Falcon Hockey Prepares for Friday Showdown with U.S. National Team

GAME NOTES
STAT PACKET

THIS WEEK
The Bowling Green State University hockey team will take the week to gear up against a team that needs no introduction to the international hockey world. The United States Under-18 National Team Developmental Program will come into Bowling Green, Ohio for an exhibition match with the BGSU Falcons on Friday, Oct. 16, 2009. Drop of the puck will commence at 7:05 p.m. EST.

ADMISSION NOTE: Admission will be treated as a normal BGSU Falcon home game.

RADIO / LIVE STATS
All games this season can be heard on the radio by tuning into 88.1 WGBU-FM. Everett Fitzhugh will provide the play-by-play commentary with Brian Fisher alongside for the analysis. 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.

Live stats for all BGSU home games are available on the BGSU web site - www.bgsufalcons.com - via Live Scoring. The stats can be accessed from the schedule page in the hockey section of the website by clicking on the “details” icon on the right hand side of the page, then by clicking “live scoring”.

LAST TIME OUT
The opening weekend did not fair as well as hoped for the Falcons when they traveled to Mankato, Minn. for the 2009-10 season-opening series against the Mavericks. Bowling Green lost both contests
by scores of 3-2 and 4-1 on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

Jordan Samuels-Thomas led all Falcon scorers with three points, all by assist, in his debut with the Falcons. He would tally two of those helpers on goals by seniors Tomas Petruska an Kyle Page Friday night. Petruska and Page would both score a goal and add an assist on the same night. Samuels-Thomas' last assist would add his last assist on a Josh Boyd goal on Saturday night. Senior assistant captain Tommy Dee would also get credit with an assist on the play.

The Falcons begin the season 0-2-0 for the first time since the 2005-06 season after Merrimack (3-2) and Boston College (9-6) beat the Falcons on their first weekend of play.

KYLE PAGE NAMED CAPTAIN FOR 2009-10; SOLWAY AND DEE AS ASSISTANT CAPTAINS
With a team that is as young as the Falcon squad is (8-SR, 4-JR, 4-SO, 10-FR), upperclassman leadership will be key to BGSU's success and development. That being said it is only fitting that seniors Kyle Page and Tommy Dee along with junior David Solway have been named the captains of the 2009-10 BGSU Falcons. Page will wear the captain's “C” while Dee and Solway will dawn their assistant captain “A”s.

Page, who was also named captain last season, returns after posting his best offensive season in 2008-09. He scored a career-high four goals and ten assists; good for 14 points. Thirteen of those points came in the Falcons' last 23 games. As a sophomore, Page did not record a point but was a defenseive stalwart for the Brown and Orange with his candidacy for CCHA Defenseman of the Year in 2007-08. In that year, he blocked 25 shots, but was even or better in 23 of 35 games. He is a two-time winner of the Jim Ruehl Award, given to BGSU's top defensive player, which he won as a freshman and a sophomore. Page also was named to the All-CCHA Rookie Team in 2006-07.

Solway will return as the team's leading point-getter from the 2008-09 season (24) at the forward position. He played in all 38 games as a sophomore netting a career-high 12 goals and assisting on 12 others. He was third on the team in scoring in CCHA contests (19). He hit three game-winning goals, all at home, against Northern Michigan (Nov. 24), Clarkson (Dec. 20) and Michigan State (Feb. 21).

Dee returns as another reliable scoring threat as a forward. In 2008-09 he scored seven goals and added an assist to finish the year with eight points total. He turned in a career night against Ohio State in the first game of the CCHA Tournament's opening round by scoring a pair of goals against the Buckeyes. He also scored the game-winning goal against the Michigan Wolverines in a 3-0 win, the first shut-out of the Wolverines in series history.

WELCOME TO FALCON COUNTRY!
With the Williams era underway, many new faces have come to Bowling Green, Ohio. Ten new players and three new coaches have been welcomed into the Falcon Family for the upcoming season.

The lineup will feature four new defensemen, five forwards and one goaltender. Included in this class of freshmen is the 2008-09 OJHL scoring champion (Nathan Pageau, F), a seventh-round NHL Draft selection of the Atlanta Thrashers (Jordan Samuels-Thomas, F) and a goaltender who is fresh off a 2008-09 Bank Cup Championship (Andrew Hammond, G). Ryan Peltoma (Fr., D), Jerry Freismuth (Fr., F), Ian Ruel (Fr., D), Matt Rodriguez (Fr., F), Max Grover (Fr., F), Reed Rushing (Fr., D), and Robert Shea (Fr., D) round out the freshman class.

On the bench with head coach Dennis Williams will be three new coaches to assist him. Assistant coach Mike Mankowski, most recently of Canisius College (2005-09), brings a wealth of experience and specializes in recruiting. He also spent time with the Toledo IceDiggers (2002-05), leading them to a CEHL championship in 2002 as their head coach and eventual general manager. Mankowski also spent time with the Toledo Storm (ECHL) from 2000-03 and was the head coach of Toledo's St. John's Jesuit High School hockey team, which he led to six Ohio State Frozen Four appearances in that time. Mankowski is a 1990 graduate of Toledo.

Scott Stirling was brought in and will begin his first season as a coach. Stirling specializes in goaltending after completing an established post-collegiate career with teams from the ECHL, AHL and the Norwegian Hockey League. His best season was in 2004 as a part of the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies (ECHL) where he posted a 1.91 GAA and .933 save-percentage in 49 games (31-13-5). He would go on to win WCHL MVP honors, Goalie of the Year and First Team All-ECHL honors. His collegiate career at Brown University (1997-2000) was filled with success as well. A two-time All-Ivy selection, Stirling is in the Golden Bear top-ten in seven different season and career goaltending categories.

Doug Slipacoff is the final addition to the hockey coaching staff. He comes to BGSU as a recent graduate of Neumann College and will continue his graduate studies at BGSU in business education. Slipacoff reunites with coach Williams after Williams recruited Slipacoff to play for him as a Golden Knight in 2005. Slipacoff played defense for the Knights and was a part of their 2009 Division-III National Championship season. For his career at Neumann, Slipacoff played in 40 games, scored one goal and recorded five assists for a total of six career points.

BOWLING GREEN ON NATIONAL TELEVISION THIS SEASON
Bowling Green hockey will be displayed on a national setting twice for the 2009-10 season. The first occurrence will be during the away contest at Michigan on Feb. 9, 2010. That game will be broadcast on Comcast Cable at 7:35 p.m. The second occasion will be at Michigan State on Feb. 26, 2010 when Fox Sports Network-Detroit will air the Falcons and the Spartans dropping the puck at 6:05 p.m. Select BGSU home games will be broadcast locally on BCSN.

'JuST' A GREAT START
In his debut as a Falcon, freshman Jordan Samuels-Thomas (nicknamed “JST”) shot out of the gate by scoring a team-leading three points in his first weekend of play. Samuels-Thomas received assists on three goals, two in the first game of his career, against Minnesota State (Oct. 9-10). The last Falcon freshman to score a point in the team's season opener was Kevin Schmidt (2005-2009) when he scored a power-play goal versus Merrimack on Oct. 14, 2005. The last freshman to score multiple points in his debut in brown and orange was Jonathan Matumoto on Oct. 22, 2004 when he scored a goal and two assists at Union College. Samuels-Thomas is only the sixth freshman to score in a BG season opener.

DYNAMIC DUO
Junior Nick Eno and freshman Andrew Hammond may be battling each other for playing time but together they make for a great one-two punch at the goaltender position. Each goalie had the chance to start at Minnesota State (Oct 9-10).

Despite the two losses, Hammond and Eno combined for 69 saves on 76 shots against and both finished saving more than 90 percent of the shots they faced. Head coach Dennis Williams said of Eno, “Five or six of his saves were highlight reel saves that could of went the other direction and really put us in a hole.” As for Hammond, Williams said, “Andrew Hammond was the best player for us out there tonight [Saturday]. He kept us in the game and we just got to find more ways to provide more offense.”

FALCON QUICK HITS
• Senior forward Kai Kantola played in his 100th game of his Falcon career in the 2008-09 season finale against Ohio State. He is two goals away from scoring 25 in his career and eight points away from eclipsing 50 points.
• James Perkin (Sr., F) is six points away from hitting 50 for career. He currently stands at 46 points (16-28).
• Assistant captain David Solway ( Jr., F) stands 11 points away from 50 in his Falcon career (21-18--39).
• Assistant captain Tommy Dee (Sr., F) will play in his 100th game as a Falcon on Oct. 30th at Nebraska-Omaha. Dee currently has 12 goals, seven assists and 19 points in 97 games played. Ten of those points (5-5) have come in conference play.
• The BGSU hockey program will be seeking its 800th win in its 40 year existence this season. Bowling Green currently stands with a 789-669-64 overall record in 39 seasons of play and needs 11 wins to hit the 800 mark.
• Bowling Green is also close to reaching another milestone in program wins, this time within Central Collegiate Hockey Association competition. The Falcons stand 22 wins away from 500 total after 38 years of competing in the CCHA. Their overall record in conference play stands at 478-441-69 (.519 winning- percentage).
• Yet another milestone the Falcons will be reached this season when BGSU plays in its conference
leading 1,000th CCHA contest this season. The mark will be made when BGSU hosts Lake Superior State at the BGSU Ice Arena on Dec. 5, 2009.

FALCONS DRAW TOUGH CLUSTER
Completing the BGSU schedule cluster will be conference foes No. 4 Michigan, No. 5 Notre Dame and Michigan State. The Falcons will face each team four times through the course of the season. The Falcons went a combined 2-6 against these teams a season ago and were outscored 30-10 over eight games.

Notre Dame: 0-4-0 vs. ND in 2008-09... outscored by ND 21-6 in four games... scored one goal in three of the four games played... outshot in all four games versus the Irish (118-92)... ND went 10-of-28 (.357) on the power play against BGSU in 2008-09.

Michigan: 1-1 vs. UM in 2008-09... outscored UM 3-1 in two games... posted the only shutout win against UM in BGSU history in a 3-0 win (Jan. 16)... BG held the Wolverines to zero goals on 13 power play opportunities in those games... will open Lucas County Arena (Toledo, Ohio) officially with a CCHA contest on Nov. 21.

Michigan State: 1-1-0 vs. MSU in 2008-09... finished the regular-season with a 4-0 win at home over MSU on Feb. 21... outscored MSU 6-3 in the two-game series... outshot MSU 73-51 in that span... BG faired better on power play by converting two of their 11 chances, as opposed to MSU going 1-11... will be the first time BGSU and MSU have met more than twice in a season since 2000-01 (two regular season games, one post-season - MSU wins series 2-0-1).

THOSE WEARING RED, WHITE AND BLUE - SCOUTING THE U-18 TEAM

Started in 1996, the National Team Development Program was designed
to prepare student-athletes to play for the U.S. National Team and have successful careers in professional hockey. To help prepare these young men, their competition compromises teams from the USHL, Canadian
University, CCHA, HEA and various Division III schools from across the country.

Through seven games the U-18 NTDP is 2-4-0-1 and currently
on a five game losing streak. Their last three opponents, however, have impressive resumes attached. The U-18s lost to No. 3/4 Michigan by a score of 4-2 (Oct. 3), the 2007-08 national champion, No. 12 Boston College Eagles, 6-3 (Oct. 9), and the defending national champions, No. 2 Boston University, 3-2 (Oct. 10).

Impact players - To highlight one, two or even three impact players is difficult for this team. It is a group training to compete at the national level, after all.

Brandon Saad
Leads the team in assists (4) and points scored (7)... tied for first on the team in goals scored (3) with teammate Justin Faulk... is averaging one point per game... his goal against Waterloo University would be the game-winner in an 8-0 route in a game which he had two goals and an assist.

Jon Merrill
Is one of four team members with two goals... also has three assists on the season... both of his goals were scored on the power play... is second on the team in points scored (5).

Andy Iles and Jack Campbell serve as goaltenders in a rotatingrole, but both have been superb five games into the season. In Iles' first two games against Waterloo University and the Tri-City Storm, he was 1-0-0-1, only allowed one goal in 120 minutes, recorded a shutout against Waterloo, had a 0.50 GAA and saved 97 percent of shots attempted. After 60 additionalminutes he has allowed seven goals and has a 2.33 GAA and a .891 save percentage.

Jack Campbell has played in four contests and has a 1-2-0-0 mark in 237 minutes. He has stopped 112 of 122 shots and has compiled a 2.53 GAA and .918 save percentage.

In their wins against Waterloo University and Tri-City (USHL), the U-18s held their opponents to 28 total shots. In their shutout loss to Sioux City, they held the Muskateers to 19 shots, making for a three game opponent shot total of 47 (average 15.67 per game). In their last four losses, they have allowed more than 30 shots per game in each contest.

Eighteen of the 22 players listed on the U-18 roster have already given verbal committments to colleges across the nation. Eight of those committs were given to CCHA rival schools Michigan and Notre Dame. Michigan has five current U-18 team members verbally committed to its 2010-11 roster including two forwards, two defensemen and a goaltender Jack Campbell. Notre Dame is set to welcome forward Bryan Rust and two defensemen, Stephen Jones and Jarred Tinordi.

SOLWAY DOUBTFUL FOR FRIDAY VS. USA U-18 NDTP
Senior forward David Solway is listed as doubtful to play in Friday's exhibition against the USA Under-18 National Team after suffering head and shoulder injuries in their Oct. 3 exhibition against Wilfrid-Laurier. The assistant captain took a hard hit in the second period of that game and has not played since. It is hopeful he will return for the regular season home-opener against Providence (Oct. 23).

OFF TO THE NHL!
Bowling Green has a rich tradition in preparing its hockey players for rich careers in the National Hockey League. For three Falcons from last year's team that could not be truer. Goaltender Jimmy Spratt and forwards Dan Sexton and Brandon Svendsen have caught on to teams in the NHL, or their affiliates.

Spratt, who had been drafted in seventh round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft by the Calgary Flames, has signed a deal with the Johnstown Chiefs of the ECHL for the 2009-10 season. He will be one of two goaltenders on the Chiefs roster going into the season. Spratt strung together solid junior and senior campaigns for the Falcons in 2007-08 and 2008-09 finishing with 17 wins, a 3.06 GAA and over 1,228 saves in that time.

After signing a two-year entry-level deal with the Anaheim Ducks, Sexton had been performing well in preseason drills before being reassigned to the AHL affiliate, San Antonio Rampage.
Sexton was named to the All-CCHA honorable mention team after a 2008-09 season where he played in 38 games, scoring 17 goals and 22 assists.

Svendsen had signed a contract with the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL and put together a four goal and 15 assist season after completing his career with the Falcons. Shortly after the conclusion of the Steelheads season, Svendsen signed a tryout contract with the Ottawa Senators
in July 2009. He has since been reassigned to the Binghamton Senators, Ottawa's AHL affiliate.

During the 2008-09 season as alternate captain, Svendsen had his best season establishing career highs for points (30), goals (12) and assists (18). Overall, the Minnesota native played 148 career games with 76 points (32g-44a).

HAPPY (40TH) BIRTHDAY FALCON HOCKEY!!
A year after celebrating the 25th anniversary of the school's only national championship dating back to the magical 1983-84 season, ending with a quadruple overtime victory over Minnesota-
Duluth, Bowling Green State University will celebrate its 40th year of varsity hockey. The first varsity hockey team was fielded in 1969 and had Division-III status as a part of the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association (MCHA).

In their first contest on November 14, 1969 the Falcons, led by head coach Jack Vivian, played Windsor University and came away with an 8-2 win for their first official collegiate victory. The 1969-70 team would go on to post a 13-12-5 overall record and finish in first place in the WCHA with a 6-1-1 mark. In their two years in the MCHA, Bowling Green would finish with a combined record of 31-24-6 (13-2-1 MCHA) with two conference first place finishes.

In 1971, BGSU would be one of four schools to charter the Central Collegiate Hockey Association
(CCHA) along with Ohio University, Ohio State University and Saint Louis University.

Along with the conference creation, Bowling Green would also garner Division-I status in hockey. In the program's first games under these new stipulations BGSU would thump Ryerson Polytechnical Institute by scores of 9-3 and 9-0. In the Falcons' first CCHA contest, they would beat Ohio University, 5-2. During the 1971-72 season, the Falcons would finish 21-10-2 overall and 6-4-2 in conference play, good for third place.
Bowling Green is the only member of the CCHA to remain an active member for all 39 years (including this year) of the conference's existence. Ohio State left the CCHA during the 1973-74 and 1974-75 seasons, but returned for the 1975-76 season.

After 39 years, BGSU has an all-time record of 789-669-94 (.540). Bowling Green's 478 CCHA wins is good for third among current conference teams. Last season, the Falcons finished 11-24-3 overall and 8-19-1 in conference play, placing 12th in the CCHA. They would be bumped from the CCHA Tournament in the first round by Ohio State after 5-4 and 7-1 losses at the hands of the Buckeyes.

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