Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Battle 10th-Ranked RedHawks This Weekend
January 26, 2009 | Ice Hockey
Jan. 26, 2009
BOWLING GREEN, OHIO -
Week 15 BGSU Hockey News and Notes (vs. Miami) 
Game #27
Bowling Green (9-14-3, 6-11-1-0 CCHA) at #10 Miami (14-8-4, 12-5-3-1 CCHA)
Jan. 30, 2009 • Oxford, Ohio (Steve Cady Arena - 3,642) • 7:35
Game #28
Bowling Green (9-14-3, 6-11-1-0 CCHA) at #10 Miami (14-8-4, 12-5-3-1 CCHA)
Jan. 31, 2009 • Oxford, Ohio (Steve Cady Arena - 3,642) • 7:05
THIS WEEK
The Bowling Green State University hockey team continues the final one-third of the regular season with a road series this weekend against Miami. The series begins with a 7:35 game on Friday at Steve Cady Arena and concludes with a 7:05 contest on Saturday. The series this weekend begins the final 10 games of the 2008-09 regular season for Bowling Green.
RADIO
All games this season can be heard on WBGU 88.1 FM. Bob Mills will provide the play-by-play. 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
Both games this weekend will be carried live by the Ohio News Network (Time Warner Cable channel 119). The Friday game is part of the NHL Network Friday Game of the Week and will also air live on the 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 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 their second-biggest weekend of the season with 11 points in the Lake Superior series. Only the 12 points they combined to score against Nebraska-Omaha was more than last weekend. They have combined to score seven points in three games this season - vs. Nebraska-Omaha (10/31 - 3-4), vs. Ohio State (1/9 - 2-5) and Lake Superior (1/24 - 3-4). In the 16 CCHA games in which they've played together this season, the line has accounted for 21 of the 36 BG goals (58%), collected 31 of the 51 assists (61%) and 52 of the 87 points (60%). They are a combined plus-7 while the rest of the team is minus-92. For the 24 games this season they have been together, which includes the 16 CCHA games, the line has accounted for 30 of the 60 goals (50%), 41 of the 89 assists (46%) and 71 of 149 points (48%). They are a combined plus-9 compared to -93 for the rest of the team. During one three-week period (Oct. 31-Nov. 15), they combined for 27 points (11-16). In the 24 games they've played as a line, they have accounted for at least one point on 38 of the 60 goals scored, two of the players have been involved in 23 of the 60 goals and they have combined as a line to score seven times.
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 had his third four-point weekend against Lake Superior, including his third three-point game of the season. He has had four-point weekends against Ohio State (Jan. 9-10, 0-4) and Nebraska-Omaha (Oct. 31-Nov. 1, 1-3) in addition to last weekend. He has had three points in a game against Lake Superior (Nov. 8, 1-2; and Jan. 24, 1-2) and Ohio State (Jan. 9, 0-3). One of the alternate captains, Svendsen has career bests of 25 points and 17 assists this season while he needs two goals to equal his high of 10 in his freshman season. The Roseville, Minn. native's point total is tied for ninth in the CCHA and his assist total is tied for sixth in the league. He has three short-handed goals this season, first in the CCHA and tied for third nationally. He has five for his career. He has a point in 15 games this season with seven multi-point efforts. He is second on the team with 25 points while he leads the team in CCHA play with 21 points (6-15). Svendsen ranks among the CCHA leaders in three categories for all games and four categories for league games only. He has at least one point in all but three weekends this season.
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 and an increased scoring output. Defensemen have scored nine goals and added 11 assists (20 points) over the last 13 games. The backline players had a streak of three-straight games (Dec. 20-Jan. 10) in which they contributed a season-best three points in each contest. The defense has at least one point in 10 of the last 11 games and 11 of the last 13. 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)
PAGE DOING IT BOTH WAYS
Known as a defensive defenseman for most of his career, junior captain Kyle Page has added an offensive side to his game of late. Page had a point in both games over the weekend against Lake Superior, including his third goal of the season Friday night, and now has a point in six of the last 11 games and a goal in three of the last 11 contests. Page did not have a goal in the first 87 games of his career and had a point in only six of his first 87 contests. Page's goal in the Friday victory turned out to be the game-winner, the first of his career. Page, a Wixon, Mich. native, is the leader of the defense and also plays on penalty-kill and power-play units. Page's six points this season is his career high. He leads the team with 45 blocked shots.
OTHERS DOING THE DAMAGE
In addition to Kyle Page, a number of the defensemen have chipped in at the offensive end. Freshman Nick Bailen, has eight points (4-4), five points in the last eight games. Senior alternate captain Kevin Schmidt has six points (3-3) this season, two of his goals coming short-handed. And sophomore Andrew Krelove has an assist in three of the last seven games after not scoring in the first 19 contests this season. Krelove had three points in 26 games in his first season at Bowling Green.
SOLWAY AMONG LEAGUE LEADERS
Sophomore David Solway broke out of a minor scoring slump last weekend with points in both games of the Lake Superior series scoring three points (1-2) in the two games. He had scored just three points in the previous 11 games. He is third on the team with 20 points (11-9). He has a point in 14 games this season with five 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 11 goals, nine assists and 20 points this season. The Green Bay, Wis. native has 15 points (8-7) in
CCHA play, third on the team, while he is tied for the team lead with eight goals, which is tied for seventh in the league. His 11 goals in all games is also tied for seventh-best in the CCHA. He ranks among the CCHA leaders in three overall and league-only categories. He is tied for the team lead in league play with a +4 on-ice rating while he is tied for second in all games at plus-two. He has at least one goal in nine of the 13 weekends of play this season and has at least one point in all but three weekends.
TOUGH STRETCH
The Falcons have played 10 of their last 14 games against ranked opponents. The Falcons have gone 4-9-1 over the period with three of the four wins coming against the only unranked teams, Clarkson and Lake Superior, they played in the stretch. Four of the games in the stretch were against CCHA leader and top-ranked Notre Dame while Minnesota State, Ohio State and Michigan were also ranked. The Falcons are 1-9-1 this season against the ranked teams they've played, 8-5-2 against unranked teams. BG's shutout win over Michigan on Jan. 16 was its first against a ranked team this season.
SEXTON 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 point in eight of the last nine games (14 points (7-7) in those nine games) and a goal in six of the last eight games (seven goals in those eight games). He had a five-game goal-scoring streak and a six-game point streak, both career bests, end when BG was shutout by Michigan (Jan. 17). He had six goals and 10 points during the streaks. He had the best goal-scoring weekend of his career with three tallies against Clarkson (Dec. 19-20), including his second two-goal game of the season (the other against Nebraska-Omaha on Oct. 31). The Apple Valley, Minn. native leads the team with 30 points (12-18) while scoring at least one point in every weekend series except one this season. He has scored a point in a team-best 18 games and has a team-best 10 contests with two or more points, including two games with three points (Ohio State, Jan. 9, 1-2; RIT, Oct. 10, 0-3). He is fourth in the CCHA in points, tied for third in the assists and tied for fourth 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 20 points (8-12) in CCHA play is second on the team and eighth in the CCHA. 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 eighth nationally. He is tied for 20th in the nation in points.
KANTOLA IS LIGHTING THE LAMP
Junior forward Kai Kantola is third on the team with 10 goals this season. He had 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. Following that series, he had single goals in three of the next six games, including one in both games of the Ohio State (Jan. 9-10) series. Kantola, who also had two goals in the season opener against RIT, is fourth on the team in scoring with 13 points (10-3). He is tied for 11th in the CCHA in goals scored. Kantola, who has a point in 10 games this season, has three goals in league play. Kantola has eight points in the last 12 games.
HOME COOKING
With the conclusion of the Lake Superior series last weekend, the Falcons completed a portion of its schedule in which they played 13 of their last 16 games at home. BG posted a 5-7-1 record in those 13 home games and a 6-9-1 record for all games over the stretch.For the season thus far, the Falcons have played 17 of their 26 games at home. But, of course, the schedule now flip-flops and BG will play seven of their last 10 on the road to conclude the regular season. BG's series this week with Miami will be the first overnight trip for the team since Nov. 7-8 when they played at Lake Superior.
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. Of late, BG has been much more productive on the power-play and more successful on the penalty kill. The power-play is 10-for-56 (17.9%) over the last nine games while it had converted just five-of-76 (6.6%) opportunities over the previous 13 games. BG is 11-of-102 (10.8%) in their 18 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 on Dec. 13 and started them on the run they are currently on. It was the first time in 10 games the Falcons had two or more goals with the manpower advantage. BG has a pair of power-play goals in three of their last nine games and at least one in seven of the last nine. 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 five of the last nine games killing off 49-of-57 (86.0%) opportunities. BG had killed off 47 of the last 52 (90.4%) chances for their opponents before Lake Superior scored on its first three opportunities in the Saturday night loss.
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 29 goals in the last nine games after having scored just 11 times in the previous seven contests. BG's eight goals in the Ohio State (Jan. 9-10) and Lake Superior (Jan. 23-24) series, was its best offensive weekends 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 3.2 goals over the last nine games. BG has scored three or more goals in eight of their last nine games, after reaching that mark seven times in the first 17 contests of the year.
SPRATT AMONG BGSU LEADERS
Senior goaltender Jimmy Spratt has started all 25 games he's played in this season, and 25 of the 26 games BG has played this year. 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. He posted his second shutout in the 3-0 win at Michigan (Jan. 16) making 29 stops. The Chesterfield, Mich. native enjoyed probably the three best weekends of his career this season in sweeps of Northern Michigan (Nov. 14-15) and Clarkson (Dec. 19-20) and the split with Michigan last week. 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. Two weeks ago against Michigan, he stopped 67-of-68 shots (.985) with a 0.51 goals-against. The series with NMU and Clarkson were the first 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 15 of the 25 games he's started and has a 3.05 goals-against, a little better than one-half a goal better than his career GAA (3.66) coming into this season. He has just six games of 30 or more saves this season with a season-high 38 saves against Michigan (Jan. 16). He has an .891 save percentage. In 17 league starts, Spratt has a 3.22 goals-against and an .889 save percentage. He has now played in 91 career games, with 88 of those starts. Spratt, who is one of only nine goalies in school history to reach the 2,000-save plateau, has 2,224 career saves, sixth on the BGSU list while his 1,646 stops in CCHA play is fifth-best in school history. He needs six saves to pass Wally Charko on the CCHA games only list (1,651 saves - 4th). Spratt has logged 1,437:08 this season, seventh among all goalies in the nation this season. Spratt has given up one or fewer goals in four of his last seven games and he has a 2.75 goals-against and a .904 save percentage over the period.
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 against Ohio State (Jan. 9) 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 in that first game back, and made his first start of the season the following night. In 28:23 of work in his first game back, Eno had 10 saves and allowed one goal. The following night, he went all the way playing 62:42 making 21 saves and allowing four goals. He played the final two periods of the Saturday game, in relief of Spratt, against Lake Superior. 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. 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. 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.
BAILEN CONTRIBUTING IN ALL PHASES
Freshman defenseman Nick Bailen has emerged as one of the top first-year players in the CCHA. Bailen has a point in four of the last eight games (five points) and six of the last 13 contests. The Fredonia, N.Y. native is the top scoring defenseman on the team with eight (4-4) points. He is also an important part of the power-play unit with three man-advantage markers, tied for second on the squad. Bailen also plays on the penalty-killing unit. He had a pair of goals in the Ohio State game (Jan. 9) and has three goals in the last six games. Bailen was named the CCHA Rookie of the Week for Dec. 15-21 and he is 16th in the CCHA in scoring among first-year players.
FALCON ICE CHIPS
BG has scored in 46 of the 78 periods (regulation time) this season, two more than their opposition...the difference in the number of goals scored, 86 to 64, in favor of the opposition, comes from the fact BG has 12 multi-goal periods this season compared to 25 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...BG is 2-9-2 in Saturday games this season, 7-5-1 in Friday contests...junior James Perkin had a goal in the Friday win over Lake Superior...he had two goals in the first three games of the season and has had two in the last 23 contests...Perkin was third on the team with 25 points last season...the Falcons are 1-1-3 in their five overtime games this season...BG's top line of Brandon Svendsen, David Solway and Dan Sexton had at least two points on five of the eight goals BG scored against Lake Superior last week...BG is 2-6-1 on the road this season, 2-4-1 in CCHA play...sophomore Wade Finegan, who earlier this season scored his first point, an assist in the Providence game (Oct. 18), notched his first career goal in the Saturday game against Lake Superior...Finegan has played 14 games in his career, 10 of those this season...junior Tommy Dee had BG's first goal of the weekend against Lake Superior and now has four goals for the season all in the last nine games...he has a goal in four of the last five series after scoring only one assist in the first 17 games of the season...BG has posted a 4-4 record in its last eight contests...BG is second only to Miami in the CCHA in power-play opportunities...Miami has had 168 chances this season, one more than BG...BG's total is the sixth-highest in the country...BG is tied for second nationally with seven short-handed goals...Army and Air Force also have seven while RIT leads the country with eight.
MIAMI NOTES
The RedHawks have been just 2-5-1 in the second half after compiling a 12-3-3 record before the holidays...Miami started the second half losing five straight during which they gave up 20 goals and scored just six...they are 2-0-1 in their last three earning a win and a tie last weekend at Nebraska-Omaha...they have scored 14 goals in their last three games...sophomore Carter Camper leads the CCHA and is 12th in the nation with 32 points (16-16)...his nine power-play goals lead the league and it is the second-highest total in the country...he is eighth in the nation in goals...sophomore Pat Cannone is fifth in the CCHA with 28 points (11-17) and he has five power-play markers...senior Justin Mercier (8-14) and sophomore Andy Miele (9-11) are the other players with 20 or more points...junior Jared Palmer has 19 points (5-14) with all five of his goals coming on the power play...freshman Chris Wideman is the top defenseman...he has 18 assists this season, tied for third in the conference...he is 17th in the country in points for a defenseman and tied for 21st nationally in points by a first-year player...Mercier was a first-team preseason all-league pick and Camper a second-team selection...Camper had 41 points a year ago and Mercier had 40 (25 goals)...a pair of freshman are sharing time in the nets...Connor Knapp has played each of the last three games and has a 9-3-2 record with a 1.95 goals-against, fourth in the CCHA, and a .912 save percentage...Cody Reichard is 5-5-2 this season with a 2.31 goals-against and a .908 save percentage...Miami ranks in the top 10 nationally in penalty-killing (2nd, 91.1%), scoring defense (8th, 2.12), scoring margin (9th, +1.08), and combined special teams (3rd, 55.4%) while their 19.6% conversion rate on the power-play is 11th-best in the country...Miami's 33 power-play goals this season are second only to Notre Dame's 34 in the league...Miami is 51st in the country, out of 58 teams, averaging 19.5 penalty minutes per game.
LAST WEEK
The Falcons split with Lake Superior at home last week winning the opener by a 4-3 count while the Lakers came back to post an 8-4 decision in the finale. BG took a 2-0 lead in the Friday game at the midway point of the contest, but LSSU scored twice in just over a two-minute span late in the middle stanza to make it a 20-minute hockey game. BG got a goal from Brandon Svendsen at the 7:35 mark of the final period and Kyle Page scored the game-winner at 11:10 after Lake Superior would score at 13:14 to make it the final score. Tommy Dee and James Perkin had the other BG goals as LSSU outshot the Falcons, 34-20. Jimmy Spratt made 31 saves for BGSU while Brian Mahoney-Wilson was credited with 16 stops for the Lakers. In the finale, the tone was set early as LSSU scored three times on the power-play in the first period and added a goal with one second left in the period for a 4-1 lead. From that point on, the teams traded goals and BG could get no closer than three goals. LSSU had seven different goal scorers while BG got tallies from David Solway, Svendsen, Wade Finegan and Dan Sexton. Spratt played the first period and made 12 saves before Nick Eno finished up making 16 stops. Mahoney-Wilson had 16 stops before an injury forced him to the sideline and Pat Inglis made 14 saves in relief.
NEXT WEEK
The Falcons stay on the road making the long haul to Marquette, Mich. for a pair of games on Feb. 6-7. Both games of the series begin at 7:35 p.m. The Falcons took a pair of 2-1 decisions from the Wildcats in the series played earlier this season.
