Falcons Host Second Playoff Series In Four Years With Opening Round Matchup With Lake State

March 4, 2008

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University hockey team will host its' second home playoff series in the last four years when they host the Lake Superior State Lakers this weekend in the first round of the CCHA playoffs. The seventh-seeded Falcons finished tied for their second-best finish in the league since 1995 as they finished the season with 16 wins after being picked 12th in both preseason league polls. The 16 wins were a single win shy of their best win total in the last decade of 17 which they accomplished in both the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 seasons. Now they'll battle a tenth-seeded Laker team with whom they split their regular-season series with on the road back in January. The best-of-three series will kickoff at 7:05 p.m. on Friday from the BGSU Ice Arena. Game two will follow on Saturday with another 7:05 p.m. faceoff and if necessary there will be a game three on Sunday also starting at 7:05 p.m. All youth will be allowed free admission this weekend with the purchase of an adult ticket. For tickets, contact 877-BGSU-Ticket or stop by the BGSU Box Office located in Anderson Arena.

Complete Release in PDF Format (48 Pages)

#10 Lake Superior State at #7 Bowling Green

  Mar. 7-9, 2008  BGSU Ice Arena, 7:05 p.m.

RECORDS: BGSU 16-18-0, 13-15-0 CCHA // LSSU 9-18-7, 7-15-6 CCHA
TV:Friday, Sunday - BCSN: Greg Franke(play-by-play), Buddy Powers(color commentary); Saturday - Comcast Local: Ben Holden (play-by-play), Lyle Phair (color commentary)
RADIO:WBGU (88.1): Danny Nieves (Play-by-Play), Bob Mills, (color commentary)

RADIO BROADCAST
All the playoff action between the Falcons and Lakers can be heard by tuning into WBGU 88.1 FM. Danny Nieves and Bob Mills will be providing all the play-by-play of the action. 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. If you missed any of the action on the weekend then, you can tune into Danny Nieves' show "In The Box" on Sunday nights between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. on WFAL 1610 AM. Nieves and co-host Bob Mills will recap the weekend in Falcon hockey and will welcome in guests from the team each weekend. Guests in the past few weeks have included Ben Geelan, John Mazzei, Kevin Schmidt and Derek Whitmore. To listen globally you can visit www.wfalradio.com.
TELEVISION BROADCAST
Friday's action at the BGSU Ice Arena between the Falcons and Lakers can then 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. If the series were to go to a third game, the game will also air on BCSN.
Game two on Saturday between BG and LSSU from the BGSU Ice Arena. will air on Comcast Local as Ben Holden and Lyle Phair will be on the call to bring you all the action. Comcast Local is a 24-hour regional sports network that provides exclusive sports programming to 1.6 million cable subscribers in Michigan and Indiana. In southeast Michigan, Comcast Local can be seen for the most part b tuning into channel 8. For a complete channel listing you can visit www.comcastlocal.com.
LIVE STATS
Live stats for all this weekend's playoff games will be available at www.bgsufalcons.com via gametracker, which can be found on the team's schedule page.
SCOUTING BOWLING GREEN
 The Falcons finished the 2007-08 regular-season tied for the most wins they've had under sixth-year head coach Scott Paluch. In 2004-05, the Falcons finished the season 16-16-4 with a 13-12-3 CCHA record as they finished fifth in the final league standings and hosted eighth-seeded Alaska in the first round of the playoffs.
 The Falcons were 7-8-0 at home this season, 9-9-0 and 0-1-0 in neutral site games.
 BG's nine regular-season road wins were the most they've had since the 1995-96 when they also had nine and were just four shy of the all-time regular-season road win mark of 13 set during the 1986-87 season when head coach Scott Paluch was a junior defenseman.
 BG was 15-7 on the year against non-ranked opponents, but just 1-11 against ranked teams with their lone win coming at home against top-ranked Miami.
 The Falcon offense saw balanced scoring all season as the each class contributed to the cause. The BG seniors totalled 69 points on the year, while the freshmen were second with 68 points. The sophomores finished with 63 points, while the juniors finished with 51.
 Leading the way all season for the Falcons has been senior tri-captain Derek Whitmore who finished his regular-season with a new career-high 26 goals and a career-best 33 points. He is a single point away from becoming the 69th Falcon player to finish his career with 100 or more points and is 19th on the all-time career list for goals.
 Up front five Falcon upperclassmen (Kai Kantola, Todd McIlrath, John Mazzei, James Perkin, Derek Whitmore) have already set new or tied career-bests in points this season.
 Overall, eight total upperclassmen have set or tied career-bests in points as defensemen Kevin Schmidt, Mike Nesdill and Tim Maxwell also had career-seasons.
 BG's defensive core totalled 59 points this season as they were 26th-nationally in points per game as a defensive core with a 1.74 points per game average. Kevin Schmidt finished the regular-season 16th-nationally amongst defensemen with 0.68 points per game average.
 In net, freshman goaltender Nick Eno and junior Jimmy Spratt combined for a 2.93 goals-against average and a .896 save percentage. This included a 2.69 GAA in the first 17 games of the year with a .895 save percentage and a 3.17 GAA and .897 save percentage in the 1ast 17 games.
 Spratt started the most games in the first 17 games, starting nine with a 2.68 GAA and a .900 save percentage going 4-5-0, while Eno started the most in the second half going 6-5 in 12 starts with a 2.56 GAA and a .924 save percentage. Eno's overall 2.59 GAA and .913 save percentage would both rank fifth on BG's all-time single-season lists in each category.
 BG finished the season with 32 goals on the power-play going 32-of-194 for a final conversion percentage of 16.5. However, 24 of those extra-man goals came in the first 17 games as the Falcons were 24-of-101 (23.8%) in the first half and just 8-of-93 in the second (8.6%).
SCOUTING LAKE SUPERIOR STATE
 The Lakers of third-year head coach Jim Roque finished their season 9-18-7 and 7-15-6 in the CCHA.
 LSSU finished eighth a year ago and tied for sixth two seasons ago as this season was their lowest finish under Roque.
 However, in their last 10 games, the Lakers have been one of the better teams in the CCHA going 5-2-3 in that stretch, which includes a current four-game unbeaten streak as they swept Alaska at home and took 3-of-4 points from Northern Michigan in a home-and-home series to end the regular-season.
 The Lakers were 7-8-1 at home this season, 2-10-6 on the road and 0-0-0 in neutral site games.
 They average 2.32 goals per game and are giving up an average of 3.41.
 Their power play is converting at a 14.5 percent clip, while their penalty-kill has succeeded at a rate of 72.9 percent.
 Up front, the Lakers have been led by senior forward Dan Eves and sophomore forward Zac MacVoy who each have totalled 24 points. Eves has a line of 9-15-24 on the year, while MacVoy, a transfer from Michigan, has a line of 8-16-24.
 On the blue line, sophomore rearguard Simon Gysbers heads the attack with 15 points on five goals and 10 assists. He was named CCHA Defensive Player of the Week following the last series with BG in January when he led the Lakers with a line of 1-3-4.
 Between the pipes, freshman Brian Mahoney-Wilson has led the team in games played with 20 as he has a 6-9-3 record with a 2.94 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage. Overall, LSSU had a combined GAA of 3.35 with a .887 save percentage. They've allowed just eight goals over the course of their four-game unbeaten streak.
 The Lakers are 4-for-29 on the power play in the last five games and 14-for-20 on the penalty-kill.
THE LAKE SUPERIOR STATE SERIES
Two of the CCHA's oldest program's the Falcons and Lakers have been two of college hockey's richest programs when it comes to history and tradition ... both schools have won national championships and numerous league titles ... this weekend's meetings between the Falcons and Lakers will be the 135th and 136th all-time in the series ... the two teams split their season series back in January in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. with the Falcons wining 4-2 on Friday, before LSSU won 4-1 on Saturday ... BG owns the overall series lead with a 69-58-7 advantage in 134 total contests ... only Ohio State (154 meetings) has played the Falcons more than the Lakers ... at home, the Falcons are 40-19-4 in the series and 7-2-1 in the last 10 games played at the BGSU Ice Arena ... the two squads once met in the CCHA Tournament Finals back in 1988 ... head coach Scott Paluch was the captain of the 1988 Falcon squad that season who beat the Lakers, 5-3, to win their latest CCHA Tournament Championship and their lone title at Joe Louis Arena.
MORE ON THE LSSU SERIES
 This will mark the third time that the Falcons and Lakers have met in a first round, best-of-three series since the 1996-97 season. They last met in the 1999-2000 postseason when the Falcons earned a 2-1, 3-2 series sweep.
 Overall Friday's game will be the 16th meeting between the teams in the CCHA Tournament with the Falcons owning a 9-6-0 record.
 Forwards Brandon Svendsen and Derek Whitmore lead all Falcon scorers against the Lakers with five points as each has four goals and an assist in the series.
LAST TIME OUT ...
The Falcons ended their regular-season this past weekend with a pair of losses to #6 Michigan State in a weekend home-and-home series. BG fell 6-3 on Friday at MSU' Munn Ice, before falling 4-0 on Senior Night at the BGSU Ice Arena. The two losses marked the first time in seven regular-season series that the two teams didn't end their two-game weekend with a split as Spartan head coach Rick Comley and BG head coach Scott Paluch both came in 6-6 in 12 meetings since taking over the teams in the 2002-03 season.
On Friday, MSU jumped out to an early lead just 1:02 into the game and increased it to 2-0 in the second period, before the Falcons rallied to tie the game. Jacob Cepis and Tomas Petruska scored just 2:38 apart in the second stanza to even the game up at 2-2, with Kevin Schmidt assisting on both plays. After a late second period goal gave MSU their second lead of the game, Todd McIlrath evened things up once again with a goal at the 12:50 mark of the third period. The game remained tied until MSU's Justin Abdelkader tallied the game-winning goal with just 2:19 remaining as the Spartans tallied two more goals in the game's final two minutes to pull out the victory.
On Saturday, MSU's Jeff Lerg was the story as he recorded his fourth shutout of the season with a 32-save effort to ruin the Falcons' Senior Night. BG out-shot the Spartans 32-23 in the game, but just couldn't find a way to get the puck in the net.
THE 20/20 FRESHMEN CLUB
This season has seen two of the Falcons' seven freshmen accomplish something that has only been done twice since 1996 and just five previous times since 1984. With freshman forward Jacob Cepis recording 28 points and freshman forward Dan Sexton tallying 20 points, the two are just the third first-year pair to score 20 or more points in their first seasons since 1996. The last two freshmen to accomplish the feat in the same season were forwards Alex Foster and Jonathan Matsumoto during the 2004-05 season, before them the last pair to do so was freshman forward Adam Edinger and freshman defenseman Peter Ratchuk during the 1996-97 campaign. If freshman forward David Solway were able to pick up just six more points, this season would mark the first since Scott Paluch's rookie season in 1984-85 that BG has had three freshmen with 20-plus points.
BIG STRETCH FOR A GUY THEY CALL "MAZ"
In order to have success late in the season, you need veteran players to make veteran plays. That is exactly what the Falcons have gotten the last 12 games from senior tri-captain John Mazzei. Mazzei picked up his first career multiple-goal effort this two weekends ago, knotting both goals in the Falcons' 2-1 victory on Saturday over visiting Ferris State. For the Kelowna, B.C. native the goals were his sixth and seventh of the season as he has six goals in BG's last 12 contests, including two game-winners. The forward has a plus-3 rating during this stretch as only fellow tri-captain Derek Whitmore has more goals during the past five weeks with seven.
REACHING FOR THE TOP
Just two wins stand between the Falcons being able to make the argument that they are the best BG team in the last decade as they are currently just one victory behind the school's best win total in the past 10 seasons. BG, who currently has 16 wins on the year, would equal the win total of both the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 squads with a single victory this weekend and could pass both teams with a weekend sweep or a victory in the first round of the CCHA playoffs. However, success in the playoffs may be needed to solidify that argument as both the 1999-2000 and the 16-win 2000-01 team advanced to the second round of the conference playoffs. The 2000-01 team made it all the way to the CCHA Tournament semifinals at Joe Louis Arena where they ran into Michigan State, who was led by goaltender Ryan Miller and fell in a hard fought 2-1 game.
SPLIT DOWN THE MIDDLE
This season has been a career-season for Falcon senior forward and tri-captain Derek Whitmore who has scored the same number of goals in each half of the Falcons' season. The Rochester, N.Y. native tallied 13 goals in the Falcons' first 17 games and 13 goals in the Falcons' last 17 games. Overall on the season, Whitmore has 26 goals and seven assists, totalling a career-best 33 points in 33 games.
LUCKY 13 CONTINUES TO CLIMB THE CHARTS
Bowling Green's impact freshmen have been a big reason for their success this season and none of these freshmen may have been bigger this season than freshman forward Jacob Cepis. The Parma, Ohio native has tallied 13 goals and 15 assists in his rookie campaign as he currently ranks 40th on the all-time Falcon scoring list for freshmen. He is just four points shy of Jonathan Matsumoto's freshman mark of 32 points in 2004-05, which is the most by a Falcon in the last 10 years and is tied for 28th on the all-time BGSU freshmen list.
PETRUSKA BREAKING OUT OF A SOPHOMORE SLUMP
After picking up just two goals and an assist in his first 25 games this season, sophomore forward Tomas Petruska has scored six of his nine points in the last nine games. This past weekend, the Presov, Slovakia native had a season-best two-point game in the Falcons' loss at Michigan State where he picked up a goal and an assist. Last season, Petruska lit the lamp eight times and dished out nine assists on way to finishing as the third-leading scorer on the squad and as the top freshmen scorer. His biggest highlight came when he scored a goal with just 35 seconds left on the clock to beat Michigan 3-2 at the BGSU Ice Arena.
EITHER WE DO OR WE DON'T
Getting the game's first goal has meant everything this season for the Falcons as they are 12-2-0 on the year when they put the first point on the scoreboard. On the flip side, the Falcons are 4-16-0 when they let their opponent get the game's first tally. If the Falcons can get to the first intermission dressing room with a lead they've won 12 of 13 games when they've done so, while they are 4-10-0 when trailing after 20 minutes and 0-7-0 when the game is even heading to the first break.
THE MAGIC NUMBER FOUR
The number four on the scoreboard has been a magic number this season in the Falcon win column. In games where BG scores four goals they are 5-0-0 on the season. In games where they score four or more goals, they are a perfect 10-0-0. The Falcons are just 6-18 this season when tallying less than four goals.
POWER PLAY BLUES
The Falcon power play was once one of the hottest things on the ice in the CCHA in the first part of the season as BG converted 20 of their first 72 power play opportunities to start the year. The effort got the power play unit ranked as high as second in the country with a conversion percentage of 27.8. However, a scoreless drought of 43 recently and a current scoreless streak of 21 has dropped the BGSU power play to 15.8 percent for the year. The Falcons scored just eight power-play goals in their final 17 games after they totalled 24 goals with the man-advantage in their first 17.
RIDING THE "ROAD" TO SUCCESS
Being able to win on the road is a big key to having success and the road has been a friendly place this season to the BGSU hockey team. The Falcons are 9-9-0 this season away from the BGSU Ice Arena, which currently ranks tied for the fifth-best road win total in the CCHA and is tied for the eighth-best road win total in the nation. The nine road wins are the most the Falcons have had in a regular-season under sixth-year head coach Scott Paluch as the 2004-05 squad won eight road tilts. That total is also tied for the most the program has had since the 1995-96 season when they had nine. The team mark of 13 regular-season road wins was set in 1986-87 when Paluch was a junior defenseman.
For more information, player bios and statistics, please see the complete release at the top of the page.