Hockey Looks To Rebound In Tuesday Night Showdown At #9 Notre Dame

Nov. 19, 2007

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - After just suffering their third loss of the season on Saturday evening against Northern Michigan, the Bowling Green State University hockey team will be looking to regain their winning form when they head to South Bend, Ind. for a Tuesday evening showdown at Notre Dame. The Falcons and Irish will drop the puck in game two of this season's series at 7:35 p.m. at the Joyce Center. BG will be looking for revenge in the tilt as the Irish stold game one of the season series last month at the BGSU Ice Arena, winning 4-2. The two cluster partners currently sit atop their cluster's standings with both sporting a 4-1 record against their clustermates.

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Game #10
Bowling Green at #9 Notre Dame

Nov. 20, 2007  Joyce Center, 7:35 p.m.

RECORDS: BGSU 6-3-0, 5-2-0 CCHA // ND 9-4-0, 7-2-0 CCHA
Video: www.und.com - under upcoming events on the hockey page

RADIO:WBGU (88.1): Danny Nieves (Play-by-Play); Everett Fitzhugh (color commentary)

Radio Broadcast
Tuesday night's action between the Falcons and Fighting Irish can be heard on WBGU 88.1 FM. Danny Nieves will be providing all the play-by-play of the action with Everett Fitzhugh providing the color commentary. A pregame show will air 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.
Live Stats
Live stats for Tuesday's game will be available at www.bgsufalcons.com via gametracker, which can be found on the team's schedule page.
Falcon Quick Hits
 BG currently sits 21st entering the week in both the USCHO/CSTV Poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Polls.
 For the first time since December of 2004, all four of the big sports on the BGSU campus (football, hockey, men's basketball and women's basketball) are above .500 and playing at the same time. The BG football team currently sits at 7-3, while hockey is 6-3, men's basketball is 3-1 and women's basketball is 3-0. Back in December of 2004, the BG football was fresh off a season-ending win in the GMAC Bowl to finish the season 9-3, hockey was 8-7-3 at the end of December, while men's basketball sat at 6-2 and the women's basketball team sat at 7-4.
 The Falcons fell one win short this past weekend of sweeping their third-consecutive CCHA series for the first time since February of 1988 as they fell 3-2 to Northern Michigan on Saturday after winning 4-2 on Friday. The feat has been done 12 times in the program's 38-year history.
 A Falcons win would tie last season's win total at seven and would surpass the five games they won last year in the CCHA.
 In the past 20 years, anytime BG has won seven games in their 10 contests they've finished at least 5th or better in the final CCHA standings.
 In the last six games the Falcon power play has gone 13-37 (.351), while the Falcon penalty-killers held the opposition to just 6-of-33 (.182) with the man-advantage.
 The Falcon power play currently sits sixth in the country with a 25.5 percent conversion rate, as the Falcons are 6-1 on the season when tally a power-play marker.
 BG's six goals over the weekend brought their season scoring average to 3.33, which ranks them 10th in the country and fourth in the CCHA.
 BG has out-scored their opponents, 8-2, in the first period the past three weekends, as they were a perfect 4-0 leading at the first intermission, trailing just once during that stretch and were also tied just once.
 In his last six games, Derek Whitmore has tallied 10 points on eight goals and two assists. His effort moved him into second in the league and second-nationally for goals on the season behind Michigan's Kevin Porter and tied him with Michigan State's Tim Kennedy for the league and national lead in power-play goals with seven.
 In his last 16 regular season games going back to last season, Whitmore has scored 23 points (18-5--23), which includes three goals and an assist on the weekend against Northern Michigan.
 With just 14 more goals this season, Whitmore will be tied for 19th on the all-time list for goals in a Falcon career. With 20 more points added to his current total, the senior would also become the 69th player in BGSU history to score 100 in his career.
 Whitmore already has five multiple-point games after recording seven total last year.
 Freshman goaltender Nick Eno stopped 17-of-19 NMU shots on Friday to move his record to 4-0-0, as he is the only unbeaten goaltender in the country now for goalies who have played at least 33 percent of their team's minutes.
 With his first period power-play goal on Saturday, junior defenseman Kevin Schmidt set a new single-season high for points, registering his 10th-point of the season, which broke his old single-season point mark of nine set last season.
 Freshman forward Jacob Cepis is currently on a five-game point streak, which is a team season-high. The Parma, Ohio native is tallied helpers in both contests against Northern Michigan, recording two goals and six assists over the streak. His effort has moved the rookie into a tie for eighth-nationally for points per game by a rookie, as he's averaging a point per game this season.
 Senior foward John Mazzei has won a staggering 86-of-121 face-offs (.711) he has taken the last six games.
 In the face-off battle, BG is 8-0-1 this season as only a 37-37 tie against Notre Dame last month is keeping the Falcons from having the advantage in face-offs in every game this season.
 The Falcons have had a player tally a multiple-point game 24 times this season after having that happen just 31 total times last season.
 BG's defensive core has already tallied 24 points (5-19-24) this season after only recording 45 total points a season ago.
Last Weekend's Recap
BGSU (4), Northern Michigan (2)
BGSU (2), Northern Michigan (3)
For the second time in his collegiate career and second time in as many games, senior forward Derek Whitmore tallied a hat trick to lead the Falcons to a 4-2 win over the Wildcats in Friday night's series opener. The senior tri-captain also added an assist, while BG was back-stopped by a 17-save performance by freshman goaltender Nick Eno, who moved to 4-0-0 with the win his home debut.
Sophomore forward Todd McIlrath would add two helpers on the night, as BG had six different players contribute points in the win. The Falcons would finish the evening 2-4 with the man-advantage while holding NMU to 1-4.
The following evening, junior defenseman Kevin Schmidt continued his hot start to the season as he tallied a goal and an assist to lead all Falcon scorers. Unfortunately for Schmidt, his effort and team's wouldn't be enough on the night as the Wildcats escaped with 3-2 win to split the weekend series.
Wildcat freshman goaltender Reid Ellingson made 30 stops on 32 BG shots, as NMU out-scored BG, 2-1, in the third period to earn the victory after the two teams entered the final 20 minutes tied at 1-1. Junior goaltender Jimmy Spratt stopped 23-of-26 Wildcat shots on the night for BG, as the Falcons suffered just their third loss of the season and saw their chance to sweep three-consecutive CCHA series for the first time since February of 1988 come just one win short.
Scouting The Fighting Irish
Notre Dame enters Tuesday night's tilt with a 9-4-0 record and a CCHA record of 7-2-0, as they currently sit just ahead of Bowling Green in the third-spot in the league's standings. This past weekend the league champs and tournament champs swept Western Michigan in a home-and-home series, winning 4-1 on Friday in Kalamazoo and 5-1 on Saturday in South Bend. They have won four of their last five and seven of their last 10 games, including a 2-1 win at top-ranked Miami and sweeps of Lake Superior State and the Broncos.
Up front the Fighting Irish have been led by junior forward Erik Condra, who has tallied 14 points (6-8-14) on the season and currently sits tied for fourth in the league in scoring with the Falcons Derek Whitmore (11-3-14) and Michigan's Chad Kolarik (6-8-14). Last season as a sophomore, Condra led all Irish scorers with 48 points (14g, 34a), which was the sixth-best point total in the CCHA. He is tailed by senior forward Mark Van Guilder who has 11 points on seven goals and four assists, freshman forward Ben Ryan then has nine points (2-7-9), while sophomore Kevin Deeth has eight (0-8-8) and sophomre Ryan Thang has seven (7-0-7). All five of ND's top five scorers from last season return with Thang (20g, 21a), Deeth (17g, 22a), Van Guilder (18g, 16a) and junior forward Garrett Regan (14g, 12a) all still donning the gold helmets.
The Irish blue-line features one of the best defensiive cores in the country then with sophomore Kyle Lawson leading the way, followed by senior Brock Sheahan, sophomore Brett Blatchford, freshman Ian Cole, senior Dan VeNard and freshman Teddy Ruth. Lawson, a member of the Preseason All-CCHA First Team, currently leads all Irish defensemen with six points on two goals and four assists. Sheahan and Blatchford then lead all ND defenders with five assists, while Cole has four and VeNard has tallied two goals.
The blue-liners help protect a young Irish net that features junior Jordan Pearce (8-4-0, 2.01, .915), sophomore Tom O'Brien and freshman Brad Phillips (1-0-0, 1.00, .941), who had a combined 16 games of experience coming into the season with Pearce being the only one with playing time. Thus far in 2007 though, Pearce has been one of the top goaltenders in the league and has already recorded a shutout against Mercyhurst, as he'll come into Tuesday evening sporting a record of 8-4-0 with a 2.01 goals-against average that ranks second in the CCHA and a save percentage of .915 that ranks fourth.
NOTRE DAME SERIES
Tuesday night's game with the Fighting Irish will mark the 81st time that the Falcons and Irish have face-offed against each other. ND owns an overall 40-34-6 lead in the all-time series and a 22-12-4 mark against the Falcons in South Bend.
The two teams last met on Oct. 23rd at the BGSU Ice Arena where two-unanswered Irish goals by Evan Rankin and Erik Condra led ND to a 4-2 win. Derek Whitmore tallied a goal and an assist, along with freshman forward Dan Sexton to lead all Falcon scorers.
Last season the Falcons dropped all four games to the Irish, losing 5-2 (Nov. 10) and 4-0 (Nov. 11) in South Bend at the Joyce Center, before playing two tough one-goal games against them at home where they lost 3-2 (Feb. 2) and 2-1 (Feb. 3) when ND entered the weekend as the No. 2 team in the country. BG is 1-8-1 in the last 10 meetings with the Irish and winless in the series since ND coach Jeff Jackson took the helm two seasons ago, going 0-8-1 in nine meetings.
Tidbits related to the Notre Dame Series
 Though BG is just 1-8-1 in the last 10 meetings against the Irish, four of those games were decided by two goals or less and one was a 1-1 tie.
 BG will be looking to slow down the Irish pair of Erik Condra and Mark Van Guilder who have tallied 27 combined points against the Falcons. In nine games against BG, Condra has recorded three goals and 11 assists while Van Guilder has recorded eight goals and five assists in 13 games against. Last season the two combined for nine points in four Irish wins against BG. In this season's series opener in BG last month, both tallied a goal in ND's 4-2 victory.
 The Fighting Irish have had three players collect hat tricks against the Falcons in the past 10 seasons, most recently when Van Guilder had one two seasons ago in a 7-4 Irish win at the BG Ice Arena.
 Bowling Green freshman forward Jacob Cepis and Notre Dame freshman forward Robin Bergman were linemates in the USHL last season for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. Cepis led the USHL with 34 goals scored and was third in the league in points with 72 (34-38-72), while Bergman was fourth on the team in scoring with 43 points on 26 goals and 17 assists.
 Though he played for the Falcons from 1984-88, BG head coach Scott Paluch never once competed against the school he grew up a fan of as a player as the Irish program went to the club level following the 1982-83 season and didn't rejoin the CCHA till the 1992-93 campaign. Paluch grew up in Chicago, Ill. and was an avid Irish football fan in his youth.
 Notre Dame junior center Christian Hanson is the son of former NHL player Dave Hanson, who is best known for his role in the movie, Slapshot, as one of the famed Hanson Brothers.
TWO HAT TRICKS FOR WHITMORE
The past two weekends have seen some history made from Falcon senior tri-captain, Derek Whitmore, as the Rochester, N.Y. native tallied his first two career hat tricks in back-to-back games. In game two of BG's series at Ferris State, Whitmore tallied hat trick No. 1 in a 3-1 BG win. He then followed up that performance with another hat trick in game one of the Falcons' series with Northern Michigan, tallying three goals and an assist to lead BG to their fifth-straight victory. With his second hat trick of the season, Whitmore became the first Falcon since Mike Johnson in 1996 to register two hat tricks in one season and the first to do it in back-to-back games since Peter Holmes did it in back-to-back games against Miami in February of 1990. The BGSU record for most hat tricks in a season is held by Bob Dobek, who had five during the 1973-74 season.
SCARY MOMENT FOR FALCON FAMILY
A scary moment for the BGSU hockey family occured this past week when former Falcon goaltender Jordan Sigalet collapsed face-first to the ice in a recent AHL game. Sigalet, who played for the Falcons from 2001-04, is a current member of the Providence Bruins of the Boston Bruins organization, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, which he discovered he had at the end of his junior season at BG and came public with during December of his senior year.
With 10:48 left in Providence's game against Worchester, Sigalet collapsed face-first while play was going on at the other end of the ice and had to be removed from the ice by a stretcher after sitting motionless. The former Falcon-great had made 26 saves on the evening on 28 shots helping his team to a 5-2 win.
At last report, Sigalet was to be released from the hospital on Sunday or Monday and the collapse has been reported to be due to his MS condition, as dust from construction at the arena is thought to be the trigger of an attack. Sigalet is an ambassador for the Multiple Sclerosis Rhode Island chapter and donates 20 dollars for every save he makes to "Sigalet Saves For MS," which funds research for the incurable disease. During his senior season while battling the condition, the Surrey, B.C. native had one of the best goaltending seasons in BGSU history as he led the Falcons to a fifth-place league finish where they hosted their first CCHA playoff series in over a decade.
Big-Time Stretch
To be the best you got to beat the best and the Falcons are about to enter stretch of league play that is sure to test their team's strength. After a strong 5-2 start to their CCHA season, the Falcons will now enter a stretch of league games against the top-3 teams in the current league standings. Tonight, BG will start off with ninth-ranked Notre Dame, who currently stands third in the CCHA standings with 14 points. Following a non-conference break against Wayne State, the Falcons will then do battle with the Michigan Wolverines, the current No. 2 team in the country and second-place team in the CCHA in a two-night home-and-home series. They will then ring in the new year with a two-game home set against league front-runner Miami, the No. 1 team in the nation, following their holiday tournament at Wisconsin.
NOT JUST BG WARRIORS, BUT ROAD WARRIORS AS WELL
Just like the famous school song says, the Falcons have been rolling along on the road this season as they've gone 4-1 away from the friendly confines of the BGSU Ice Arena with a perfect 3-0 mark in CCHA road contests. BG is averaging 3.4 goals a game on the road this season, while holding their opponents to just 2.2 goals a game in their home building. BG has also out-scored their opponent, 3-1, in the first period and 6-2, in the third period. Senior Derek Whitmore has seven goals on the road this season, as the Falcons have seven players with at least four points or more in road contests.
If you exclude their season-opening 2-0 loss at Niagara, the Falcons would be averaging 4.2 goals a game on the road with an 8-of-26 mark on the power play, while holding opponents to just five goals on 26 opportunities with the extra-man.
Double Trouble
There may not be a hotter defensive pair in the country right now than the BG pairing of juniors Tim Maxwell and Kevin Schmidt. The two have been paired with one another in seven-straight games, combining for 14 total points (4-10-14). Both currently rank near the top of country and the CCHA for defensemen in points per game . Schmidt currently leads the country with a 1.22 points per game average, while Maxwell currently sits tied for 14th with a 0.78 point per game average. The two also rank nationally for assists per game, as Schmidt is tied for 16th with a 0.89 assists per game average and Maxwell is tied for 50th with a 0.67 assists per game average.