Jimmy Spratt (3.08) are currently ranked 9th and 10th in the CCHA respectively in goals-against average, while Eno ranks sixth (.906) and Spratt ranks 12th (.880) in save percentage.
• The Falcons rank second as a team in CCHA in penalty minutes per game at 23.7, while Western Michigan ranks just 10th at 12.8.
• BG has allowed six total second period goals this season and just three total in the first and third.
• Freshman forward Dan Sexton ranks first amongst all CCHA freshmen with a 2.00 points per game average and is tied for seventh in points with two (1g, 1a).
Last Week Recap
BGSU 2, Notre Dame 4
Falcon forwards Dan Sexton and Derek Whitmore both tallied a goal and an assist in Tuesday's home and CCHA opener for the Falcons in front of 2,424 fans at the BGSU Ice Arena. However, despite owning the lead on two separate occasions, BG found themselves on the losing end of the contest when Notre Dame scored three unanswered goals to close the contest and earn a 4-2 victory.
Irish forward Evan Rankin would tally the eventual game-winning goal with just 1:14 remaining in the second period, as he was able to beat BG junior goaltender Jimmy Spratt to give ND a 3-2 lead heading into the final intermission. A shorthanded marker just 4:35 into the third period then by Erik Condra gave ND a two-goal cushion that was just too much for the Falcons to overcome.
BG would commit a total of six penalties for 23 minutes in the first period, as they went on to finish the game with 29 total minutes in penalties. The Irish would finish with just 12. Despite the major pile up of penalty minutes in the first period, the Falcons would kill off all, but one of the four ND power plays to start the game, as the ND power play would finish just 1-8 on the evening. The Falcons would finish 0-5.
Spratt would go on to finish the game with 26 saves for the Falcons on 30 Irish shots, while his counterpart, Jordan Pearce, would finish with 18 saves on 20 BG shots.
Scouting The BRONCOS
Western Michigan enters this weekend with a 2-2 record after earning a home sweep against Bentley to start the season, before getting swept at Niagara this past weekend. The Broncos are averaging 2.75 goals a game and 31.2 shots on goal, as they've out-shot opponents 125-103 in their first four contests.
Leading the way up front for the Broncos is junior forward Jeff LoVecchio (2g, 2a), freshman Max Campbell (1g, 3a) and junior Patrick Galivan (1g, 3a), who have all tallied four points on the season. Freshman Ryan Watson, a seventh-round pick of the Florida Panthers in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, is tied with LoVecchio for the team-lead with two goals. Last season LoVecchio tallied 19 goals as a sophomore, finishing tied for second on the team behind only freshman Mark Letestu, who turned pro in the off-season. LoVecchio and senior forwards Jeff Pierce (12) and Brian Bicek (15) combined for a total of 46 goals last season. A total of 10 Bronco forwards have already tallied points in the first four WMU games.
On defense the Broncos have been led by junior Chris Frank (0g, 2a) and sophomore Tyler Ludwig (0g, 2a), along with freshman Mike Levendusky (0g, 1a). Frank, who last season finished as the second-leading defensive scorer on the team with 12 points (2g, 10a), currently leads the Broncos with a plus-5 rating on the season, while Ludwig is second with a rating of plus-4. The two combined to block 84 shots on the blue-line last season, as Ludwig registered 43 blocks and Frank registered 41.
Behind the blue-liners stands the goaltending duo of Riley Gill and Jerry Kuhn, who have both seen starts in net in the first four games. Gill, who comes into Friday 2-1 on the season, has allowed just five goals against him this season, as he sports a .938 save percentage in three starts. Last season the sophomore net-minder lead the CCHA with four shutouts, as he was named to the CCHA All-Rookie Team , finishing the season with a 13-8-1 record, a 2.79 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage in his freshman campaign. Kuhn, a freshman, started the first game of the Broncos series at Niagara, allowing four goals on 22 shots.
WESTERN MICHIGAN SERIES
This weekend's games between the Falcons and Broncos will mark the 119th and 120th times that the two programs have met dating back to their first-ever meeting on Feb. 1, 1974. The Falcons own a 67-47-4 record in the all-time series, a 29-25-4 record in games played at WMU and a 41-19 record against the Broncos at the BGSU Ice Arena.
Last season the two squads split a pair of games at the Ice Arena with the Falcons earning a 5-1 win (Jan.5) in the first game, before the Broncos came back and won 5-0 (Jan.6) in game two. In the Falcons 5-1 win to open the series, BG scored five unanswered goals to capture the victory, as they outshot WMU 35-19. Derek Whitmore, Kevin Schmidt, Brandon Svendsen and Tomas Petruska all picked up goals in the effort, while Kai Kantola set a single-game career high with three assists. The Broncos and goaltender Riley Gill would get even though the following night, as Gill made 37 stops to record the shutout win.
Tidbits related to the Western Michigan Series
• BG has had nine double-digit games against the Broncos, the most versus any opponent (five at home, three in Kalamazoo and one on neutral ice.
• BG has had 31 total penalty shots (for and against) in its 38 seasons of play with four coming against WMU as each squad has scored on one occasion with BG 1-1 on the penalty shots against the Broncos and the Broncos 1-3 against the Falcons.
• Falcon coach Scott Paluch owns or shares seven BG records for a defenseman and three have involved contests with the Broncos. In his senior year in 1988, Paluch had a Feb.19th and 20th series against the Broncos that saw him score eight total points, tying a school-record for a defenseman. That same series saw him become only the third (four now) defenseman in BG history to tally a hat trick in a game and saw him tally four total goals for the series, which also is tied for tops on the school list a defenseman.
• Senior forward Derek Whitmore leads all BG scorer's against WMU with five career points (2g, 3a) in six career games.
• Falcon senior defenseman Michael Hodgson has a career +6 rating in six career games against the Broncos.
• Senior forward John Mazzei has a career +4 rating against WMU in six career games, as the tri-captain has tallied two goals and two assists.
• Junior goaltender Jimmy Spratt has made three career starts against WMU, going 2-1-0 with a career 2.67 goals-against average against the team from his home state.
Falcons rule at even strengthThough the Falcons are 1-2 on the season, they may have been unbeaten had all three games been played at even strength. When playing at even strength this season the Falcons are a combined +18 as a team, outscoring the opposition 6-3. Leading the way in the plus category for the Falcons is senior forward Derek Whitmore who is a +3 when playing at even strength. Sophomore forward Kai Kantola, junior defenseman Tim Maxwell and freshman defenseman Andrew Krelove are all then +2 when the playing field is evened out.
On the flip side, BG is -5 combined in the special teams game, as they've surrendered five power-play goals and one shorthanded tally.
Whitty Back To His Old Ways
It's been a quick start to the season for Falcon senior Derek Whitmore, as he has tallied four points (3g, 1a) thru the first three games of the 2007 campaign. His 1.00 goals-per-game average is tied for sixth-nationally, while he is tied for ninth in the CCHA in goals scored and tied for 20th in points. Last season the Falcon tri-captain led the Falcons with 19 goals and finished second on the team in points with 29 (19g, 10a). In Tuesday's game against Notre Dame, Whitmore posted his 17th-career multiple-point game, as he scored the Falcons' second goal of the evening and added a helper on the first goal by linemate Dan Sexton. It was just the sixth game that BG has lost when Whitmore scores multiple times in his Falcon career, as BG is 10-6-1 the past four years when the Rochester, N.Y. native tallies two or more points in a game and 21-21-4 when he scores in a contest.
SCHMIDT Looking for Breakout Season
When junior defenseman Kevin Schmidt first came to BG during the 2005-06 season there were some pretty lofty expectations placed on the 6-foot-1-inch blue-liner. Prior to the start of his freshman campaign, InsideCollegeHockey.com tagged the Markham, Ont. native as the ninth-best incoming freshman defenseman as the Falcons junior class was ranked the 15th-best incoming class that season.
However, for Schmidt scoring wouldn't come easy his freshman season as he totaled just eight points (1g, 7a) in 35 games. Last season saw much of the same, as he only upped his point total by a single point, tallying nine points (3g, 6a) in 35 games played.
So far in 2007, Schmidt is averaging a point per game, as he has already tallied three assists in the first three BG games. The junior is currently tied for ninth-nationally amongst defensemen for points per game and tied for second in the CCHA behind only Alaska's Tyler Eckford.
KANTOLA HANDED SUSPENSION FROM CCHA
The CCHA announced this past weekend that Bowling Green State University sophomore Kai Kantola has been suspended for four games as the result of a checking-from-behind incident that occured in BG's home opener on Oct. 23rd against Notre Dame.
The supplemental disciplinary action was taken by the CCHA after a review of the incident that occured at 16:13 of the first period and resulted in Kantola receiving a major penalty for Hitting From Behind and a disqualification penalty.
Kantola will miss the Falcons' weekend against Western Michigan and BG's next series against Ferris State.
Former Falcon Putting up Big Time Stats
Entering the week, former BGSU forward Jonathan Matsumoto ranked seventh in the AHL in scoring with 11 points (5g, 6a) thru the first nine games of the sesaon. The Orleans, Ont. native, who tallied 113 career points that last three seasons in the Falcon uniform, is currently playing for the Philadelphia Phantoms, who is the AHL affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers drafted Matsumoto in the third round of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft with the 79th overall pick. He has helped the Phantoms to early 8-1 record on the young season, as he has already tallied four multiple-point games.
Homecoming to Remember
For Falcon senior tri-captain Derek Whitmore, Fri., Oct.19th will be a night and game he'll remember for the rest of his life. The Rochester, N.Y. native returned home to Rochester and led the Falcons to a 5-3 victory over the Rochester Institute of Technology, scoring his first two goals of the season in front of 75 friends and family members. His power play goal just 6:39 into the first period gave BG an early 1-0, as the Falcons withstood two RIT comebacks to earn their first victory of the season. The senior forward then tallied his second goal of the evening at the 9:06 mark of the second period to stretch the Falcon lead to two at 3-1.Whitmore would finish his special evening with a +1 rating, as the game was his first game back in Rochester since 2001.
Some Falcon Numbers For You
1 - Number of wins the Falcons had against this season's CCHA clustermates last season.
2 - The scoring differential in each of the three games for the Falcons this season.
3 - BG has never scored fewer than three goals against Western Michigan and won the game.
4 - Number of goals needed for senior Derek Whitmore to reach 50 goals for his career.
4-3 - BG's record the past two seasons when leading after the first period.
5 - The number of games the Falcons have won the last five seasons against the Broncos.
6 - The total number of the seven newcomers to the team that have already seen action this season.
8 - Number of wins needed by the Falcons to eclipse the 100-win total for the fourth-straight decade.
9 - Where junior defenseman Kevin Schmidt ranks currently in the country for points per game by a defenseman.
22 - Known number of former BGSU players known to be playing in professional hockey this season.
25 - Goals Derek Whitmore needs this season to finish his career amongst the top 20 goal scorers in BGSU history.
Cluster It Up
Tuesday's game against Notre Dame marked the first of five-straight contests for the Falcons against their 2007 CCHA clustermates. Following their match up with the Broncos, the Falcons will next face clustermate Ferris State, as they'll head to Big Rapids, Mich. for a two-game set with the Bulldogs. BG only went 1-7 against their clustermates last season with a 5-1 home win over WMU keeping them from being winless.
