Bowling Green State University Athletics
Red-Hot Falcon Hockey Team Hosts Northern Michigan In First Home Series Of The Season
November 14, 2007 | Ice Hockey
Nov. 13, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - It's been two seasons since the Bowling Green State University hockey team has won four-straight games and garnered national recognition. Now, with a 5-2-0 overall record and a Central Collegiate Hockey Associaiton mark 4-1-0, the Falcons, who were ranked 21st this week in the USCHO/CSTV Division I poll and 19th in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll, will look to keep their four-game winning streak going as they host CCHA foe, Northern Michigan, this Friday and Saturday. The two tilts will mark the first time this season that BG will host games back-to-back nights, as BG and NMU will drop the puck at 7:05 p.m. in both contests.
Complete Release in PDF Format (35 pages)
Games #8-9
Northern Michigan at Bowling Green
Nov. 16-17, 2007 • BGSU Ice Arena, 7:05 p.m.
RECORDS: BGSU 5-2-0, 4-1-0 CCHA // NMU 2-8-0, 1-7-0 CCHA
TELEVISION:BCSN: Greg Franke (play-by-play), Buddy Powers (color)
RADIO:WBGU (88.1): Danny Nieves (Play-by-Play)
Radio Broadcast
Friday and Saturday night's action between the Falcons and Wildcats 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
Friday and Saturday's action at the BGSU Ice Arena between the Falcons and the Wildcats 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. Friday's game, which will be tape-delayed, can be seen at 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning and again Saturday evening at 1 a.m. Saturday's game, which will also be tape-delayed, can be seen Sunday morning at 5:30 a.m. and again Sunday evening at 6:30 p.m.
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 2-7-1 against the Wildcats in their last 10 meetings, but are 4-1-1 against NMU at home under head coach Scott Paluch.
• With their sweep at Ferris State, the Falcons swept two-consecutive CCHA series for the first time since March of 2001 when they swept the Bulldogs and Miami in the first round of the CCHA playoffs. Their sweep of Miami that season was also the last time the Falcons swept a CCHA road series.
• The four-straight wins for BG are the most in a row since they won six-in-a-row during the 2005-06 season (Dec. 10 - Jan. 7).
• BG hasn't swept three-straight CCHA series since the 1987-88 season when they swept Ferris State, Michigan State and Western Michigan all back-to-back.
• In the last four games, the Falcons are averaging 4.2 goals a game and 31.8 shots on goal.
• The Falcon power play is 10-28 (.357) with the man-advantage during the four-game stretch.
• Five Falcons have tallied at least five points while on their four-game win streak. Derek Whitmore, Jacob Cepis and Kevin Schmidt lead the team with six points each, while James Perkin and Mike Nesdill both have tallied five points.
• In the face-off battle, BG is 6-0-1 this season, as only a 37-37 tie against Notre Dame is keeping the Falcons from having the advantage in face-offs in every game this season.
• BG has out-scored foes 6-2 in the first period of play this season and is an undefeated 4-0 when leading going into the first intermission of play. NMU leads the CCHA in first period goals allowed with 15 goals against them in the game's first 20 minutes.
• The Falcons are a perfect 5-0 this season when they tally a power play marker.
• BG's defensive core has already tallied 21 points (3-18-21) this season after only recording 45 total points a season ago.
• In his last 14 regular season games going back to last season, Derek Whitmore has scored 19 points (15-4--19), which includes goals in both games of the CCHA playoffs at Nebraska-Omaha and five goals this past weekend at Ferris State.
• BG goaltenders Nick Eno (2.64) and Jimmy Spratt (2.74) are currently ranked ninth and 11th in the CCHA respectively in goals-against average, while Eno ranks ninth (.897) and Spratt ranks 11h (.893) in save percentage.
Last Weekend's Recap
BGSU (6), Ferris State (3)
BGSU (3), Ferris State (1)
Senior forward Derek Whitmore tallied five total goals on the weekend, as the Falcons picked up their first two-game series win in Big Rapids, Mich. since 1987 and moved their winning-streak to four games. The wins marked the first time the Falcons swept back-to-back CCHA series since March of 2001, the same season they picked up their last road CCHA sweep.
BG had 11 different players produce points in the two games and got solid efforts in net from both freshman goaltender Nick Eno and junior Jimmy Spratt, as the two combined to make 57 saves on 61 Bulldog shots. Eno also picked up his first collegiate point in Friday's win, as he assisted on Jacob Cepis' goal in the third period that gave BG a 6-3 lead.
In Friday's contest the Falcons got a career single-game high three points from sophomore forward James Perkin. The Calgary, Alberta native tallied two goals and an assist, while scoring the game-tying and game-winning goals on the power play. After picking up a 1-0 lead after the first on a goal by Whitmore, the Falcons fell behind 3-1 on three-straight unanswered goals by the Bulldogs. David Solway would get BG back within one before Perkin tallied his two goals in just a 22 second span to give the Falcons a 4-3. Whitmore then tallied his second goal of the contest on the power play in the third, before Cepis capped the Falcon scoring for the evening with his second goal of the season. The Falcons finished the night 4-8 with the man-advantage, while Eno stopped 27-of-30 shots to earn his third-straight victory.
The following night belonged to Whitmore, as the senior tri-captain tallied his first-career hat trick, attributing for all three Falcon goals in a 3-1 win. Senior John Mazzei added two helpers, while Spratt made 30 stops on 31 Bulldogs shots to earn his second-straight victory.
Scouting The WILDCATS
Northern Michigan enters this weekend's series with a 2-8-0 record and a 1-7-0 mark in the CCHA. This past weekend NMU earned a split at home against Western Michigan, falling 4-2 on Friday before winning 4-3 in overtime on Saturday.
The Wildcats come into Friday averaging just 2.30 goals a game with a CCHA-worst team defense that allows an average four goals a game and a penalty kill that has only killed 36 of 56 power plays against it (.643).
Up front NMU has been paced by junior forward Nick Sirota, who is currently second-overall in the CCHA in scoring with 13 points (7g, 6a). His team-leading seven goals are tied then for fifth-best in the league, as he is averaging 1.30 points per game. Joining him have been freshman Jared Brown (3-3-6), who tallied two assists this past weekend and sophomore Matt Butcher (1-5-6) who had a goal and two assists against the Broncos, including the game-winning goal in Saturday's overtime win.
On defense, the Wildcats have been led by freshman Erik Gustafsson (0-5-5) who has recorded five helpers this season, including one on the overtime game-winner this past Saturday. Sophomore T.J. Miller (1-3-4) has then tallied four points, while sophomore Alan Dorich (0-2-2) has tallied two.
The blue-liners guard a group of young net-minders that includes two sophomores and one freshman. Seeing the most time in net this season has been sophomore Brian Stewart, who owns a 2-5-0 record with a 4.08 goals-against average and a .838 save percentage in eight starts. Sophomore Derek Janzen follows Stewart with five starts in front of the cage, owning a 3.39 goals-against average and a .848 save percentage. Freshman Reid Ellingson rounds out the group with a 5.26 goals-against average and a .833 save percentage in two starts.
NORTHERN MICHIGAN SERIES This weekend's tilts will mark the 65th and 66th times that BG and Northern Michigan have met on the ice. The Falcons own an overall 31-27-6 mark in the all-time series, but are just 2-7-1 against NMU in their last 10 meetings. In games played at the BGSU Ice Arena, BG is 18-9-2 and 4-1-1 at home against the Wildcats under head coach Scott Paluch.
Last season the two teams met in Marquette, Mich. at the Berry Events Center where the Wildcats won a pair of 4-1 games (Jan. 19-20).
Senior forward Derek Whitmore leads all Falcon scorers against NMU with four points (2-2-4). Senior defensemen Michael Hodgson (1-1-2) and Mike Nesdill (0-2-2) and sophomore forward Tomas Petruska (1-1-2) each then have tallied two.
Tidbits related to the Northern Michigan Series
• In two of the bigger wins in program history, the Falcons upset the Wildcats two-straight seasons in 1980 and 1981 when NMU was ranked as the No. 1 team in the country.
• NMU has spelled trouble for junior goaltender Jimmy Spratt, as in two career starts against the Widcats, Spratt owns an 0-2-0 record with a 5.00 goals-against average and a save percentage of .836.
• The Falcons were a combined -26 as a team in two 4-1 losses at NMU last season.
• The two head coaches featured in this past season's NCAA Division I National Championship game were once on opposite benches in this series. Michigan State's Rick Comley is the former NMU coach prior to Walt Kyle, where he served as coach from 1977 to 2002. Boston College's Jerry York then served as the Falcons head coach from 1979-1994. York owned a 12-10-3 record in the match-ups with Comley as the Falcons coach.
• Both schools rank in the top-four in CCHA history for regular season winning percentage for teams having been in the league at least 10 seasons. The two schools have also both won national championships with BG owning one (1984) and NMU owning one (1991).
Whitmore Named CCHA offensive Player of The Week
For the second time in his career, Bowling Green State University forward Derek Whitmore has been named the Central Collegiate Hockey Association Offensive Player of the Week, as announced by the league office on Monday. Whitmore tallied five points this past weekend at Ferris State, all goals, as the Falcons earned their first back-to-back sweep of CCHA opponents for the first time since 2001.
In Friday's contest against the Bulldogs, Whitmore tallied two power-play goals as he helped the Falcons to a 6-3 victory and a 4-8 night with the man-advantage.
The following night, the Rochester, N.Y. native netted his first-career hat trick as the Falcons completed their first two-game sweep at FSU since 1987 with a 3-1 win. Once again the senior tri-captain lit the lamp twice on the power play, as he finished his night with a +1 rating and two blocks on defense.
With his second goal of the night, Whitmore hit the 50-goal plateau for his Falcon career as he now has 51 collegiate goals. That mark puts him just 17 goals shy of putting his name on the list of the top 20 goal scorers in program history, as he leads the team in points with 10 (8g, 2a) and has a team-leading eight goals.
RECEIVING NATIONAL ACCLAIM
For the first time in two seasons, the Bowling Green State University hockey team is receiving some national recognition in the latest Division I college hockey polls. After earning their first back-to-back Central Collegiate Hockey Association sweeps and their first CCHA road sweep since 2001, the Falcons are currently ranked 20th in the latest InsideCollegeHockey.com "Power Rankings" and are 21st in the latest USCHO/CSTV Division I poll.
Winners of their last four, the Falcons are 5-2-0 on the season and sit at 4-1-0 in the CCHA standings. It is the fastest BG has reached five wins at this point in the season since the 1996-97 campaign, when they started the year 6-0.
The Falcons currently sit in a fourth-place tie in the CCHA standings with defending national champion, Michigan State, with eight league points, as BG is off to its' best league start since starting CCHA play 4-1 during the 1994-95 season. That same season, the Falcons finished second in the final league standings with a 25-11-2 record and an 18-7-2 CCHA mark.
MAZZEI = KING OF THE FACEOFF
A part of winning hockey games is winning the face-off war and senior forward John Mazzei has helped the Falcons control the faceoff circle in all, but one cotest this season. Currently the Kelowna, B.C. native has won 80-of-127 faceoffs this season (63%), as the Falcons as a team have dominated their opponents winning 282-of-512 faceoffs on the year (55%). This past Saturday night against Ferris State, Mazzei went 13-3 in the circle, helping the Falcons to a 35-32 advantage on the night. In the Falcons last home game against Western Michigan (Nov. 3), the senior tri-captain went 15-6 as the Falcons crushed the Broncos in the faceoff war 50-27. BG is 5-1 this season in games where they controlled the circles and are 29-37-4 under head coach Scott Paluch the last five seasons when winning the faceoff war.
Almost a Winning Month
With one win this weekend against Northern Michigan, the Falcons will secure their first winning month of hockey since December of 2005. BG currently is a perfect 4-0 for the month of November with eight total tilts scheduled for the month. In December of 2005, the Falcons went 4-2 after collecting wins over Michigan State, St. Lawrence, UMass and UConn. There have only been six-winning months for the Orange and Brown the past five seasons.
Leaders of the Pack
With their sweeps of clustermates Western Michigan and Ferris State, the Falcons moved to 4-1-0 in their cluster on the season. The four wins are the most in the cluster's standings and put the Falcons in a tie with Notre Dame atop the cluster. ND's current cluster record is 2-1-0, while WMU is 0-2-0 and FSU is 1-3-0.
Keep Them Coming
Entering the weekend, the Falcons rank near the top or at the top of numerous national categories. Below is a breakdown of where BG stands both individually and as a team.
Team
Scoring: 8th (3.43)
Power Play: 7th (23.9)
Individual
Points Per Game: Derek Whitmore - 11th (1.43), Kevin Schmidt - 21st (1.29)
Points Per Game (Defenseman): Kevin Schmidt - 1st (1.29), Tim Maxwell - 15th (0.86)
Points Per Game (Freshman): Jacob Cepis - T-7th (1.00)
Winning Percentage: Nick Eno - 1st (1.000)
Goals Per Game: Derek Whitmore - 2nd (1.14)
Assists Per Game: Kevin Schmidt - T-8th (1.00), Tim Maxwell - T-21st (0.86)
Power Play Goals: Derek Whitmore - T-2nd (5), James Perkin - T-14th (3)
