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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Close Out First Half Hosting Clarkson
December 16, 2008 | Ice Hockey
Dec. 16, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, OHIIO -
Week 11 Hockey Notes (Clarkson at BGSU)
Game #19
Clarkson (2-8-4, 1-6-1 ECAC) vs. Bowling Green (5-10-3, 4-7-1-0 CCHA)
Dec. 19, 2008 • Bowling Green, Ohio (BGSU Ice Arena - 5,000) • 7:05
Game #20
Clarkson (2-8-4, 1-6-1 ECAC) vs. Bowling Green (5-10-3, 4-7-1-0 CCHA)
Dec. 20, 2008 • Bowling Green, Ohio (BGSU Ice Arena - 5,000) • 5:05
THIS WEEK
The Bowling Green State University hockey team will complete the pre-holiday portion of its schedule this week hosting Clarkson for games on Friday and Saturday nights. The Friday contest begins at 7:05 p.m. while the following night the two teams will meet in a rare 5:05 p.m game.
RADIO
All games this season can be heard on WBGU 88.1 FM. Bob Mills will provide the play-by-play with Rob Councell (Friday) and Everett Fitzhugh (Saturday) doing the color commentary. 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.
TELEVISION
The games Friday and Saturday 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. The Friday contest is also part of the NHL Network Friday Game of the Week package with the game airing live on NHL Network in both Canada and the United States.
LIVE STATS
Live stats for all Falcon games are available on the BGSU athletic 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.
FALCON'S NEST RADIO SHOW
BGSU head coach Scott Paluch will be a guest on BGSU's weekly radio show held at the Frickers's restaurant across from Perry Stadium each Monday. Paluch will be on the show Dec. 29. He will also have a segment of the show on Jan. 12 and 26, and Feb. 9 and 23. The radio show, which begins at 6 p.m., is hosted by Todd Walker and can be heard on WCWA 1230 AM. The radio show can also be accessed by clicking on the "multimedia" link on the BGSU athletic web site (www.bgsufalcons.com) at the top of the home page.
BREAKING IT UP
The line of senior Brandon Svendsen and sophomores David Solway and Dan Sexton did not play together for the first time this season last weekend when the Falcon coaching staff decided to break up the line looking for more balanced scoring. Solway and Sexton did remain together with junior James Perkin centering the line. They were back together at different points over the weekend and will be the rest of the season. In the first 10 CCHA games this season, the line accounted for 13 of the 17 BG goals (76%), collected 18 of the 25 assists (72%) and 31 of the 42 points (74%). They were a combined plus-12 while the rest of the team was minus-56. For the first 14 games of the season, which includes the first 10 CCHA games, the line had 18 of the 30 goals (60%), 25 of the 44 assists (56%) and 43 of 74 points (58%). They were a combined plus-14 compared to -56 for the rest of the team. During one four-week period (Oct. 31-Nov. 22), they combined for 36 points. They accounted for at least one point on 23 of the first 30 goals of the season, two of the players were involved in 14 of the first 30 goals and they combined as a line to score five times.
MORE BALANCED SCORING
While the run by the line of Svendsen, Solway and Sexton was needed, what the coaching staff wanted more was to be balanced. And, that had started to occur even before they broke up the top line. Over the last five games the Falcons have scored nine goals with seven different players finding the back of the net, three of them notching their first goal of the season. Over the same time period, 12 different players have at least one point.
SVENDSEN SHOULD BE READY
Senior Brandon Svendsen is one of the leaders of the team while having the best season of his career. He had one assist last weekend against Notre Dame before missing most of the final period on Saturday with what looked like a possible serious knee and ankle injury. But, he will likely be available for the series this weekend. One of the alternate captains, Svendsen had a career high of 19 points in his freshman season which will certainly be topped this year with the Roseville, Minn. native having 15 points in 18 games thus far. He has two short-handed goals this season, the second-best total in the country, and four for his career. He has a point in nine games this season with five multi-point games. He had a career-best three (1-2) points in the Nov. 8 game at Lake Superior. He is tied for second on the team with 15 points (6-9) while he leads the team in CCHA play with 13 points (4-9). Svendsen ranks among the CCHA leaders in two categories for all games and four categories for league games only.
OFFENSE FROM THE DEFENSE
The defensive corp has come up big at the offensive end the last few weeks also adding to a more balanced attack. Defensemen have scored four of the last nine BG goals over the last five games while also adding a pair of assists for six points in the last five games. That is their best stretch of the season since they opened the year with five points in the first four games. The Falcon rearguards went through a period of time this season in which they contributed just one point over a nine-game span (Oct. 24-Nov. 21)
WHO'S DOING THE DAMAGE
Among the defensemen contributing at the offensive end is junior captain Kyle Page. Page has a goal in two of the last three games. While that might not turn too many heads, it would if you knew he went the first 87 games of his career before getting his first goal in the Nov. 29 game against Minnesota State. Page has three points this season, almost matching his career total of five coming into this season. Also contributing from the back line is freshman Nick Bailen who has a goal and an assist in the last five contests as does senior Kevin Schmidt.
SOLWAY LEADS IN GOALS
Sophomore David Solway had a goal in the Saturday loss at Notre Dame to take over the team lead with eight, which is tied for eighth-best in the CCHA. He is second on the team, tied with Brandon Svendsen, with 15 points on the season. He has a point in 10 games this season with four multi-point games, including a career-best three points (1-2) against Nebraska-Omaha (Oct. 31). He had the only two-goal game of his career scoring both goals in a 2-1 win over Northern Michigan (Nov. 14) before assisting on the game-winner the following night to earn CCHA Offensive Player of the Week honors for the first time in his career. He has already bettered his 15 points and six assists from his freshman season and will certainly better his nine goals scored last season. The Green Bay, Wis. native has 11 points in CCHA play, tied for second on the team, while he leads the team with six goals, which is tied for sixth-best in the league. He ranks among the CCHA leaders in two overall and three league only categories. He leads the team with a +4 on-ice rating in league games.
TOUGH STRETCH
The Falcons are 0-5-1 since sweeping Northern Michigan at home Nov. 14-15, but all six contests in the winless streak were against teams ranked in the top 10. Four games against CCHA leader and top-ranked Notre Dame were sandwiched around a two-game series with Minnesota State, who was ninth or 10th in the nation, depending on the poll, when they visited the end of November.
SEXTON IS THE POINTS LEADER
Sophomore Dan Sexton had two assists in the loss to Notre Dame Saturday night, the fourth time this season he has had multiple assists in a game. The Apple Valley, Minn. native leads the team with 18 points (5-13) while scoring at least one point in every weekend series except one this season. He has scored a point in a team-best 11 games and has a team-best six contests with two or more points. He is tied for seventh in the CCHA in points and he is sixth in the assists. He had a career-best three points, all assists, in the season opener against RIT and had his first two-goal game with a pair of tallies against Nebraska-Omaha (Oct. 31). Sexton will also better his output of last year when he scored seven goals and added 14 assists. He is among the league leaders in four overall statistical categories and his 11 points (4-7) in CCHA play and two game-winning goals puts among the leaders in those categories for league games only. He is tied for 47th in the nation in points, tied for 41st in assists and tied for 11th in game-winning goals.
KANTOLA HAS THREE-GOAL WEEKEND
Junior forward Kai Kantola had the best goal-scoring weekend of his career with three red-lighters in the weekend series against Minnesota State (Nov. 28-29). He had his second multi-goal game of the season, and third of his career, with both goals in the Friday night tie and then a tally Saturday night. Kantola's three goals in the Minnesota State series were the most scored by any player in the country that weekend. Kantola, who also had two goals in the season opener against RIT, is fourth on the team in scoring with eight points (7-1) while his seven goals are second on the squad and tied for 13th in the CCHA. Kantola, who has a point in six games this season, has only one goal in 10 league games this season.
HOME COOKING
After making two trips in the first three weeks of the season and three in the first five weeks, 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 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. The Falcons play seven of their next eight games at home and they will not make another overnight trip this season until the Jan. 30-31 series at Miami. BG is 4-4-2 at home this season, 3-3 in league play. BG has a 367 (36.7 avg.) to 261 (26.1 avg) edge in shots at home this season, but have been outscored, 33-23.
TIESLING GETS INTO THE SCORING ACT
Sophomore forward Patrick Tiesling has come alive in the scoring column of late already surpassing his three points (all assists) he had in 26 games last season. Tiesling, who did not have a point in the first 14 games of the season, has four assists in the last four games. He had a career-best two assists in the Saturday loss to Minesota State (Nov. 29) which gave him three points for the series, the best of his young career. He has an assist on half of the eight goals BG has scored in the last four games. Tiesling is the only Falcon player on the plus side of the ledger for the season with a +1 rating.
OTHER PLAYERS GETTING INVOLVED
Junior forward Tommy Dee made things very interesting late in the loss to Notre Dame on Saturday with his first goal of the season and sixth of his career. His tally with 4:37 left in the game pulled the Falcons within one goal at 4-3. The Falcons had several good opportunities in the final minutes to pull even, but couldn't get the equalizer. Junior forward Josh Boyd has also started to contribute offensively. Boyd has two assists in the last three games after having just a pair of goals to show for his efforts in the first 12 games of the season he played in. His four points this season is double what he came into the season with in 20 career games. Junior forward James Perkin, who had 25 points (7-18) last season, notched his first point in 10 games with an assist in the Saturday loss to Notre Dame. Perkin has six points this season, but he had four of those points in the first four games of the season.
POWER PLAY NEEDS TO PICK UP THE PACE
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 five of their last 14 games (seven-for-83, 8.4%). BG is six-of-70 (8.6%) in their 12 league games with the man-advantage. BG did have two power-play goals in the third period which helped them get back in the Notre Dame game on Saturday. It was the first time in 10 games the Falcons had two or more goals with the manpower advantage and only the third time this season. On the other side of the ledger, the Falcons have allowed a power-play goal in six of the last seven games (opponents are 13-of-43, 30.2%) and eight of the last 11. BG did hold Notre Dame, who came into last week with multiple power-play goals in six of their last seven games, to only two power-play goals for the weekend, including none in Friday's game.
SPRATT AMONG CAREER LEADERS
Senior goaltender Jimmy Spratt has started all 18 games this season. Spratt recorded his first career shutout in the 1-0 win over Alaska earlier this season (Oct. 24) turning away all 30 shots he faced. The Chesterfield, Mich. native enjoyed possibly the best weekend of his career earning the win in both games of the Northern Michigan series (Nov. 14-15). For the two games, he had a 0.99 goals-against and a .961 save percentage (two goals/49 saves). It was the first time since his freshman season (Nov. 4-5, 2005 vs. Nebraska-Omaha - his second and third career starts) that he won both games of a series. He has allowed three or fewer goals in 10 of the 18 games and has a 3.14 goals-against, a little better than one-half a goal better than his career GAA (3.66) coming into this season. He has just four games of 30 or more saves this season with a season-high 36 saves against Minnesota State (Nov. 29), and has an .881 save percentage. In the 12 league games, Spratt has a 3.08 goals-against and an .884 save percentage. He has now played in 84 career games, with 81 of those starts. Spratt, who is one of only nine goalies in school history to reach the 2,000-save plateau, has 2,050 career saves, ninth on the BGSU list while his 1,520 stops in CCHA play is seventh-best in school history. He needs 38 saves to move into the #8 spot at BG for all games currently occupied by Mike Savard (1995-99 - 2,087 saves) and 25 saves to also pass Savard on the CCHA games only list (1,544 saves - 6th).
ENO BACK ON THE ICE
The other half of last year's goaltending duo, sophomore Nick Eno, has not played this season because of a left ankle sprain suffered in late September, but he is skating and participating in drills during practice. He will do a little more each day, but is not likely to return to action until after Christmas. 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.
LATE HEROICS
The Falcons have scored within the last five minutes of regulation time in eight different games this season. In three of those instances the goal broke a tie to win the game. In one instance it tied the game in a contest that ended deadlocked. And in another instance it tied the game and BG went on to win in overtime. BG has scored a total of eight goals (eight different contests) in the last five minutes of regulation time this season.
FALCON ICE CHIPS
BG hopes their three goals in the loss to Notre Dame Saturday night is a signal their scoring drought is coming to an end...prior to the three goals Saturday night, BG had scored two or fewer goals in 10 of their last 13 contests averaging just 1.69 goals per game over the period...in the last six games, BG has yielded a goal in 14 of the 18 periods during regulation time...over the same period, BG has scored in eight periods...the two-goal third period in Saturday night's game against Notre Dame was the first multi-goal period in the last 10 periods...BG has six multi-goal periods this season compared to 17 for the opposition...the Falcons reached the halfway point of their 2008-09 season with the series against Notre Dame...BG was 9-9 after 18 games last season...BG concludes the non-league portion of its schedule this week against Clarkson...BG is 1-3-2 in play outside of the CCHA this season...BG will play 16 successive league games after returning from the holiday break with only two of those games against teams that presently comprise the top four in the league...BG has eight home games and eight road games in the second half...the Falcons will play 20 games before January for the first time since the 2001-02 season...
CLARKSON NOTES
Clarkson has struggled this season, partly due to injuries, and are 0-7-2 in their last nine games...they won the ECAC regular-season title last season and the program has enjoyed back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances and 20-win campaigns...three sophomore forwards lead the team in scoring...Scott Freeman is tops with 14 points (2-12), including a point in five of the last six games, while Lauri Tuohimaa (8-3--11) and Brandon DeFazio (3-7--10) are the only other players with 10 or more points...preseason All-ECAC selection Matt Beca, a junior forward, has five points (3-2)...senior forward Chris D'Alvise, who has played 123 games in his career, is second on the team with six goals this season...freshman Paul Karpowich has started 11 of the 14 games this season in goal and has a 3.03 goals-against and a .899 save percentage...he has a record of 2-7-3...Clarkson has eight players on its roster that have been drafted by NHL teams, including senior defensemen Tyrell Mason and Phil Paquet, who anchor the back line for the Golden Knights and serve as team captains...head coach George Roll is in his sixth season at Clarkson and has a 98-88-24 record...Roll played four years (1981-85) at BGSU and was an integral member of the 1983-84 national championship team...Roll is tied for 25th on the BGSU career scoring list with 152 points...Clarkson was picked fourth in the ECAC prior to the season...Clarkson has scored two or fewer goals in seven of their last nine games while giving up four or more goals in six of their last nine contests.
LAST WEEK
The Falcons dropped both games of a home-and-home series against Notre Dame, losing a 3-1 decision at home to start the series and a 4-3 contest at Notre Dame on Saturday. The Fighting Irish scored single goals in the first and second periods of the opener before senior defensman Kevin Schmidt got the Falcons on the board with 25 seconds left in the second stanza. But, the Falcons would get only one shot on goal in the first 16 minutes of the final period and a short-handed empty-netter by Notre Dame clinched it with 1:31 left. Notre Dame had a 26-20 edge in shots as both teams came up empty on five power-play opportunities. Senior Jimmy Spratt had 23 saves and Jordan Pearce had 19 for Notre Dame. The following night, the nation's top-ranked team built a 4-1 edge heading into the final period before the Falcons made it very interesting down the stretch with power-play goals by senior Kyle Page and junior Tommy Dee. Dee's goal pulled the Falcons with one with 4:27 left, but BG could not get the equalizer. BG was two-of-seven with the man-advantage while Notre Dame was two-of-five. Spratt made 24 saves and Pearce was credited with 18, 11 in the final period. With the sweep, Notre Dame extended its unbeaten streak to 16 games against the Falcons.
THE NEXT TIME
The Falcons open the second half of their 2008-09 schedule, after having three weeks off for the holidays, with a home series against Ohio State. Both games of the Jan. 9-10 series begin at 7:05 p.m.
