Bowling Green State University Athletics
Hockey Team Hosts Northern Michigan This Weekend
November 11, 2008 | Ice Hockey
Nov. 11, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, OHIO -
Game Notes - Week 6 vs. Northern Michigan
THIS WEEK
The Bowling Green State University hockey team will be at home this weekend as they host Northern Michigan for a pair of Central Collegiate Hockey Association games. The Friday-Saturday series will be played at the BGSU Ice Arena (5,000) with opening face-off scheduled for 7:05 each night.
RADIO
All games this season can be heard on WBGU 88.1 FM. Bob Mills will provide the play-by-play, while Brian Fisher is the color commentator. The pregame show will air 30 minutes prior to the opening face-off. The broadcast can be heard globally on both www.bgsufalcons.com and www.bgrso.org. The Friday game only this week, because of a conflict with women's basketball, will be carried by WFAL Falcon Radio and can be heard on Time Warner Cable channel 21 and on line at bgsufalcons.com and falconradio.org.
TELEVISION
Both games of the weekend series will air live locally on the Buckeye Cable System Network (BCSN) with Greg Franke calling the play-by-play and former BGSU hockey coach Buddy Powers providing the color commentary.
LIVE STATS
Live stats for all Falcon games are available on the BGSU web site (www.bgsufalcons.com). Stats can be accessed from the schedule page in the hockey section of the web site by clicking on the "gametracker" icon on the right hand side of the page.
TOP LINE IS OFFENSIVE
The Falcons top line of senior Brandon Svendsen and sophomores David Solway and Dan Sexton had another productive weekend. In the Saturday tie with Lake Superior, each player on the line scored a goal while the trio added three assists to account for six of the nine points. Two weeks ago in the home series against Nebraska-Omaha, the three players scored 12 points (four each) scoring five of the six goals and picking up seven of the 10 assists. In the last four games in which the Falcons have scored, BG's top line has accounted for 20 (9-11) of the 27 points by BG players. In the six CCHA games to date, the Falcon trio has scored nine of BG's 11 goals and they have collected 11 of the 16 assists. In league play, they are a combined plus-9, while the rest of the team is a minus-42. Overall this season, the trio has scored 14 of the 24 Falcon goals, they have collected 18 of the 35 assists, and 32 of the 59 points. The linemates had seven points (3-4) the first weekend of the season, five points (2-3) the second weekend and two points (1-1) against Alaska. The top BG line has accounted for at least one point on 19 of the 24 goals this season. Two of the players have been involved in eight goals this season and they have combined as a line to score twice, both coming against UNO. At least two of the players from the line have had a hand in eight of the last 11 BG goals covering the last six games.
MORE SVENDSEN
Senior Brandon Svendsen, the left-winger on the line, had a hand in three of the four goals in the Saturday tie with Lake Superior with one goal and two assists. His three points was a career high and the fourth time this season he has had a multiple-point game, three of those coming in the last four games. He is second on the team with 10 points (5-5) which is tied for seventh in the CCHA while his five goals on the season ties him for the team lead and it ties him for fourth-best in the league. The Roseville, Minn. native had a +2 on-ice rating last weekend. He is well on his way to the best season of his career with a 19-point season as a freshman his best. He has already surpassed his goal total from all of last season when he scored four goals and had 13 points. Svendsen ranks among the CCHA leaders in five categories for all games and six categories for league games only.
MORE SOLWAY
Sophomore David Solway had a goal and an assist in the tie with Lake Superior on Saturday. It was his third multi-point game of the season and the fifth game, a team best, in which he has scored a goal. The Green Bay, Wis. native has a point in six games this season and his five goals ties him with Brandon Svendsen for the team lead. Solway had nine goals and 16 assists in his initial Falcon season. Solway is tied for seventh in the CCHA in scoring and tied for fourth in goals. He has an on-ice rating of +4 for the season.
MORE SEXTON
Sophomore Dan Sexton had one goal in the tie with Lake Superior on Saturday. He now has a point in a team-high seven contests this season and he leads the team with 12 points, tied for fourth-best in the CCHA. Sexton is tied for fifth in the CCHA with eight assists this season and he leads the team, and is tied for fifth in the CCHA, with five (1-4) power-play points. The Apple Valley, Minn. native has four multi-point efforts this season, including a three-assist effort in the season-opener against RIT. He had seven goals and 14 assists as a freshman. He has an on-ice rating of plus-4.
PLAYING THE BEST
The Falcons will play 14 games this season against teams who qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season. The Falcons have two home-and-home weekends against national runner-up Notre Dame (Nov. 21-22; Dec 12-13), a Jan. 16-17 home-and-home series with defending Central Collegiate Hockey Association champion Michigan and a Feb. 20 and 21 home-and-home series with 2006-07 national champion Michigan State. In non-conference action, BG has a two-game home weekend series against Minnesota State (Nov. 28-29) and Clarkson (Dec. 19-20). BG has already played defending national champion Boston College and Niagara this season.
HOME COOKING
After making two trips in the first three weeks of the season, the Falcons will now look to use the friendly confines of the BGSU Ice Arena to get on a roll. Beginning with the series against Nebraska-Omaha, BGSU will play 12 of its next 16 games at home, and looking even further down the schedule, 15 of their next 20. After concluding a home series with Lake Superior on Jan. 24, the Falcons will have played 17 of their first 26 games at home. But, of course, then the schedule flip-flops and BG will play seven of their last 10 on the road to conclude the regular season. Beginning this weekend, 10 of the next 16 BG games will be against teams who qualified for last year's NCAA Tournament. The Falcons are currently in a period where they will play 13 of their 16 games at home and they will not make another overnight trip this season until the Jan. 30-Feb. 1 series at Miami, which begins that period in which they play seven of their last 10 on the road to complete the regular season.
SPRATT AMONG CAREER LEADERS
Senior goaltender Jimmy Spratt has started all 10 games this season. Spratt recorded his first career shutout in the 1-0 win over Alaska earlier this season turning away all 30 shots he faced. He has allowed three or fewer goals in six of the 10 games and has a 2.88 goals-against, almost a full goal better than his career GAA coming into this season. He has just two games of 30 or more saves and has an .883 save percentage. In six league games this season, Spratt has a 2.49 goals-against and a .901 save percentage. He has now played in 76 career games, with 73 of those starts. Spratt, who has 1,847 career saves, needs just 23 stops to move into 10th-place on the BGSU career list. Angelo Libertucci (89-93) currently holds down the #10 spot with 1,869 saves. Spratt is also 10th on the BGSU career list for saves in CCHA games with 1,374. He is 21 saves behind Mike David's (1979-83) total of 1,395 in the #9 spot and 57 shy of Libertucci, who is eighth on the school's conference only list.
ENO OUT ANOTHER COUPLE WEEKS
The other half of last year's goaltending duo, sophomore Nick Eno, has not played this season because of a left ankle sprain and will now be held out of all activities for the next few weeks in hopes of getting his ankle healed. Eno, who sported a 12-10-0 record, a 2.79 goals-against average and .905 save percentage last year, became the third Falcon netminder to earn CCHA All-Rookie Team honors. He joined Bob Petrie (1994) and Aaron Elllis (1993) as the other first-year Falcon goalies to earn those accolades. The Howell, Mich. native's goals-against average last season ranks seventh on the single-season BG list, while his save percentage is tied for seventh-best.
POWER PLAY GETS ON THE BOARD
The Falcons had a power-play goal in each of the first four games of the season, but have converted at least once in just two of their last six games. BG did have a man-advantage goal in the Saturday tie with Lake Superior giving the Falcons three power-play markers in their last 13 tries (23.1%) going back three games. Prior to that, BG had converted just once in their previous 31 (3.2%) tries with the manpower advantage. The Falcons have recorded 92 shots on their 66 power-plays this season. By comparison, BG's opponents have just 48 shots on 54 power-play opportunities.
FALCON QUICK HITS
BG returns 21 letterwinners from a year ago and seven of their top 10 scorers...the Falcons have yet to be outshot this season and have a 346-248 edge, an average of just under nine more shots per contest...in BG's four home games this season, the Falcons have a 164-88 edge in shots, an average of 40.3 shots per game...BG has recorded 30 or more shots in seven of 10 games...BG has given up a goal in only 15 of the 30 periods this season, but in 10 of those 15 periods in which the opposition has scored, they have yielded two or more tallies...by comparison, BG has scored in 17 periods, but they have more than one goal in only four of those 17 periods...BG had a string of 11 successive periods in which they scored at least one goal earlier this season...the four goals BG scored in the second period of the Saturday Lake Superior game were the most in a period since they scored four in the third period of the Nov. 3, 2007 game against Western Michigan, a 5-4 overtime victory at home...BG has allowed just two-power-play goals in league play and they are averaging just five penalties per game...sophomore Jacob Cepis, who was second on the team in goals (15) and points (31) last season to earn a spot on the CCHA All-Rookie team, scored his first goal of the season in the Saturday tie with Lake Superior...in the shootout Saturday after BG and Lake Superior had played to a 4-all tie, junior James Perkin opened the shootout period by scoring...after Lake Superior scored, sophomore Dan Sexton failed on his try and, after LSSU converted on their second try, Cepis could not convert to give the Lakers the extra point...it was the first shootout for the Falcons under the new CCHA rules instituted for this season...senior Russ Sinkewich and junior Tommy Dee recorded their first points of the season with assists on Saturday night...junior Kai Kantola, who is fourth on the team with five points (4-1), did not play Saturday against Lake Superior after suffering a right shoulder injury the previous night.
NORTHERN MICHIGAN NOTES
The Wildcats return 17 players, losing only three, from last year's team that finished 20-20-4 overall and 12-13-3 in the CCHA, good for sixth-place...NMU, who finished one point in front of the Falcons in the CCHA standings last season, advanced to the CCHA semifinals last season winning its first-round series with Ohio State and its second-round series with Michigan State before losing to Michigan one step away from the championship game...NMU beat Notre Dame in the CCHA Tournament consolation game...the Wildcats come into the weekend series with the Falcons rested having had last weekend off...NMU is 2-5-1 overall this season and 1-4-1-0 in conference play...NMU's league games have been home series against Michigan and Notre Dame and a road series with Michigan State, their only road games of the season...their last games were against Notre Dame on Oct. 31-Nov. 1 in which they dropped both games of their home series, 3-2 and 4-2...NMU has seven players with three or more points...freshman Andrew Cherniwchan is one of four players with five points (3-2) this season...he also leads the team with a plus-3 on-ice rating...juniors Ray Kaunisto (3-2) and Matt Butcher (2-3) along with sophomore Jared Brown (1-4) also have five points this season...sophomore Mark Olver, who led the Wildcats last season with 38 points (21-17), has struggled this season notching just one assist in eight games...he earned a spot on the CCHA All-Rookie team a year ago along with teammate Erik Gustafsson, who was fourth on the team last season with 27 points (all assists)...he has three assists so far this season in eight games...senior Nick Siroto, who was third on the team in points (18-18) last season, has two goals and four points this year while sophomore Phil Fox also has a pair of goals this season...junior Brian Stewart has played all eight games in goal for the Wildcats posting a 2.62 goals-against and a .901 save percentage...he has a 2.33 goals-against in CCHA play to go along with a .908 save percentage...NMU has struggled on the power-play thus far this season converting on just two-of-42 chances, one-of-34 chances in league play...head coach Walt Kyle is in his sixth season having compiled a record of 124-109-22.
LAST WEEK
The Falcons came away from a weekend series at Lake Superior with one point on the strength of a tie on Saturday night after the Lakers posted a 2-0 win in the series opener. The Falcons had a 28-20 edge in shots in the first game of the series, but could not solve LSSU goalie Brian Mahoney-Wilson. Lake Superior scored late in the first period and midway through the third to earn the victory. BG failed on five power-play attempts and LSSU on four tries. In the Saturday 4-all overtime tie, Lake Superior scored three unanswered first period goals and looked to be on their way to the sweep. But, BG got its offense on track in the second stanza exploding for four goals to take the lead into the final period. An early goal in the third period by Lake Superior sent the game to overtime, where neither team scored to set the stage for the BG's first shootout of the season. Junior James Perkin converted on the first attempt of the shootout, but the Lakers converted on their first two tries to win the shootout, 2-1. Senior Brandon Svendsen had one goal and two assists in the game while sophomores Dan Sexton, David Solway and Jacob Cepis also lit the lamp.
NEXT WEEK
The Falcons have their first split series of the season traveling to South Bend, Ind. on Friday (Nov. 21) for a 7:35 p.m. game against Notre Dame before returning home on Saturday for a 7:05 contest.
