Falcons Conclude Home Stand With #9 Michigan On Friday Night

Feb. 6, 2007

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -

GAME #32
BGSU vs. Michigan

Feb. 9, 2007  BGSU Ice Arena, 7:05 p.m.

RECORDS: BGSU 5-24-2, 3-19-1 CCHA // Michigan 21-9-0, 16-6-0 CCHA
RADIO: WBGU-FM (88.1) - Andy Evans--pre-game starts 30 mins. prior.
TV: Comcast Local (Ben Holden and Sean Ritchlin)

BGSU vs. Michigan Hockey Game Notes (33 pages)
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The Bowling Green State University hockey team concludes their five-game home stand this weekend as they play host to #9 Michigan this Friday (Jan. 9) at 7:05 p.m. inside the BGSU Ice Arena. This will be the ninth time this season the Falcons face faced a team ranked in the top-10 nationally. Friday's tilt will be aired live on Comcast Local.
Series with Michigan
Michigan leads the all-time series over the Falcons at a 70-31-3 clip. The Wolverines already captured a 5-0 win back on Jan. 9 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Last season the two teams split the season series with the Orange and Brown skating away with a 5-2 win in Bowling Green, Ohio, back on Jan. 21, 2006. The win in BG was coach Scott Paluch's first win over the Wolverines.
Notre Dame Weekend Recap
BGSU 2, ND 3
BGSU 1, ND 2
Bowling Green dropped a pair of one goal losses this past weekend to the #2 Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, 3-2 and 2-1 in Bowling Green, Ohio. On Friday, Notre Dame was rewarded a 5-on-3 power-play attempt, scoring a goal. A minute later the Irish scored another power-play goal to take a 2-0 lead just 5:44 into the game. Brandon Svendsen scored at the 14:03 of the first and James Unger added his second goal of the season at the 4:22 mark of the second to knot the score at two apiece. ND's Michael Bartlett scored with 59 seconds left in the second period to take the eventual 3-2 win.
The following night Kai Kantola scored a power-play goal at 7:19 of the first to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead. Notre Dame scored two second period goals to capture a 2-1 win.
It was the second time this season the Falcons lost back-to-back games by just one goal. Earlier this year BGSU dropped a 3-2 decision to Miami and the following night lost 4-3 to Minnesota-Duluth at the Christmas tournament in Columbus, Ohio, back on Dec. 29-30.
Close But No Cigar
This past weekend the Falcons trailed the Irish by one goal entering the third period in both games and in fact, the last four games the Falcons have been tied twice and trailed by one goal twice entering the third period, but are just 0-3-1 in those games. Versus Alaska (Jan. 26-27) BGSU entered Friday's game tied 2-2 and 1-1, but fell 5-2 in game one and scored a late third period goal in game two to escape with a 2-2 tie.
Game........Score After Two Periods...Final Score
BGSU vs. Alaska (Jan. 26).....2-2........L, 5-2
BGSU vs. Alaska (Jan. 27).....1-1........T, 2-2 (OT)
BGSU vs. Notre Dame (Feb. 2)..3-2........L, 3-2
BGSU vs. Notre Dame (Feb. 3)..2-1........L, 2-1

Falcons To Hold Annual "Skate With The Falcons" on Feb. 10
The Bowling Green State University hockey team will be hosting its annual "Skate with the Falcons" on Saturday, February 10, 2007 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the BGSU Ice Arena. Fans will have the opportunity to meet and skate with their favorite Falcon hockey players, as well as meet the coaching staff. Admission is $5.00 and includes Marco's Pizza, Pepsi and a team poster that you can have autographed. Skates will be available for rental at the BGSU Ice Arena for $1.50.
A Few Notes On The Falcon PK
After allowing four power-play goals on Jan. 26 to Alaska on nine attempts (55.6%) in a 5-2 loss, the BGSU penalty kill unit had arguably their finest effort of the season the following night, allowing just one power-play goal on 12 attempts (91.7%). In fact, Saturday night's (Jan. 27) contest included three 5-on-3 man advantages (all lasting more than a minute in length, and they scored on none). Also in game two Alaska did not score until their 11th power-play attempt (going 0-10 in the first two periods), finishing the night with 22 shots on the power play.
This past weekend Notre Dame converted on 3-of-12 (25%) power-play attempts, scoring a 5-on-3 goal at the 4:45 mark and added a 5-on-4 goal a minute later. It was the Falcons first two penalties of the game. From that point on Notre Dame was just 1-for-10 the rest of the weekend versus the Falcon PK.
Excluding that one minute where Notre Dame scored twice, the BGSU PK is 20-of-22 (.909) in their last three games.
Take Me Home Tonight
With all the travel the Falcons have made this season, they have only been home for seven weekends through the first four months of the season. From Dec. 3 through Jan. 25 (53 days) the Falcons had just two home games (Jan. 5-6) versus Western Michigan. The home series with Notre Dame was the second straight home series for the Falcons, the first time this season the Falcons have had back-to-back home series. The contest with Michigan on Friday concludes a five-game home stand, the Falcons' longest of the year.
105 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 this past weekend versus #2 Notre Dame for 105 career points. Matsumoto, who averages 1.02 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. See page three for who Matsumoto could be passing in the BGSU record books the next few weeks.
As Matsumoto Goes, So Do The Falcons
Jonathan Matsumoto has recorded multiple point games seven times this season, and in those seven games the Falcons are 5-2-0. In games where the junior records a goal the Orange and Brown are 4-4-1.
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. While allowing seven goals in a weekend may not sound that impressive, one goal hit a broken stick in the corner and came in front of the BG cage, with Spratt nearly behind his own net, and another two goals were back-door plays while trying to kill 5-on-3 power-play attempts. Taking away those three shots, he goes 74-for-78 for an impressive .949 save percentage.
More Notes On Spratt
 In his last four starts Spratt owns a 2.97 gaa and a .910 save percentage, making 122 saves on 134 shots faced.
 Of the 12 goals allowed, eight having come on the power play.
 Has at least a .905 save percentage in his last three starts.
 Has six 30-plus save performances this season.
 Has played in 818:13 minutes of a possible 905:00 minutes since Dec. 8 (Last 15 games).

And When You Thought You Knew It All On Spratt
As stated above Spratt has allowed just 12 goals in his last four games, with eight of those 12 goals coming via the power play. That gives Spratt just four goals against in his last four games at even strength. Overall the sophomore has stopped 83-of-87 (.954) while at even strength in his last four games.
Game......Shots Faced/Stopped At Even Str....Save %
vs. Alaska (Jan. 26)........26-27...............963
vs. Alaska (Jan. 27)........16-17...............941
vs. Notre Dame (Feb. 2).....28-29...............966
vs. Notre Dame (Feb. 3).....13-14...............929

Jack Bauer Is Not the only Exciting "24"
"24", a hit show on Fox began season six on Jan. 14 (their lead character's name is Jack Bauer), but Bowling Green fans have been seeing an exciting 24 of their own the last few weeks. Freshman Todd McIlrath, who wears number 24, has seven points (4g, 4a) in his last 15 games (dating back to Dec. 8, in Fairbanks, Alaska). He scored goals in back-to-back games versus the Nanooks (on Dec. 8-9), added his third goal at the Ohio Hockey Classic versus Minnesota Duluth, and picked up an assist versus both Western Michigan and Nebraska-Omaha. He had two points (1g, 1a) in a 2-2 tie with the Nanooks and added an assist versus #2 Notre Dame.
Freshman Impact
BGSU welcomed 13 new players to the 2006-07 squad and 12 of them have seen playing time throughout the season. Tomas Petruska (7g, 6a), Todd McIlrath (5g, 9a) , Tim Maxwell (0g, 10a), Kai Kantola (4g, 6a), James Perkin (2g, 3a), Kyle Page (0g, 4a), Tommy Dee (2g, 2a), Brett Molnar (0g, 1a) and Josh Boyd (1g, 0a) have all recorded points this season. Brian Moore (7 games) along with goaltenders Eddie Neville (1-7-1, 4.18, .860) and Phil Greer have also dressed. Overall the newcomer class owns 37% (21 of 57) of the team's goals, 41% (41 of 99) of the team's assists and 40% (62 of 156) of the team's total points.