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Falcons will be idle until Dec. 29-30 with tournament at RPI. Dec. 6, 1999 The Bowling Green State University hockey team will take a break from competition and prepare for the upcoming finals week (Dec. 13-17), after splitting with sixth-ranked Michigan in a home-and-home series this past weekend. The Falcons snapped their 10-game losing streak and 13-game (0-12-1) winless streak versus the Wolverines with a 4-2 triumph at the BGSU Ice Arena on Friday. UPCOMING GAMES ... Bowling Green's first contests after exams will be at the Rensselaer/HSBC Holiday Tournament in Troy, New York. BG will face the Engineers of RPI at 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 29 in the second game of the day. The Providence versus Union game is set for 5:30 p.m. Tournament action concludes on Thursday, Dec. 30 with the consolation (5:30 p.m.) and championship (8:30 p.m.) games. BG will be at home for six of its seven games in January. The Falcons open the new year with a home contest against Miami on Saturday, Jan. 8 (7:35 p.m.). The following weekend Bowling Green will face Ohio State in a home-and-home series. Friday's contest (Jan. 14) in BG begins at 7:35 p.m., while Saturday's rematch in Columbus is slated to start at 7:05 p.m. THE COACH ... Falcon mentor Buddy Powers moved into a tie for 83rd place on the NCAA all-time win list with BG's victory over Michigan on Dec. 3. He is currently tied with Thom Lawler (Merrimack - '65-78) and Ric Schafer (Alaska Fairbanks & Notre Dame - '80-95). There have been more than 725 NCAA men's collegiate head hockey coaches. Powers served as head coach at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) for five seasons (1989-90 through 1993-94) prior to being named to his current position at Bowling Green on July 12, 1994. He spent one season as the head coach at Rochester Institute of Technology (1988-89) leading the Tigers to a second-place finish in the Division III national championships. Powers has a 2-0-0 record against Rensselaer as BG swept the Engineers, 3-2 and 6-4, on Oct. 27-28, 1995, in Bowling Green. He has compiled a 1-3-0 record versus Providence (all as head coach at RPI) and a 12-1-0 mark against Union (10-1-0 at RPI, and 2-0-0 at RIT). THE SERIES ... Bowling Green has a 6-6-0 mark in the all-time series versus Rensselaer, including a 1-4 record in Troy, New York. The Falcons have met RPI twice before in the RPI Invitational (5-4 RPI on Jan. 2, 1970; and 6-5 BG on Dec. 28, 1974). The Falcons lead the all-time series against Providence with a 4-2-0 mark. The teams have not met since Nov. 16-17, 1979, when the Falcons won twice at home, 5-3 and 3-2. The Friars defeated BG 5-2 during the 1970 RPI Invitational (Jan. 4). BG has never faced the Union Dutchmen. PREVIEWING TOURNAMENT PARTICIPANTS ... Rensselaer is 11-3 overall and 4-2 in the ECAC after winning twice this past weekend (3-2 over Harvard, and 5-2 over Brown). The Engineers are idle until the holiday tournament. RPI is led offensively by junior forward Brad Tapper (18-5--23), senior defenseman Brian Pothier (4-12--16), freshman forward Marc Cavosie (4-11--15) and sophomore forward Matt Murley (3-12--15). Senior goalies Joel Laing (7-2, 1.89, .951) and Scott Prekaski (4-1, 2.85, .892) handle the netminding duties. The Engineers power-play has converted on 13 of 71 chances (18.3%), while the penalty killing units have stopped 74 of their opponents 89 opportunities (83.1%). Providence is 8-7 overall and 3-5 in Hockey East after splitting a home-and-home series with Merrimack this past weekend. PC won 4-1 at home Friday, but fell 4-2 on the Warriors home ice on Saturday. Providence will host ECAC member Dartmouth this Friday (Dec. 10). PC's offense is led by senior forwards Doug Sheppard (10-10--20) and Fernando Pisani (7-11--18), sophomore forward Peter Fregoe (5-8--13) and senior defenseman Jason Ialongo (1-9--10). Junior Boyd Ballard (4-5, 3.05, .895) and freshman Nolan Schaefer (4-2, 2.15, .933) have split time in the Friars net. The Friars' power-play has scored on 17 of their 81 opportunities (21.0%), while stopping 82 of their opponents 95 chances (86.3%). Union has a 4-9 overall mark and a 3-3 ECAC record heading into a non-conference game at Niagara this Saturday (Dec. 11). Union split this past weekend, defeating Brown in OT (2-1), and falling to Harvard (5-1). The Dutchmen are led offensively by junior forward Jason Ralph (6-7--13), senior defenseman Jeff Sproat (2-11--13), junior forward Clark Jones (4-5--9) and sophomore forward Jeff Wilson (4-5--9). Sophomore Brandon Snee (4-9, 3.71, .897) has been in net for all but 20 minutes this year. Union's power-play has scored on 11 of 69 man-advantage chances (15.9%), while its penalty killing unit has been successful on 57 of 76 opportunities (75.0%). LOOKING BACK AT LAST WEEKEND ... Bowling Green limited the league's #1 offense to five goals (only three 5x5 goals) and the conference's #2 power-play to one goal in 11 chances in earning a split (4-2, 1-3) against sixth-ranked Michigan. After falling behind 1-0 after 20 minutes on Friday at the BGSU Ice Arena, the Falcons scored twice in a four-minute span to grab a 2-1 lead. Adam Edinger's short-handed goal came off assists from Austin de Luis and Grady Moore at the 11:25 mark of the middle stanza, while de Luis' marker at 15:18 was assisted by Marc Barlow and Edinger. The Wolverines scored once before the end of the period to tie the game at two heading into the third period. Freshman Tyler Knight tallied the game-winner at 3:37 off assists from Edinger and de Luis. Sophomore Scott Hewson scored into an empty-net off a feed from Craig Desjarlais to complete the scoring. BG Freshman goalie Tyler Masters made 29 saves including 12 in the opening period. Michigan netminder Kevin O'Malley turned aside 20 Falcon shots. BG went 0-for-3 on the power-play, while UM scored on one of its seven man-advantage opportunities. In Saturday's contest in Ann Arbor, BG fell behind 2-0 late in the first period and scored the only second period goal when Marc Barlow's shot from the blueline eluded Wolverine goalie L.J. Scarpace. Michigan scored the lone goal of the third period after Falcon goalie Tyler Masters had twice been crashed into by Wolverine freshman forwards (Andy Hilbert and Jed Ortmeyer). Masters made 28 saves before giving way to Shawn Timm, who did not face a shot in the final 5:17 (Timm played 4:20 plus :57 of empty- net). Scarpace made 33 saves in the Michigan cage. Both teams were zero-for-four on the power-play. MASTERS EARNS ANOTHER CCHA AWARD ... Bowling Green freshman goalie Tyler Masters (Calgary, ALB/ Kindersley Klippers) was named Central Collegiate Hockey Association Rookie-of-the-Week after stopping 57 of 62 Wolverine shots (.919 save percentage) in the Falcons split with Michigan. RADIO COVERAGE ... Bowling Green fans can catch all Falcon games -- home or away -- on WBGU radio (88.1 FM). BGSU students Steve Mears and Dave Crane are serving as the broadcasters. The Buddy Powers show will air from 7:45-8:15 p.m. each Monday night from Fricker's Restaurant in BG. The next show after tonight (Dec. 6) will be in Jan. BG hockey games can also be heard through the internet at http://www.webradio.com/wbgu or through TEAMLINE by calling 1-800-846-4700 with access code 3396, then entering a credit card number. To access TEAMLINE internationally just direct dial 330-374-6300. FALCON NOTES ... Adam Edinger's short-handed goal on Friday against Michigan was the first man-down goal by a Falcon since Dan Price scored versus Miami on Feb. 14, 1998, a span of 57 games without a short-handed goal. BG's triumph Friday over the Wolverines snapped a 10-game losing streak and 13-game (0-12-1) winless streak by the Falcons against Michigan. Senior defenseman B.J. Adams leads the team in plus/minus rating at +4. He has been on the ice for only six even-strength goals against in 13 games, while helping the BG penalty killers stop 17 of its opponents last 18 chances. Freshman goalie Tyler Masters, in his last four appearances, has stopped 82 of the 87 shots he has faced for a .943 save percentage. Sophomore blueliner Grady Moore had his career-best four-game point streak snapped on Saturday. He leads the team in total shots attempted (78) and on ice for the most total goals for (21). Sophomore defenseman Marc Barlow, after scoring one goal in his previous 45 games, has scored two goals in his last four games. This season in 15 games, he has two goals and seven assists for nine points after scoring nine points on one goal and eight assists in 34 games last year. Sophomore forward Austin de Luis had a career-best five-game point streak come to an end in Saturday's loss at Michigan. He had three goals and four assists for seven points during the streak.
BG'S RANK IN CCHA TEAM STATISTICAL CATEGORIES |
