Falcons Open 2007 CCHA Playoffs With First Round Trip To UNO

Feb. 27, 2007

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -

GAME #37-38
No. 12 Bowling Green vs. No. 5 Nebraska-Omaha

Mar. 2-4, 2007  Qwest Center, 8:05 p.m.

RECORDS: BGSU 7-27-2, 4-21-1 CCHA // Nebraska-Omaha 16-14-8, 13-11-4 CCHA
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1) - Andy Evans -- pre-game starts 30 mins. prior.
TV: None

Game Notes vs. Nebraska-Omaha (35 pages)
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The Bowling Green State University hockey team, fresh off their 2-1 win at Michigan State last Saturday, will look to keep the momentum rolling as they travel west for the opening round of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs, in a best-of-three series with the Mavericks of Omaha-Nebraska.
Series with Nebraska-Omaha
BGSU trails the Nebraska-Omaha all-time series, 9-14-2, with UNO already capturing all four games played this season, 20-3 overall. BG is 5-11-1 all-time in Omaha, Nebraska. Jonathan Matsumoto (7-4--1, 10 games), James Unger (3-7--10, 11 games) and Brandon Svendsen (1-2--3, 8 games) are the top point-getters versus UNO.
Last Weekend's Recap
BGSU 3, vs. Michigan State 5
BGSU 2, at Michigan State
On Friday night Derek Whitmore scored 49 seconds into the game, and added his second goal at 3:43 of the second to tie the score at 2-2. It was the first time this season the Falcons have scored in the opening minute of the game. John Mazzei scored his second goal of the season at 6:12 of the second to give the Orange and Brown a 3-2 lead, but three unanswered MSU goals doomed the Falcons.
The following night Whitmore added his third goal of the weekend to tie the score at 1-1, and assisted on Jonathan Matsumoto's winning goal at 11:13 of the third to give the Falcons a 2-1 win. Sophomore Jimmy Spratt made 28 saves to pick up the win as the Falcons also matched a season-best with 20 blocked shots.
Whitmore Named CCHA Offensive Player of the Week
For the first time in his career, Derek Whitmore earned Central Collegiate Hockey Association Offensive Player of the Week honors, after recording four points this past weekend versus the #13 Michigan State Spartans.
On Friday night the junior scored two goals in a near upset over the Spartans. His first goal came just 49 seconds into the game, while his second tally knotted the score at 2-2 early in the second period. He also had four shots and finished with a plus-1 in the game.
The following night, with the Falcons' trailing 1-0 in the second period, the Rochester, NY native went coast-to-coast on an outstanding individual effort, splitting two MSU defenders and beating MSU netminder Jeff Lerg. The junior then assisted on the Falcons' winning goal mid-way through the third period on a great tic-tac-toe play with Tomas Petruska and Jonathan Matsumoto. He finished with three shots and was a plus-2 in the Falcons 2-1 win over the Spartans.
Overall the forward had four points (3g, 1a), seven shots and was a plus-3 in the split with MSU.
100 Games Played
The BGSU hockey team entered this year with just one player having played at least 100 games (James Unger, 108). Now, 36 games into this season the Falcons have five players at 100-plus games (James Unger, 127, Jonathan Matsumoto, 108, Michael Hodgson, 107, Jeremy Bronson, 107 and Derek Whitmore, 103).
After 40 Minutes Of Play
In the last nine games BGSU has either been tied or trailed by one goal entering the third period, but are just 2-6-1 in those contests. The Falcons' two wins came versus #9 Michigan when the Orange and Brown scored two goals in the final seven minutes of action to beat the Wolverines 3-2 and a 2-1 win at Munn Ice Arena last Saturday over #13 Michigan State.
Have We Met?
For the third time this season the Falcons and Mavericks will play at least two games in a weekend. They already had two games on Dec. 1-2 and Jan. 12-13, with UNO capturing all four games. As if that was not enough, these same two teams played four games versus each other last season, including last season's CCHA first round action. Overall that means UNO and BGSU will have played at least 10 games in the past two seasons. Even Notre Dame, who the Falcons must play four times a year, have only played eight games in the last two seasons. In the past 364 days (Mar. 3-4, 2006 through Mar. 2-4, 2007) BGSU and UNO will have played eight and possibly nine games versus each other.
Falcon PK Starting To Shine
In their last eight games the Falcons' penalty kill has be hitting on all cylinders, allowing just eight power-play goals in that span, and in four of those games they have allowed zero man-advantage tallies.
Overall........Category........Last 8 Games
181-225 (.804)....Penalty Kill.....46-54 (.852)
Staying Out Of The Sin Bin A Must
In games this season where the Falcons commit fewer penalties than their opponent they are 4-11-1 and are 1-2-2 in games where they have an equal amount of whistles blown. On the other hand they are just 2-14-0 in games where they commit more penalties than their opponent.
111 And Counting
Junior Jonathan Matsumoto scored his 100th career point versus Western Michigan back on Jan. 5. He became the 68th Falcon in school history to accomplish this feat and is also just the eighth Falcon in the last 10 years to score at least 100 points in their careers. He added a goal versus UNO and added two assists versus NMU, as well as a goal versus UAF and an assist versus #2 Notre Dame. He had two helpers in a 3-2 win over #9 Michigan and an assist versus Ferris State for 108 career points. This past weekend versus MSU he had three points (1g, 2a) for 111 career points, placing him in 56th place all-time in the BGSU record books. Matsumoto, who averages 1.03 points/game for his career is just one of 45 players in school history to have 100 points and average at least one point per game for their career.
As Matsumoto Goes, So Do The Falcons
Jonathan Matsumoto has recorded multiple point games nine times this season, and in those nine games the Falcons are 6-3-0. In games where the junior records a goal the Orange and Brown are 5-4-1.
Century 21
No. 21 Whitmore, who was named CCHA Offensive Player of the Week, recorded four points this past weekend (3g, 1a). While this was his first accolades of the season, the junior has been putting up impressive numbers all season. He is second on the team with 27 points and first in goals. His 17 lamplighters and 10 assists are both career-bests. His 17 goals also rank 12th in the CCHA and 41st in the nation.
Spratt Sets Career Mark
Versus Alaska (Jan. 26-27) Jimmy Spratt made 74 saves on 81 (.914) shots faced, recording 37 saves on both nights. The 74 saves in a weekend were a career-high. His previous-best was 66 saves in back-to-back games versus Alaska back on Dec. 8-9. Spratt continued to set new personal-bests when he made 42 saves in a 2-1 loss to FSU. His previous best was 40 saves in a loss to St. Lawrence.
Spratt In The Month Of February
It's too bad that February is the shortest of the 12 months, because sophomore Jimmy Spratt was lights out for the entire 28 days. In that span the Chesterfield, Michigan native has posted a 2.63 gaa and a .916 save percentage, while facing some of the best offensive power in the nation, Notre Dame (twice), Michigan and Michigan State (twice)