Bowling Green State University Athletics
Friday, November 27
South Bend, Ind.
7:35 PM
Bowling Green State University
at
Notre Dame
Photo by: Todd Pavlack / BGSUHockey.com
Falcons Continue Cluster Play Against Notre Dame
November 25, 2009 | Ice Hockey
Bowling Green Falcons
(2-9-1, 2-5-1-1)
vs.
#13/14 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
(6-5-3, 3-2-3-2)
Nov. 27-28, 2009
Friday - 7:35 p.m. / Saturday - 7:05 p.m. EST
The Joyce Center (Notre Dame, Ind.)
Bowling Green media notes
Notre Dame media notes
CCHA Weekly - Nov. 22, 2009
THIS WEEK
The Falcons get back into the ring for Round 2 against opponents within their cluster as they fend off the effects of Tryptophan as they embark on another road trip to close out the month of November. This weekend Bowling Green will venture to 'the birthplace of college football', Notre Dame, Ind. for a weekend series against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Game times are set for 7:35 p.m. EST on Friday and 7:05 p.m. on Saturday night at the Joyce Center.
MEDIA COVERAGE
All games this season can be heard on the radio by tuning into 88.1 WGBU-FM. Everett Fitzhugh will bring you the live action, shot-for-shot. 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
Bowling Green took down their second nationally-ranked opponent in as many weeks after winning the first of a two-game set with the then No. 15/16 Michigan Wolverines on Nov. 20 in Ann Arbor. After U-M took a 1-0 lead midway through the first period Friday night, David Solway hit his third goal in two games after finding his own rebound and stuffing the puck past Wolverine goaltender Bryan Hogan. After falling behind 2-1 late in the second period, Bowling Green exploded for three goals in a 2:22 span. Two of those goals came on back-to-back power plays and all three goals were scored by seniors; Tommy Dee, Kyle Page and James Perkin. Bowling Green held on as Nick Eno made 29 saves on the night to preserve a 4-2 win at the Yost. Saturday night (Nov. 21) BGSU brought their game back to northwest Ohio, but played Michigan at the brand new Lucas County Arena in Toledo, Ohio. After Michigan took a 2-0 lead on the Falcons in the first, Marc Rodriguez scored his first collegiate goal to half the U-M lead for the time being. The Michigan defense would be very stingy as they allowed Bowling Green only 12 shots on goal for the entire contest. In the meantime, the Wolverines put two more goals home to solidify the win by a final of 4-1 to complete the weekend split.
ALL EYES ON BG!
Despite a slow start, Bowling Green hockey can be seen among the nations leaders in a variety of categories.
Jordan Samuels-Thomas - Fr. - Foward - Windsor, Conn.
* Tied-seventh in conference scoring (by points) with nine (5-4)
* Tied-second in conference point scoring by a freshman (9)
* Leads all conference freshmen and is fifth among all CCHA players with (5) goals scored in conference games
* Tied-second in conference point scoring (1.12 gpg) among freshmen
* Tied-second in overall scoring among CCHA freshmen (5-5-10)
* Third in overall scoring (5-7--12) and second in overall points per game (1.00)
Nick Eno - Jr. - Goaltender - Howell, Mich.
* Tied-seventh in conference saves (153)
* Ninth in total saves overall (203)
Tomas Petruska - Sr. - Forward - Petrov, Slovakia
* Tied-fourth in assist scoring during conference games (8)
WHAT'S THAT RANKING FOR?
Despite a slow start to the season for Bowling Green, with their improvements over time they have played top-ranked competion well, especially as of late. This year the Falcons are 2-3-1 with a shootout win against top-20 (by USCHO.com) teams. Their wins have come against then No. 9 Alaska-Fairbanks (Nov. 13) and No. 15/16 Michigan (Nov. 20). Bowling Green actually bounced U-M out of the top-20 rankings with their 4-2 win over the Wolverines. The shootout victory came at the hands of UNO on Oct. 30. The Falcons now play their third consecutive ranked opponent when they travel to the Joyce Center in Notre Dame, Ind. for a weekend series against the No. 13/14 Fighting Irish on Nov. 27-28.
LUCK WITH THE IRISH
Notre Dame must have a hidden four-leaf clover they carry with the team when they play the Falcons. The No. 13/14 Fighting Irish have been more than successful against the Falcons in the last fifteen years than any other CCHA team. Since winning eight straight against UND from 1994 to February 1996, the Irish have a combined record of 33-8-4 record against BGSU. Notre Dame has won the last 12 contests and has not lost to BG since Jan. 29, 2005, spanning over 16 total games. The Falcon senior class has not beaten the Irish in their careers in ten chances, but has played in four one-goal games in that time.
SEVERAL STREAKS SNAPPED WITH LOSS
With their loss to then No. 15/16 Michigan on Saturday night, 4-1, four Falcons had personal scoring streaks snapped. Heading into the contest, David Solway and Jordan Samuels-Thomas each had three game point-scoring streaks snapped and Kyle Page along with Max Grover had two game point streaks broken. Tomas Petruska was the only Falcon to extend his point-scoring streak after recording an assist in his fifth consecutive game against Michigan on Nov. 21 at Lucas County Arena in their 4-1 loss.
THERE IS ALWAYS A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
Two more Falcon freshmen recorded career firsts when BGSU played Michigan in a weekend home-and home series. Ian Ruel, an Ann Arbor, Mich. native, scored his first collegiate point after digging a puck out of the boards in his own zone and was credited for the second assist on a David Solway goal on Nov. 20 in the Yost Ice Arena. When the Falcons returned to Ohio to help break in the new Lucas County Arena (Toledo, Ohio) for its first collegiate sporting event in the arena's first year, freshman forward Marc Rodriguez scored his first collegiate goal wearing orange and brown in the Falcons' lone score in a 4-1 loss to the Wolverines. Through 12 games, seven of the nine non-goaltending Falcon freshmen have scored at least one point via a goal or an assist this season.
NOT-SO FREAKY FRIDAY (The 13th)
The Falcons broke an eight-game winless streak on Nov. 13 against No. 9 Alaska with a 3-1 win. The streak tied the 1981-82 BGSU hockey team for the longest winless streak to begin a season. Ironically, both streaks were broken on a 'Friday the 13th' in November. The 1981-82 Falcons started 0-7-1 before defeating Lake Superior (Nov. 13, 1981), 8-2. Bowling Green went on to win the CCHA with a 20-7-1 conference mark that year.
SCOUTING THE NO. 13/14 NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH
Recent action: Notre Dame snapped a four-game winless streak against Michigan State in Fort Wayne, Ind. with a 4-1 win over the Spartans following a rare Sunday afternoon match up on Nov. 22. Prior to the win, the Irish took back-to-back games into a shootout against Northern Michigan (Nov. 15) and Michigan State (Nov. 19), both of which they would come out victorious by way of 2-1 shootout wins.
Players to watch: Recently named CCHA Defenseman of the Week for Nov. 16, Kyle Lawson, anchors the defensive unit and is one of four players with a team-leading 11 points (3-8) on the season. The preseason All-CCHA second teamer recently notched a pair of assists and five blocks after keeping Notre Dame perfect on the weekend on the PK against Michigan State. Lawson also leads the team in blocks with 35 on the year. Junior Calle Ridderwall leads the Irish with seven goals on the year and a team-leading four power-play tallies. Irish forwards Ben Ryan (3-8) and Billy Maday (4-7) also share the team lead in points with 11 and serve one and two in on-ice ratings for the Irish with +4 and +5 ratings, respectively. Senior Kevin Deeth is the lead setup man at the center position with nine assists this year. Goaltenders Mike Johnson and Brad Phillips have seen significant action this season and may split time between the pipes aganst the Falcons. Johnson is third in the nation in GAA (1.49) and second in save-percentage (.943) while Johnson stands eleventh in GAA (1.96) country-wide.
Statistically speaking: In all five of their losses this year, the Irish have allowed three goals in each contest. They have not lost a game in which they have given up more three goals and have not allowed more than three red-lighters in a single contest all season long. On the flip side, the ND offense has scored more than three goals once this season, this coming off their most recent win over MSU, and their last goal in that game was an empty-netter by Kevin Deeth. Defense and special teams are the ways the Irish win in 2009-10. Though the Irish rank 21st in the nation on the power play (.194), their penalty kill is fourth in the country (.906) and tops in the CCHA. Having allowed 1.79 gpg, they rank fourth nationally in team defense and second in the CCHA only behind No. 1 Miami. Among conference teams, Notre Dame is tied with Western Michigan for having allowed the fewest goals in the first and second periods combined (15) through 14 games (6-9). Jeff Jackson has had the Falcons' number since taking the helm for the Irish, posting a 15-0-1 mark versus BGSU since 2005. If you look on page six of these notes, you'll see that Notre Dame led all CCHA schools with four honorees on both the first and second team All-CCHA preseason team.
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