Bowling Green State University Athletics
Friday, February 25
East Lansing, Mich.
7:35 p.m.
Bowling Green State University
at
Michigan State
Falcons to End Regular Season in East Lansing This Weekend
February 23, 2011 | Ice Hockey
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Bowling Green Falcons vs. Michigan State Spartans Feb. 25, 2011 - 7:35 p.m. ET Feb. 26, 2011 - 7:05 p.m. ET BGSU Ice Arena -- Bowling Green, Ohio |
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| (8-22-4, 3-19-4-2) 11th, CCHA |
(13-17-4, 9-15-2-0) 10th, CCHA |
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| BGSU game notes | Complete coverage at Game Central (Listen, Follow, Watch ... Falcon Hockey!) |
MSU game notes (coming soon!) |
THIS WEEK IN FALCON HOCKEY ...
Bowling Green will end the regular season embarking north to the “land of Sparty”. The team will go up the road to East Lansing, Mich. for its final games of the 2010-11 season against the Michigan State Spartans (13-17-4, 9-15-2-0) this Friday and Saturday nights.
LAST TIME OUT...
the Falcons played the Northern Michigan Wildcats last weekend in a pair of tough games. The Falcons came from behind, down two goals in the third period in Friday night's game with consecutive power play goals stemming from an NMU major penalty. Cameron Sinclair and Camden Wojtala both posted power-play goals within two minutes of one another to tie the game, 2-2. Andrew Hammond made key stops within the final 30 seconds of both the third period and overtime. Hammond continued his success, stopping all four NMU shooters in their tracks during the shootout. David Solway plugged home the lone tally, giving the Falcons the SOW. Saturday night, two costly Wildcat turnovers near their own net turned into two BGSU goals, but that was all the Falcons could muster while NMU's Phil Fox and Justin Florek had multi-point nights, leading to their 3-2 win over Bowling Green.
BERGERON WEEKLY PRESS CONFERENCE
BGSU hockey head coach Chris Bergeron sat down with the local media earlier today for his weekly press conference. Among topics discussed are the Falcons' matchup against Michigan State this weekend, MSU head coach Rick Comley's impact on college hockey and an injury update. To view the press conference, click here.
HAMMOND FEATURED ON "INSIDE CCHA RADIO"
Earlier this week, Inside CCHA Radio host Fred Pletsch had BGSU sophomore goaltender Andrew Hammond appear as a guest on this week's radio show. Among topics were his recent play over his last five starts, the progress of his team, the mental makeup coming from successful junior club and the Falcons' play last week against Northern Michigan. Click here for access to the podcast.
BGSU UNDER ON A NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT ... TWICE!
Both BSGU/MSU games this weekend will be played on nationall television as the Falcons round out there year. Friday's game will be played on Fox Sports Detroit PLUS (where available). Click here for a complete listing of FSD channels nearby. Friday's game will also be broadcast on Fox College Sports Atlantic and Leafs TV.
Saturday's game will be be broadcast on the Comcast family of networks (where available).
THE PLAYOFF PICTURE
The playoffs picture is wide open as to where the Falcons will be heading next weekend when the CCHA playoffs start. The number one, two and three spots locked up the rest of the playoff picture down to the number ten spot is subject to change after this weekend's games. If the season ended now, BGSU would head to Ferris State, but the Bulldogs and Buckeyes (ranked 9th) have a series this weekend that will in large part form the rest of the playoff picture. The fourth and fifth spots in the playoff picture are also wide open. No. 4 Northern Michigan plays second place Michigan while fourth place Western Michigan could lose their first round bye should the right combination of wins and loses combined with their results in a series against first place Notre Dame. For Bowling Green, the field is wide open with the only teams that it is not possible to play in the first round are Notre Dame, Michigan, Miami, Michigan State and Alaska.
THE STARTING FIVE - Five Facts On BGSU Hockey
(1) The all-time series between MSU and BGSU is 27-69-9 in favor of Michigan State. Bowling Green has won in East Lansing only seven times in 49 games total.
(2) BGSU has ended their season with a series against Michigan State in three of the last four seasons, posting an 1-4-1 record against the Spartans with one shootout win in last year's season finale at Bowling Green.
(3) BGSU has earned a split in 4 of their last 6 series with Michigan State.
(4) In his last five games, Andrew Hammond has allowed only eight goals and has a 1.76 GAA and .939 save percentage with a 1-2-2-2 record.
(5) Three BGSU Falcons have been nominated for the Hobey Baker Award, college hockey's most prestigious honor. David Solway, Jordan Samuels-Thomas and Marc Rodriguez are included in a pool of more than 60 hockey players across the nation to be voted on by the fans. Visit hobeybakeraward.com to vote for your favorite Falcon for the Hobey Baker Award.
IF THE SEASON ENDED TODAY ...
With the new 11-team tournament format in place, the first five teams earn a bye for the first round leaving the remaining six teams to engage in first-round action at the sixth, seventh and eighth seeds' host sites, respectively. If the season ended today, the 11th seeded Falcons would head to Big Rapids, Mich. to play the Ferris State Bulldogs for the first round of the CCHA Tournament. Ferris State swept Bowling Green earlier this year in Bowling Green. Ferris State and Alaska are in a tie for sixth place with Ferris State holding the tiebreaker over the Nanooks by way of conference win totals. Alaska however, has played their last conference games and cannot advance in the points race from this point.
HAMMOND ENDING 2010-11 ON FIRE
Head coach Chris Bergeron had played with the two-goalie system for 14 weekends before he decided to abandon it in favor of sophomore goaltender Andrew Hammond. After allowing three goals in a period-plus of play against Lake Superior on Jan. 28, Hammond was summoned to take the lead between the pipes and has taken a majority of the starts since. Against Western Michigan two weeks ago, Bergeron gave Hammond both night's starts, the first time he had given either goaltender consecutive starts all season. Though the decision isn't final and competition is open the rest of the season for the starting job, Hammond's line over the last six games suggest that he is the favorite for the rest of the year. Over 276:31 in his last five games, he has allowed only eight goals, posting a 1.76 GAA and a .939 save percentage while obtaining a 1-2-2-2 record.
SHOOTOUT NUMBERS IMPROVING
Bowling Green began the year having dropped its first two shootout decisions against Lake Superior in their series played in early December. They have now won their last two shootouts, improving their record to 2-2 in shootout situations. Both wins have came when Andrew Hammond was in goal. In both wins, Hammond has shutout the competition on seven attempts. Hammond has now saved 9-of-11 shots against him (.820 save percentage).
COMEBACK KIDS
For the first time this season the Falcons came from behind after trailing after one and two periods of play. Previously, the Falcons were 0-13-0 when trailing after one period and 0-15-0 when trailing after two periods. BGSU may still not have a win in either category but they did finish their first game having not lost in either situation with their tie against Northern Michigan on Feb. 18.
ONE IS THE LONELIEST NUMBER
Bowling Green's offensive struggled have been well documented this season, scoring on average 1.9 goals per game for the season. Since the beginning of December the Falcons have scored more than two goals only twice over 15 games. They have scored only one goal nine times in those 15 games (0-12-3-1 in those games) and a total of 14 times this season alone.
Click here for complete BGSU game notes ... to see head coach Chris Bergeron's press conference earlier this week, click here.
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