Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Northern Michigan
Falcons Ready To Battle Northern Michigan In Final Regular Season Road Series
February 25, 2014 | Ice Hockey
BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY FALCONS
at
 NORTHERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY WILDCATS
Berry Events Center
Games #33/34
Feb. 28 - March 1
7:07 p.m./7:07 p.m. EST
About Northern Michigan
Northern Michigan University ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that started in 1976-77. The Wildcats hold a 746-615-117 record all-time prior to the 2013-14 season, and has totaled eight NCAA Appearances. The Wildcats are located in Marquette, Mich., and plays at the Berry Events Center. NMU's head coach, Walt Kyle, enters his 12th season and is just the second head hockey coach in Northern Michigan University history, leading the Wildcats to six 20-win seasons and a 208-186-49 record.
All-Time Series
The weekend series between the Falcons and Wildcats will mark the 84th and 85th time these two teams will play each other all-time. Northern Michigan holds the advantage between the two teams, coming away with a record of 39-37-7 all-time against the Orange and Brown. Bowling Green holds a 24-17-4 record on the road all-time against NMU, while only coming away 13-21-3 at the BGSU Ice Arena.
Last Weekend (U.S. National Development Team U18)
Game 1: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green University ice hockey team lost to the U.S. National Development Program Team (U18) on Friday night, 6-1, in an exhibition affair. Playing in front of 1,764 Falcon faithful at the BGSU Ice Arena, the Falcons' senior forward Bryce Williamson scored the lone goal, while Tomas Sholl (10-of-13) and Tommy Burke (10-of-13) split time in the net in the losing effort.
WCHA Is Here (Courtesy of WCHA)
At Berry Events Center (4260) in Marquette, Northern Michigan (12-18-2, 10-13-1 WCHA) engages Bowling Green (13-13-6, 10-10-4WCHA) in 7:07 pm ET face-offs both Friday and Saturday in what is the final regular season home series for the Wildcats and the only regular season series between the two clubs. Northern Michigan is three points back of a group of three teams sharing fifth place, including the Falcons. The Wildcats are 7-6-1 at home overall (6-5-1 WCHA) while Bowling Green is 5-7-4 away overall (4-5-3 WCHA).
Final Road Trip
Bowling Green will head to Marquette, Mich. for their final regular season road series of the 2013-14 campaign. The Falcons will enter the weekend with a 5-7-4 record away from the BGSU Ice Arena, averaging 3.0 goals-per-game and allowing an identical 3.0 GPG to its opponents. On the year, BGSU have outscored their opponents on the road in the first two periods by a 31-19 margin, but have been outscored 28-17 over the final 20 minutes.
Speaking Of….
After the Falcons went unbeaten in conference play in an eight-game stretch (4-0-2, 10 points) from Dec. 6 – Jan. 4, but have only been able to come away with a 2-4-2 record since, averaging 2.8 goals-per-game and giving up 3.25 GPG. The Orange and Brown have held leads entering the final period in five of those games, coming away with a record of 0-3-2. On the year, the Falcons hold an impressive plus-23 goal differential after the first two periods of play, but have been outscored by a minus-11 goal differential in the third frame and overtime combined. Â
Dufour With More
Freshman left winger Kevin Dufour lit-the-lamp during the Falcons' 2-2 overtime tie against Alaska-Anchorage on Feb. 14, giving him two-straight games where he tallied one goal. On the year, Dufour is second behind fellow teammate Matt Pohlkamp (eight goals) for most goals among Falcon rookies this season, tallying six for the Orange and Brown. With his totals of 6-5=11, he has helped the freshman total a combined 19 goals and 23 assists for 16 percent of Bowling Green's scoring. Â
65 Percent
Bowling Green had four points tallied by the sophomores and juniors against Alaska-Anchorage on Feb. 14-15. On the year, the two classes have combined for 65 percent of the team's scoring, with 62 goals and 106 assists. The sophomores have combined to post a team-leading 39 goals (40 percent), while the juniors have tallied a team-leading 57 assists (76 percent) of the teams' efforts. Â
Tate Scores
Sophomore Brent Tate lit-the-lamp in the second period against Alaska-Anchorage on Feb. 15, giving him a season total of 10 goals for the 2013-14 campaign. The sophomore winger has easily set a new career high in goals for a single season, breaking his previous-best of four recorded a year ago in his rookie campaign. Tate is also one assist shy of breaking his career-best mark of nine helpers, which was set during his rookie campaign. The second year forward from Canton, Mich. has totaled 10-9=19 on the year thus far, which is fifth best on the current roster.
Perrier Gets On The Board
Junior defenseman Marcus Perrier fired a one-timer from the point that found the back of the net in the first period against Alaska-Anchorage on Feb. 15. The marker was Perrier's first goal of the season. He also has set a new career high in assists in a single season with eight on the year, breaking his previous-best of six he set in his freshman and sophomore campaigns.
Double-Digit Totals
The Falcons currently have 12 players tally at least 10 points on the year, with junior Dan DeSalvo leading the way with 27 (six goals, 21 assists) points. 24 of the Falcons' 25 skaters have recorded at least one point in the season, and have combined for a plus-58 on-ice rating for the 2013-14 season. The last time the Orange and Brown had 13 players with at least 10 points in the same year was in 2005-06, when the Falcons saw 14 players tally double-digit numbers.
Dominating The Circle
The Falcons have controlled the center of the circle for the majority of the 2013-14 season, winning 53 percent of their draws in the face-off circle, while allowing the opposing teams to win 47 percent of the time. Senior captain Camden Wojtala and junior forward Dan DeSalvo have each won over 300 draws on the year. Wojtala has won 54 percent of the time in the circle, while DeSalvo is a close second at 53 percent on the year. In fact, the Falcons have gone 10-6-1 this year when winning more faceoffs than their opponents in game this season.
Two Away
The Falcons lit-the-lamp 101 times in the 2012-13 season, marking the first time the Orange and Brown reached the 100-goal plateau in a season since 2007-08. Bowling Green currently has 98 goals this season, needing only two goals to reach the century mark for the second consecutive season. Under coach Bergeron, the Falcons have increased their goal scoring every season, scoring 74, 85 and 101 goals respectively.
Offensive-Minded Falcons
With four games remaining in the regular season, the Orange and Brown are on pace to have their best offensive season under coach Bergeron in his fourth year. The Falcons are averaging an impressive 3.06 goals per game, which is fourth best in the WCHA. Bowling Green's 3.06 GPG average is the highest average since the 2005-06 season, where the Falcons averaged 3.26 GPG and scored 124 goals in 38 games.
Three Away
Junior forward Dan DeSalvo is three points away from reaching the 80-point plateau for his career. DeSalvo's having his best season as a Falcon, recording a career-best 21 assists with six regular season games still remaining. The last Falcon to record 80 career points before his senior season was Jonathan Matsumoto in the 2005-06 season where he tallied 113 points in three seasons.
70-Point Club?
Bowling Green 's Ryan Carpenter and Cam Wojtala are quickly approaching 70 points for their careers. Carpenter is one point away with 69 points, while Wojtala needs only two points to reach the 70-point plateau. With Dan DeSalvo (77 points) already passing the career mark, the Falcons could have three players with 70-or-more career points by the end of the year. The last time Bowling Green had three players on the roster with at least 70 career points in the same season was in 2005-06 when Brett Pilkington (91), Alex Foster (82) and Jonathan Matsumoto (80) completed the feat.
Month of January
The hockey team ended the month of January with an overall record of 4-2-1. The Falcons posted a 4-3-1 record in January last season, and won only nine games up to this point in the season. The Orange and Brown have improved their win total in four of the five months this season, and has four more wins (13) this year compared to last (9).
Bowling Green WCHA Ranks
Scoring Offense:Â Â Â 3.06 G/GM (4th)
Scoring Defense:Â Â Â 2.69 G/GM (T-3rd)
Power Play:Â Â Â Â 16.4% (6th)
Penalty Kill:Â Â Â Â 83.5% (T-4th)
Bowling Green Leaders
Points: Dan DeSalvo (27)
Goals: Mark Cooper (13)
Assists: Dan DeSalvo (21)
Shots: Bryce Williamson (97)
Penalties: Sean Walker (22 - 69:00)
Radio
All games this season can be heard on the radio by tuning into 88.1 WBGU-FM. Kevin Meyers will provide the play-by-play commentary. The pregame show will air 30 minutes prior to the opening face-off. The broadcast can be heard globally on www.bgsufalcons.com.
LiveStats
Live stats for all BGSU home games are available on the BGSU website- 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".
Looking at Northern Michigan University
Head Coach: Walt Kyle (12th season)
2013-14 Overall Record: 12-18-2 overall, 10-13-1 WCHA
Northern MIchigan Last Week: Northern Michigan University lost a pair of games against rival Michigan Tech in a home-and-home series on Feb. 14-15. The Wildcats dropped the first game in Houghton, Mich., 7-4 before losing a close 3-2 decision to the Huskies on Saturday night at the Berry Events Center.
In game one, Tech had a pair of freshman who posted four points apiece to lift the Huskies over the Wildcats. NMU was unable to stop MTU on the power play, as the Huskies went an impressive 3-for-5 with the on-ice man advantage, while NMU went 0-for-5 in the game. The Wildcats were also outshot by a 37-25 margin in the game.
In game two of the home-and-home series, NMU dropped a 3-2 WCHA match to instate rival Michigan Tech. The Wildcats outshot the Huskies 39-21 in the contest including a 14-6 advantage in the first period and a 13-7 edge in the third period. Freshman goalie Mathias Dahlstrom took the loss moving to 11-16-2 on the season. Dalhstrom had18 saves in 58:42 of work for the Wildcats.
NMU will enter the weekend just three points back of a group of three teams deadlocked in a fifth-place tie. The Wildcats are currently 12-18-2 overall, and 10-13-1 in the WCHA. The Falcons, who are one of the three teams tied for fifth place, will enter the weekend with 24 points and a 13-13-6 overall record. In all, seven teams are within seven points of each other, with only Ferris State and Minnesota State clinching playoff spots with two weeks remaining.
Key Players
# Player                   GP    G    A    Pts.
40 Stephan Vigier        32    14   12    26
4  Mitch Jones             31     3    17    20
9  Reed Seckel             27   10   9     19
26 Erik Higby                 24    10   6     16
29 Ryan Daugherty       31    5   11     16
11 Shane Sooth            32    3    11     14
17 John Siemer            15     5      8     13
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Key Goalies
# Player                    GP    W-L-T    GAA    Sv%
30 Mathias Dahlstrom   29/28 11-15-2   2.60   .912
1  Michael Doan           4/3    1-2-0      4.46   .844
Northern Michigan Team Ranks (WCHA)
Scoring Offense: 2.53 G/GM (8th)
Scoring Defense: 2.91 G/GM (7th)
Power Play: 19.6% (3rd)
Penalty Kill:Â 77.6% (9th)
