Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU Hockey Team Has Home-And-Home With Michigan
January 13, 2009 | Ice Hockey
Jan. 13, 2009
BOWLING GREEN, OHIO -
Week 13 News & Notes (vs. Michigan) 
Game #23
Bowling Green (7-12-3, 4-9-1-0 CCHA) at #6 Michigan (15-7-0, 9-5-0-0 CCHA)
Jan. 16, 2009 • Ann Arbor, Mich. (Yost Ice Arena - 6,637) • 7:35
Game #24
#6 Michigan (15-7-0, 9-5-0-0 CCHA) at Bowling Green (7-12-3, 4-9-1-0 CCHA)
Jan. 17, 2009 • Bowling Green, Ohio (BGSU Ice Arena - 5,000) • 5:07
THIS WEEK
The Bowling Green State University hockey team will look to get back on the winning side of the ledger this weekend as they play a home-and-home series against Central Collegiate Hockey Association foe Michigan. The series begins in Ann Arbor on Friday with the opening faceoff at 7:35 while the two teams tangle Saturday in Bowling Green in a game that starts at 5:05.
RADIO
All games this season can be heard on WBGU 88.1 FM. Bob Mills will provide the play-by-play with Everett Fitzhugh (Friday) and Brian Fisher (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 game Friday is not televised but live video, along with audio, can be accessed on Michigan's web site. Saturday is the second appearance, of five, for the Falcons on the CCHA/Comcast Saturday Game of the Week. The game will air live on the NHL Network in Canada and on Comcast Television. Ben Holden will handle the play-by-play duties while Sean Ritchlin is the analyst and Art Regnier the "sideline" reporter. The game will air on a tape delayed basis Sunday at noon on the NHL Network in 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 Jan. 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.
TOP LINE CONTINUES TO PUT UP THE NUMBERS
The top line of senior Brandon Svendsen and sophomores David Solway and Dan Sexton had another big weekend as they combined to score nine points (3-6) against Ohio State. It tied their second highest output of the season. The line has been together for all but the Notre Dame series (Dec. 12-13) this season. In the 12 CCHA games in which they've played together this season, the line has accounted for 16 of the 25 BG goals (64%), collected 24 of the 37 assists (65%) and 40 of the 62 points (65%). They are a combined plus-7 while the rest of the team is minus-90. For the 20 games this season they have been together, which includes the 12 CCHA games, the line has accounted for 25 of the 49 goals (51%), 34 of the 75 assists (45%) and 59 of 124 points (48%). They are a combined plus-5 compared to -89 for the rest of the team. During one three-week period (Oct. 31-Nov. 15), they combined for 27 points (11-16). In the 20 games they've played as a line, they accounted for at least one point on 32 of the 49 goals scored, two of the players have been involved in 19 of the 49 goals and they combined as a line to score six times.
MORE BALANCED SCORING
While offense by the Svendsen, Solway and Sexton line will continue to be needed all season, the coaching staff would like to get more balance, the reason the line was split up for the one series. The Falcons have had better balance over the last nine games and they hope that will continue in the second half. Over the last nine games, BG has scored 24 goals with nine different players scoring those goals. Over that same period, 19 different players, including both goalies, have found the scoresheet at least once.
SVENDSEN IS A TEAM LEADER
Senior Brandon Svendsen is one of the leaders of the team while having the best season of his career. He is coming off a four-point (0-4) weekend which equalled the best of his career (he had four points (2-2) in the Nebraska-Omaha series earlier this season). One of the alternate captains, Svendsen has career bests of 21 points and 15 assists this season while he needs three goals to equal the high of nine in his career. The Roseville, Minn. native's point total is tied for 10th in the CCHA and his assist total is tied for fifth in the league. He has two short-handed goals this season, the third-best total in the country, and four for his career. He has a point in 13 games this season with six multi-point efforts. He had a career-best three (1-2) points in the Nov. 8 game at Lake Superior and the Friday loss to Ohio State (0-3). He is second on the team with 21 points while he leads the team in CCHA play with 17 points (4-13). Svendsen ranks among the CCHA leaders in three categories for all games and four categories for league games only. He is working on a four-game point streak during which he has scored six points (0-6).
OFFENSE FROM THE DEFENSE
The defensive corp has come up big at the offensive end the last few weeks adding to a more balanced attack. Defensemen have scored seven goals and added nine assists over the last nine games. The backline players have contributed a season-best three points in each of the last three games. The defense has at least one point in each of the last seven games and eight of the last nine. Their current stretch is the best 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 point in four (2-2) of the last seven games, including two goals. 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 five points this season, matching his career total coming into the season. Also contributing from the back line is freshman Nick Bailen, who has six points (3-3) in the last nine games, as well as senior alternate captain Kevin Schmidt. Bailen (3-4) and Schmidt (3-3) are the top scoring defensemen on the team. Bailen had his first two-goal game in the loss to Ohio State Friday. Both of his goals were on the power-play giving him three goals on the season with the man-advantage, which is second on the team. Schmidt had his second shorthanded goal of the season in the Saturday OSU game on an excellent individual effort.
SOLWAY IS TIED FOR TEAM LEAD IN GOALS
Sophomore David Solway had a goal in the Friday loss to Ohio State to give him a career-high 10 markers. He is third on the team with 17 points on the season. He has a point in 12 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 set career bests with his seven assists and 10 goals while his 17 points equals what he scored last season. The Green Bay, Wis. native has 12 points in
CCHA play, third on the team, while he leads the team with seven goals, which is tied for seventh-best in the league. He ranks among the CCHA leaders in three overall and league-only categories. He leads the team with a +3 on-ice rating in league games while he is third for all games at +1. He has at least one goal in eight of the 11 weekends of play this season.
TOUGH STRETCH
The Falcons have played eight of their last 10 games against ranked opponents. The Falcons have gone 2-7-1 over the period with both wins coming against the only unranked team, Clarkson, they have played in the stretch. Four of the games in the stretch were against CCHA leader and top-ranked Notre Dame while Minnesota State and Ohio State were also ranked. The Falcons face another ranked foe this week in sixth-ranked Michigan. BG is 0-8-1 this season against the ranked teams they've played, 7-4-2 against unranked teams.
SEXTON TIED FOR FOURTH IN CCHA IN SCORING
Sophomore Dan Sexton has put together the best season of his young career and he is currently in his best stretch of the season. He has a four-game goal-scoring streak and a five-game point streak going into play this weekend. Both are career bests for him. He has five goals and nine points during his current streaks. He had the best goal-scoring weekend of his career with three tallies against Clarkson, including his second two-goal game of the season. The Apple Valley, Minn. native leads the team with 25 points (10-15) while scoring at least one point in every weekend series except one this season. He has scored a point in a team-best 15 games and has a team-best eight contests with two or more points, including two games with three points, one of those in the Friday loss to Ohio State. He is tied for fourth in the CCHA in points, tied for fifth in the assists and tied for sixth in goals. Sexton has set career highs in all three categories this season. He is among the league leaders in five overall and CCHA-only statistical categories. His 15 points (6-9) in CCHA play is second on the team. His two game-winning goals, in league games, and three in all games ranks among the league leaders while his three for the season is tied for fourth nationally. He is 23rd in the nation in points.
KANTOLA IS LIGHTING THE LAMP
Junior forward Kai Kantola has scored a goal in five of the last eight games with six red-lighters in that span. He got the streak going with his third career two-goal contest against Minnesota State (Nov. 28). He completed that weekend with a third goal on Saturday, making that the best goal-scoring weekend of his career. Since that series, he has single goals in three of the six games, including one in both games of the Ohio State series. Kantola, who also had two goals in the season opener against RIT, is fourth on the team in scoring with 12 points (10-2) while his 10 goals tie him for the team lead and are tied for sixth in the CCHA. His average of 0.50 goals per game ranks tied for 22nd in the nation. Kantola, who has a point in nine games this season, has three goals in league play. Kantola has seven points in the last eight games.
HOME COOKING
After making two trips in the first three weeks of the season and three in the first five weeks, the Falcons have played a good portion of their recent schedule at home. BG has played 10 of its last 12 games at home with the only road games part of two home-and-home series with Notre Dame. They will play three of their next four at home before spending most of the final portion of the season on the road. 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 series Jan. 30-31 at Miami will be the first overnight trip since Nov. 7-8 when they played at Lake Superior. BG is 6-6-2 at home this season, 3-5 in league play.
POWER PLAY HAVING SOME RECENT SUCCESS
The Falcons had five power-play goals in the first four games of the season. But, it took them the next 11 games to get five more man-advantage tallies. But, if their recent success is any indication, the special teams are back for the Falcons. The power-play is seven-for-37 (18.9%) over the last five games while it had converted just five-of-76 (6.6%) opportunities over the previous 13 games. BG is eight-of-83 (9.6%) in their 14 league games with the man-advantage. BG had two power-play goals in the third period which helped them get back in the Notre Dame game (Dec. 13). It was the first time in 10 games the Falcons had two or more goals with the manpower advantage. BG has two power-play goals in three of their last five games and at least one in four of the last five. They have five games this season with two power-play goals. On the other side of the ledger, the Falcons have held their opposition scoreless on the power-play in four of the last six games killing off 31-of-35 (88.6%) opportunities.
THE PP GOES, THE O DOES TOO
It is probably no coincidence that as the power-play has improved recently, so has the offensive output by the Falcons. BG has scored 18 goals in the last five games after having scored just 11 times in the previous seven contests. BG's eight goals in the Ohio State series, was its best offensive weekend of the season. In the 13 games before BG's present mini-scoring streak, the Falcons averaged just 1.69 goals per game. BG has averaged 3.6 goals over the last five games.
SPRATT AMONG BGSU LEADERS
Senior goaltender Jimmy Spratt has started 21 of the 22 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 two of the best weekends of his career in sweeps of the Northern Michigan (Nov. 14-15) and Clarkson (Dec. 19-20). In the NMU series, he had a 0.99 goals-against and a .961 save percentage (two goals/49 saves) while he had a 1.00 goals-against and a .960 save percentage (two goals/48 saves) in the two games against Clarkson. 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 12 of the 21 games he's played and has a 3.15 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 .882 save percentage. In the 13 league games, Spratt has a 3.43 goals-against and an .874 save percentage. He has now played in 87 career games, with 84 of those starts. Spratt, who is one of only nine goalies in school history to reach the 2,000-save plateau, has 2,114 career saves, eighth on the BGSU list while his 1,536 stops in CCHA play is seventh-best in school history. He needs 50 saves to move into the #7 spot at BG for all games currently occupied by Mike David (1979-83 - 2,163 saves) and nine saves to pass Mike Savard on the CCHA games only list (1,544 saves - 6th). Spratt has logged 1,238:36 this season, eighth among all goalies in the nation this season.
ENO SEES FIRST ACTION OF THE SEASON
The other half of last year's goaltending duo, sophomore Nick Eno, saw his first action of the season over the weekend against Ohio State after missing the first half of the year with a left ankle sprain sustained before the season began. Eno played in a relief of starter Jimmy Spratt on Friday night, and made his first start of the season on Saturday night. In 28:23 of work Friday, Eno had 10 saves and allowed one goal. On Saturday, he went all the way playing 62:42 making 21 saves and allowing four goals. Eno, who sported a 12-10-0 record, a 2.79 goals-against average and .905 save percentage last year, earned CCHA All-Rookie honors. He joined Bob Petrie (1994) and Aaron Ellis (1993) as the other first-year Falcon goalies to earn a spot on the rookie team. 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. In CCHA play last season, Eno was 9-7-0 with a 2.51 goals-against and a .918 save percentage.
LATE HEROICS
The Falcons have scored within the last five minutes of regulation time in 10 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 two instances it tied the game sending it to overtime - BG winning one in overtime and losing the other in an extra period. BG has scored a total of 10 goals (10 different contests) in the last five minutes of regulation time this season.
A GLANCE AT THE SECOND HALF
The Falcons will finish their 2008-09 regular season with eight-straight weekend series against CCHA opponents. Of the 16 games after returning from the holiday break, only two are against teams that presently comprise the top four teams in the conference. In the month of January, the Falcons play five of their eight games at home while in February only three of their eight games are at home. Six of the eight series will be against teams they have not played this season. Only a home series against Lake Superior (Jan. 23-24) and a road series at Northern Michigan (Feb. 6-7) are against teams they have already met this season. BG was 0-1-1 against Lake Superior in the first series while BG swept Northern Michigan.
FALCON ICE CHIPS
BG has scored in 38 of the 66 periods (regulation time) this season, the same number as their opposition...the difference in the number of goals scored, 74 to 53 in favor of the opposition, comes from the fact BG has nine multi-goal periods this season compared to 21 for the opposition...BG was 3-3-2 in games outside of the CCHA this season...the Falcons played 20 games before January this year for the first time since the 2001-02 season...BG has two one-goal losses and two two-goal losses to ranked teams this season...sophomore defenseman Andrew Krelove earned his first point of the season with an assist on the game-winner in the Saturday victory over Clarkson and he came back to notch an assist in the Saturday with Ohio State giving him two points in the last three games...he had three points (1-2) in 26 games a year ago...BG is 1-6-1 on the road this season, 1-4-1 in CCHA play...the Falcons have not recorded a point in CCHA since their Nov. 15 win at home over Northern Michigan, a span of six games...the Saturday game with Ohio State was the fifth overtime game this season for the Falcons and their first loss...they are now 1-1-3 in their five extra-period games...BG had killed off 20 consecutive power-play opportunities for the opposition before OSU scored on it first try Saturday night...BG had a shorthanded goal in both games of the Ohio State series and now have six for the season.
HOLD ON TO YOUR TICKET
Falcon athletics has a tripleheader Saturday with women's basketball hosting Akron at 1 p.m, the hockey game with Michigan at 5:05 and the men's basketball team hosting Akron at 8 p.m. Anyone attending either the women's basketball game and/or the hockey game can show their ticket stub at the door for the men's basketball game and get free admission.
MICHIGAN NOTES
The Wolverines come into the weekend playing their best hockey of the season...UM has won six straight and seven of their last eight...they are coming off an impressive home sweep of second-place Miami by scores of 5-1 and 4-0...Michigan has the CCHA scoring leader in sophomore Louie Caporusso who has 18 goals, tops in the CCHA and second in the nation, and 10 assists...eight of his tallies have come on the power play...he has a point in each of the last six games...right behind him, tied for second in the CCHA, is sophomore Aaron Palushaj, who has 27 points (8-19)...his assist total is fifth in the nation and tied for the top spot in the CCHA...he was a first-team preseason All-CCHA selection...freshman David Wohlberg is third on the team with 17 points (9-8) with 12 of his points coming in the last eight games...sophomore Chad Langlais is the top scoring defenseman with 13 points (1-12)...sophomore goalie Bryan Hogan has played each of the last six games and has a 13-1-0 record with a 1.75 goals-against, eighth in the nation, and a .925 save percentage...his only loss was a 2-1 decision against Western Michigan...Michigan has yielded just six goals in their last six games while scoring 30...Michigan is tied for sixth in the nation in scoring and 10th in the country in scoring defense...Michigan has won its last four league games since being swept at Miami on Nov. 21-22...head coach Red Berenson is in his 25th season leading the Wolverines and has a mark of 659-305-68...he has led Michigan to 18-straight berths in the NCCA Tournament with half of those teams earning a berth in the Frozen Four.
LAST WEEK
Bowling Green dropped both ends of their home series with Ohio State last week, losing an 8-5 shootout and a 4-3 overtime thriller. In the Friday shootout, BG took a 2-1 lead midway through the first period before the Buckeyes scored four unanswered goals, and six of seven goals in the game at one point, to put the game away. Even after OSU made it 7-3 early in the final period, BG came back to score the next two to close the gap with five minutes remaining. But, an empty-net goal by the Buckeyes made it the final score. The Falcons got points from eight different players in their best offensive effort of the season, including two goals from freshman Nick Bailen, both on the power play, three assists from senior Brandon Svendsen and one goal and two assists from sophomore Dan Sexton. Senior Jimmy Spratt started and made 16 saves while giving up six goals before giving way to sophomore Nick Eno who was credited with 10 saves in his first action of the season. BG had a 37-34 edge in shots and was two-of-five on the power-play while OSU failed on four tries with the man-advantage. Saturday, the two teams traded goals until a Buckeye tally midway through the second period gave them a 3-2 edge. That was the last goal until BG sophomore Dan Sexton sent the contest to an extra period on a goal with just 1:09 left. But the Buckeyes got the game-winner 2:44 into the extra period to earn the road sweep. Junior Kai Kantola, senior Kevin Schmidt, and sophomore Dan Sexton had the BG goals. Both teams had 25 shots in the game, but the difference was on the power play where OSU was two-for-seven and BG could not convert on any of its eight opportunities. Eno started and went all the way collecting 21 saves.
NEXT WEEK
The Falcons entertain Lake Superior for a pair of games in the BGSU Ice Arena. Both games begin at 7:05 p.m. The Jan. 23-24 series will be the second meeting this season between the two programs. Bowling Green lost the series opener back on Nov. 7 before salvaging a 4-4 overtime tie in the series finale. Lake Superior earned the extra point in the tie game by winning the only shootout BG has been involved in this season.
