Bowling Green State University Athletics
#18 Falcon Hockey Meets #3 Michigan To Finish First Half Of The CCHA Season
December 04, 2007 | Ice Hockey
Dec. 4, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - It's been a great start to the first half of the season for the #18 Bowling Green State University hockey team and head coach Scott Paluch. After being picked to finish last in both Central Collegiate Hockey Association preseason polls, the Falcons have put up an 8-4-0 mark and find themselves tied for sixth-place in the league standings. They'll look to close out the first half of league play with a bang this weekend when they take on the second-place, #3 Michigan Wolverines. Game one of the two-game CCHA home-and-home series will kick-off at 7:05 p.m. from the BGSU Ice Arena on Friday, before the two teams will make the short trip up Interstate-23 to play at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich. on Saturday, with the puck scheduled to drop at 7:35 p.m.
Complete Release in PDF Format
Game #13
#3 Michigan at #18 Bowling Green
Dec. 7, 2007 • BGSU Ice Arena, 7:05 p.m.
RECORDS: BGSU 8-4-0, 5-3-0 CCHA // MICH 14-2-0, 9-1-1 CCHA
Television: BCSN: Greg Franke (Play-by-Play); Buddy Powers (Color Analyst)
RADIO:WBGU (88.1): Danny Nieves (Play-by-Play); Bob Mills (color commentary)
Game #14
#18 Bowling Green at #3 Michigan
Dec. 8, 2007 • Yost Ice Arena, 7:35 p.m.
RECORDS: BGSU 8-4-0, 5-3-0 CCHA // MICH 14-2-0, 9-1-1 CCHA
Television: Video available on www.MGoBlue.com
RADIO:WBGU (88.1): Danny Nieves (Play-by-Play); Bob Mills (color commentary)
Radio Broadcast
Friday and Saturday night's action between the #18 Falcons and #3 Wolverines can be heard on WBGU 88.1 FM. Danny Nieves will be providing all the play-by-play of the action with Bob Mills 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.
Television Broadcast
Friday's action at the BGSU Ice Arena between the #18 Falcons and the #3 Wolverines 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 will be shown live and will not be tape-delayed.
LIVE STATS
Live stats for Friday and Saturday's games will be available at www.bgsufalcons.com via gametracker, which can be found on the team's schedule page.
THE OPENING FACE-OFF (STORYLINES)
Lets Make It A Three-Peat!
• When BG meets the Wolverines on Friday at the BGSU Ice Arena, the Falcons will be looking for their third-straight home win in the series. The past two seasons the Falcons have split the team's home-and-home series, winning both games at home. In 2006, BG won 5-2 when the teams met on Jan. 21st, they would then follow that last season with a 3-2 win on Feb. 9th. BG senior forward Derek Whitmore, then a sophomore, scored three points (2-1-3) in the 2006 meeting and had a game-high two goals. Senior forward Brett Pilkington had a game-high four points, all coming on assists, as the Falcons controlled the play from start to finish, putting up 49 shots on net. In last season's meeting, the Falcons would have to come-from-behind to earn the win after the Wolverines took a 2-1 lead into the final period. After Whitmore tied the game at 2-2 with 6:35 remaining in the game, Tomas Petruska would tally the biggest goal of his young-career at the 19:25 mark of the third to give the Falcons the win.
Whitmore Versus Porter
• This weekend's series between the Falcons and Wolverines will feature two of the CCHA's and college hockey's premier senior forwards in BG's Derek Whitmore and Michigan's Kevin Porter. The two currently rank 1-2 or tied for first in six league and national categories. The two are tied for the national-lead and CCHA-lead in power play goals with eight, while they rank 1-2 in goal scoring, goals per game and hat tricks. Porter has the league-lead in goals with 16, while Whitmore has 13. Whitmore averages 1.18 goals a game, while Porter averages 1.00. Whitmore then has a CCHA-best two hat tricks, while Porter has one.
Don't Mess With What Is Working
• A big key to BG's success lately has been their ability to score goals on the power play and do all the little things defensively that help a team win a hockey game. In the last seven games, the Falcons have scored 15 goals with the man-advantage in 38 opportunities, while they held their opponents to just 3-of-36. BG also had 77 total blocked shots (11 a game average) over that stretch and saw their goaltending tandem of junior Jimmy Spratt and freshman Nick Eno combine for a 1.96 GAA and .924 SV%.
A LOOK AT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons of head coach Scott Paluch currently sit at 8-4-0 on the season with a 5-3-0 mark in the CCHA.
• BG comes into the weekend series fresh off a 3-1, 6-1 sweep of Wayne State, which saw them have 14 different tally points, while they finished a combined 6-12 on the power play.
• The 8-4-0 mark, gives the Falcons their best start since the 2004-05 season when the Falcons started the year 8-3-2. However, BG dropped four of their next five games that season to go into January sitting at 8-7-3, something they'll be looking to avoid this time around.
• When winning at least six of their first 10 contests in the past 20 years, the Falcons have yet to finish lower than sixth-place in the final CCHA standings. The feat has happened five times in that period.
•Three of the Falcons' four losses this season have come to teams that have been ranked in the national polls. The Falcons have yet to lose a game decided by more than two goals.
• BG is 5-2-0 on the road this season and 3-2-0 at home. In CCHA games only, BG is 2-2-0 at the BGSU Ice Arena and 3-1 on the road.
• BG is averaging 3.3 goals a game, while they are only giving up an average of 2.3. The Falcons also own an advantage in average shots on goals this season at 30.6 to 24.2.
• The Falcon power play has gone 20-72 (.278) on the year, while the penalty-kill has held opponents to just 11 power-play goals on 69 chances (.841 PK%).
• Individually, senior forward Derek Whitmore leads the team in points with 16 (13-3-16), while junior defenseman Kevin Schmidt is second with 13 (3-10-13). Freshman forward Jacob Cepis leads all Falcon freshmen with 11 points (4-7-11), which also ranks third on the team.
• In net, the Falcons have gotten six starts from both junior Jimmy Spratt and freshman Nick Eno. The two have combined for a 2.31 goals-against average and a save percentage of .903.
• BG came into the season returning 20 letterwinners, including 11 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies. They welcomed in seven freshmen, which includes five forwards, one defenseman and one goalie.
• The Falcons also returned 73% of their goals from last season and 78% of their points.
• 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 8-4 and is on its way to Mobile, Ala. in January to play Tulsa in the GMAC Bowl, while hockey is 8-4-0, men's basketball is 4-3 and women's basketball is 6-0. 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.
A look at the Wolverines
• Head coach Red Berenson is in his 24th season as head coach of the Wolverines, as he has led U of M to nine regular-season CCHA titles, seven CCHA Tournament titles and two NCAA National Championships in his tenure. Berenson, a former NHL player, like BGSU assistant coach Todd Reirden, is the fourth former Wolverine captain to coach at his alma mater. He started in May of 1984 just months after the Falcons' captured the 1984 National Championship. His first season behind the Wolverine bench was the same season a defenseman by the name of Scott Paluch, was a freshman in the Falcons' defensive core.
• The Wolverines currently sit at 14-2-0 overall and have a CCHA record of 9-1-0 that has them tied for second-place in the league with Miami at 18 points.
• Their 14-2-0 record gives the Wolverines their best 16-game start since the 1996-97 campaign when they were 14-1-1. It is tied for the fourth-best 16-game start in program history.
• U of M is coming off a CCHA weekend split at home against Ohio State where the Buckeyes downed the Wolverines 3-2 on Friday, before they battled back on Saturday, scoring three goals in the first 12:01 of the game to earn a 4-2 win.
• Ten of the Wolverines' 11 points on Saturday were scored by freshmen, while freshman net-minder Bryan Hogan made 26 saves in his debut in net.
• Much like the Falcons' last game with Wayne State, the Wolverines' last game with the Buckeyes involved a penalty shot. OSU's Tommy Goebel was awarded a penalty shot after U of M's Tim Miller was called for a delay of game penalty. Goebel's shot, like Svendsen's for BG, was also saved by the goaltender.
• Seniors Kevin Porter (16-10-26) and Chad Kolarik (11-11-22) pace the Wolverines and rank first and third, respectively, in the national-lead for points.
• Michigan's top line of Max Pacioretty-Kevin Porter-Chad Kolarik has put up a combined 63 points this season (32-31-63). The line has had a hand in 36.4% of U of M's scoring offense.
• Freshman Chad Langlais is then tops in production from the blueline group, as he put 11 points, all coming on assists.
• In net, junior goaltender Billy Sauer has been the main workhorse for coach Berenson, as he has seen 900 minutes of net time in 15 games started. Sauer has a 2.07 goals-against average with a save percentage of .913, as he has accumulated a a 13-2-0 record.
• The Wolverine power play is converting at a rate of .218, as they've tallied 19 goals with the extra-man in 87 total chances.
• On the penalty-kill, U of M is killing at a rate of .886, as teams are just 10-of-88 against them with the man-advantage.
MICHIGAN SERIES
• This weekend's meetings will be the 105th and 106th between the two CCHA schools. U of M leads the owns a 69-32-3 advantage in the all-time series, but just a 25-18-3 advantage in games played at the BGSU Ice Arena. In games played at Yost Ice Arena, the Wolverines own a 40-14-0 lead.
• BG is 2-8 against the Wolverines in their last 10 meetings, but have split with U of M the last two seasons.
• Senior forward Derek Whitmore leads all Falcon scorers against the Wolverines with seven points (4-3-7) as he is averaging a point per game in seven career contests and the Maize and Blue.
• BG met the Wolverines in their first-ever NCAA Tournament tilt in 1977 at Yost Ice Arena (7-5 loss) where they became the first non-WCHA or ECAC club to make the national tournament.
• The Falcons defeated U of M in the fourth-longest game in school history in one of the more memorable CCHA first-round playoff series in 1989. NHL-star Rob Blake, a then sophomore for the Falcons, scored the game-winning goal at 2:54 in the third overtime to give BG a 3-2 win in the decisive third game to send the Orange and Brown to its eighth-consecutive CCHA semi-final.
• Five players on the BGSU roster, including both starting goaltenders Nick Eno and Jimmy Spratt, hail from the state of Michigan. Eno is a Howell, Mich. native, while Spratt grew up in Chesterfield.
FALCON OFFENSIVE NOTES
• Currently tied for ninth in the nation with a 3.33 goals per game average. The Falcons have recorded at least three goals in eight of their 12 games.
• The Falcons have had a player tally a multiple-point game 30 times this season after having that happen just 31 total times last year.
• In his last eight games, all coming in the month of November, senior foward Derek Whitmore tallied 12 points on 10 goals and two assists.
• In his last 18 games going back to last season, Whitmore has scored 25 points (20-5--25), which includes a goal last Friday at Wayne State.
• With just 12 more goals this season, Whitmore will be tied for 19th on the all-time list for goals in a Falcon career. With 18 more points added to his current total, the senior would also become the 69th player in BGSU history to score 100 points in his career.
• If he continues his current points per game pace of 1.45, Whitmore will end this season's regular season with 49 points. That mark would threaten Alex Foster for the most points in a single-season in the last 11 years, as a Falcon player has tallied 50+ points in a season just 13 times since 1990 and just once since the 1996-97 campaign. In 2005-06, Foster scored 51 points on 11 goals and 40 assists.
• Whitmore leads the nation with a 1.18 goals a game average and is fourth in points per game with his 1.45 average, which ranks second in the CCHA to Michigan's Kevin Porter.
• Whitmore already has five multiple-point games after recording seven total last year.
• After recording just two points in the first five games of the season, junior forward Brandon Svendsen has picked up six assists in the last seven games, including one in each game in the Falcons' sweep of Wayne State.
• Sophomore forward Todd McIlrath has tallied three assists for the Orange and Brown in the last five games, including two in the Falcons' 4-2 win over Northern Michigan (Nov. 16). McIlrath now has seven assists on the season, which rank tied for fourth on the team behind Kevin Schmidt, who has a team-leading 10.
• Jacob Cepis is currently tied for sixth in the CCHA for points by a freshmen, as he has tallied 11 (4-7-11) on the season. Michigan's Aaron Palushaj currently leads all CCHA freshmen with 18 points (5-13-18) on the year. Cepis tallied his first collegiate game-winning goal on the power play Friday and drew an assist on Saturday.
• Sophomore forward Kai Kantola is coming off career-best two goals in BG's 6-1 win over Wayne State. However, Kantola has yet to tally a point against CCHA competition, as all five of his points on the season have come in non-conference action.
• BG has out-scored their opponents, 13-4, in the first period the past nine games, as they were a perfect 6-0 leading at the first intermission, trailing just once during that stretch and were also tied just twice.
• Overall on the season, the Falcons own a 15-5 advantage in the first period.
• On the other hand, BG is tied with the opposition in scoring, 23-23, in the final two periods.
FALCON POWER PLAY NOTES
• The Falcon power play, 56th out of 58 teams last season, is now ranked second-nationally (27.8%).
• BG was a combined 6-12 on the weekend against Wayne State with the man-advantage, going 3-6 in each game.
• Over the course of the last seven games, the power play has gone 15-of-38 (.395) with a shooting percentage of .333.
• In conference games only, BG is 13-of-47 with the man-advantage, ranking second in the CCHA.
• Over the course of their season-high five-game win streak in November, the Falcons were 12-of-32 (.375) on the power play, but in their two back-to-back losses near the end of the month, they were just 1-of-10 (.100).
• Leading the way on the power play scoring chart is senior forward Derek Whitmore, who has tallied nine power-play points (8-1-9).
• Whitmore's eight power-play goals are currently tied for tops in the country and the CCHA with Michigan's Kevin Porter. Seven of his eight power-plays goals have been scored in the past seven games.
• Just behind Whitmore on the power play chart is sophomore forward James Perkin (4-4-8) and freshman forward Jacob Cepis (2-6-8), who have tallied eight points a piece while playing with the man-advantage. In the last seven games on the power play, Perkin has tallied three goals and three helpers, while Cepis has a goal and has drawn five assists.
• Last season the BG power play finished with a final percentage of .093 (23-246), as the Falcons are already just three power-play goals away from tying last season's total.
• The Falcons are 8-1 this season when they tally a goal with the man-advantage.
• Twelve different Falcons have tallied points on the power play this season.
• Last season the BG power play finished with a final percentage of .093 (23-246), as the Falcons are already just nine power-play goals away from tying last season's total.
FALCON DEFENSIVE NOTES
• BG currently ranks tied for 17-nationally in scoring defense as they are allowing just 2.33 goals a game.
• The Falcons scoring defense ranks fourth in the CCHA and is sixth in conference games only, allowing 2.62 goals a game in league tilts.
• BG's defensive core has already tallied 30 points (6-24-30), after only recording 45 total points a season ago.
• The Falcons' defensive core is tied for ninth-nationally in points. Below is a breakdown of the national list.
Top Scoring Defensive Cores
Team Points
1. Wisconsin 49
2. Michigan State 42
3. Miami 38
Notre Dame 38
5. St. Cloud State 37
6. Air Force 33
Michigan 33
North Dakota 33
9. Bowling Green 30
Ferris State 30
11. Canisius 29
• Junior defenseman Kevin Schmidt currently leads the country in points per game by a defenseman with a 1.08 average. His 0.83 assists per game average then ranks tied for 14th.
• Schmidt has tallied a point in 8-of-12 BG games this season.
• Schmidt broke his career single-season point mark of nine points, set last season, when he tallied his 10th point of the season in game two against Northern Michigan (Nov. 17).
• Schmidt with 13 points on the season, is well on pace to having the most points by a BG defenseman in the last decade. He is also not far off being on pace to be the Falcons' first 40-point defenseman since Kelly Perrault did it during the 1995-96 season. The most a BG defensemen has scored in the past five years is 25 points, scored by current Vancouver Canucuk, Kevin Bieksa, back in 2002-03. The most a Falcon defenseman has scored in the past decade is 26 points, scored by Grady Moore in the 1999-2000 season.
• Junior Tim Maxwell, Schmidt's line-mate the past 10 games also ranks close to the top on numerous CCHA lists. His eight points (1-7-8) rank him tied for 11th in the CCHA in points amongst defensmen, while his seven assists are tied for eighth in the CCHA among blue-liners.
• Maxwell, a transfer from Maine, tallied his first goal as a Falcon and just the third of his college career in BG's 4-2 win over Northern Michigan (Nov. 16).
• Maxwell has also been a big-time defensive stopper, as he has a team-high 13 blocked shots on the season with a +5 rating.
• Also creeping up the Falcons' scoring chart has been senior defenseman Mike Nesdill. The Phoenix, Ariz. native tallied his first career play-maker in Saturday's 6-1 win over Wayne State to bring his season point total to eight after he collected the team's first goal on Friday.
• Senior tri-captain Michael Hodgson has seven blocks on the season, which ranks fourth on the team behind Derek Whitmore with nine and Kyle Page also with nine.
• The Falcons as a team are +14 at even strength, as they've out-scored foes, 19-13, in even strength hockey.
• The most shots the Falcons have given up all season is 32, which they gave up at RIT in a 5-3 win (Oct. 19).
• In the faceoff battle, BG is 10-1-1 this season as only a 37-37 tie against Notre Dame (Oct. 23) and a 27-24 loss at Notre Dame on Nov. 20th is keeping the Falcons from having the advantage in face-offs in every game this season.
• BG has allowed a CCHA low five goals in the first period this season.
• The line of Tommy Dee, Ben Geelan and Patrick Tiesling has allowed just one goal all season.
FALCON PENALTY-KILL NOTES
• The Falcon penalty-kill is currently succeeding at a rate of 84.4%, which is currenlty 33rd in the country. Overall in the CCHA, the BG PK ranks sixth, but they are fourth in conference games only, killing off 84.4% of their opponents' power plays in CCHA play.
• Overall the Falcons have killed 58-of-69 power plays against them this season.
• The past four games, the Falcons have killed-off all 19 power plays against them, which is their highest-streak of the season.
• Teams are just 3-for-36 (.083) against the Falcons on the power play in the last seven games.
• Teams have scored no more than two power-plays in a game against BG this season, as BG has allowed a team two power-play goals in a game on just three occasions.
• Last season the Falcon penalty-kill finished the year with a percentage of 80.6, as teams were 46-of-237 against them with the man-advantage.
FALCON GOALTENDING NOTES
• Both Falcon goaltenders rank in the top-10 in the CCHA in goals-against average, as Nick Eno sits sixth with a 2.16 average and Jimmy Spratt sits seventh with a 2.51 average. The two are also ranked in save percentage, as Eno is sixth with a .906 save percentage and Spratt is ninth with a .901 save percentage.
• BG's goaltending tandem combined to allow just two goals on the weekend on 40 Wayne State shots, as they had a combined save percentage of .950.
• Freshman Nick Eno currently ranks third in the country in winning percentage (.833) with a 5-1-0 record.
• Eno became the first Falcon goaltender since Bob Petrie in 1993-94 to start his career 2-0 in the BG net.
• Eno has yet to allow more than three goals in a game.
• The two Falcon goaltenders have combined for at least a save percnetage of .900 in a game seven times this season. Eno has recorded four of those, while Spratt recorded three.
• Spratt had a team season-high .967 save percentage in the Falcons' 3-1 win at Ferris State (Nov. 10) where he stopped 30-of-31 shots.
• The last time the Falcons finished a season with a combined goals-against average of under three and save percentage over 90 was in 2003-04. That season with junior Jordan Sigalet in net and junior Bob Frazee, the Falcons finished with a 2.88 GAA and a save percentage of .917.
200 SWEEPS
Saturday's 6-1 win over Wayne State marked more than just the third-sweep of the season for the Falcons, it also marked the 200th-sweep in the program's 38-year history. BG has averaged at least five sweeps a season and has recorded 10 or more in a season on eight occasions. The most sweeps the Falcons have had in a season came during the 1978-79 season where they recorded 13, as they finished the season with a school-record 37 wins and just six total defeats. The most Falcon sweeps under current head coach Scott Paluch came during the 2004-05 season when they recorded five en route to hosting their first home playoff series in over a decade.
MORE TIDBITS ABOUT FALCON SWEEPS
• Since 1990, the Falcons are 15-22-2 in games following a sweep.
• The past five seasons, BG is 3-6-1 in games following a sweep, as they were swept on two occasions following a sweep of their own against an opponent. However, this season the Falcons are a perfect 2-0 in games following a sweep and have gone 3-1-0 overall in the two games following a sweep.
• The Falcons have recorded a sweep after a sweep five times since 1990 and once this season.
FINALLY THEY GET ONE
After having to wait more than five years, the Falcons finally were given the opportunity to take a penalty shot, as junior forward Brandon Svendsen was rewarded the team's first penalty shot since Feb. of 2002 in the third period of Saturday's 6-1 win over Wayne State. The forward was dragged down in front of the Warrior net on breakaway to the net, as WSU defenseman Eric Roman was called for a tripping call. Though Svendsen's shot was saved by Warrior goaltender Brett Bothwell, his attempt was the first since forward Greg Day was rewarded one in a Feb. 22nd contest at home against Northern Michigan, where he scored on former Wildcat goaltender Craig Kowalski. The penalty shot was the 15th in the history of the BGSU Ice Arena.
