Friday, 12/11/2009 @ 7:05PM - Bowling Green, OH
Saturday, 12/12/2009 @ 7:05PM - East Lansing, MI
Background:
BGSU:
-Record: 2-12-2 (2-8-2)
-Last game: v. Lake Superior L 5-2
MSU:
-Record: 10-6-2 (7-3-2)
-Last game: v. Western Michigan L 3-2 (OT)
Looking back...
Falcons Falter, Spartans Hit the Skids:
Both teams are in the midst of serious slumps, and are looking to shake the rust off with a solid performance.
The Falcons come into this series winless in regulation since their November 20th contest against the Michigan Wolverines.
Last weekends series with Lake Superior was ugly on the scoreboard and on the ice. The Lakers took the tightly contested first game by a margin of 2-1. The second game was decidedly more lopsided, with the Lakers coming out on top 5-2. Unfortunately, things took a rough turn on the ice as well, as freshman defenseman Robert Shea ran over LSSU goalie Pat Inglis in the final moments of the second game, leading to a number of scuffles and 11 penalties for a total of 30 minutes. Because of his part in the incident, Shea received a game DQ and will be unavailable for Friday's game against MSU.
The Spartans are slumping as well, with losses in the last few weeks to Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Western Michigan. Despite their less than stellar performance, they remain ranked in the USCHO (14) and INCH (12) polls.
In their previous series, the Spartans split with the Northern Michigan Wildcats in Marquette, MI. MSU won a close game, 1-0 on Friday night, but couldn't repeat their success on Saturday, losing 3-2 in overtime.
Spartans still daydreaming about being Leonidas
This week the Falcons play a split series with the Michigan State Egg Suckers -err... Spartans. Friday night's contest will be held in the BGSU Ice Arena, and then State will "Go Green, Go White, Go Home" to the Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing for the second half of the weekend tilt.
While MSU's record is intimidating, things are not as they seem. Since winning 10 of their first 13 games, the Spartans have gone 1-4-1 in their last six contests, with the tie game ending in a shootout loss.
In the interest of humor, let's take a look at MSU's roster.
Sophomore defenseman Tim Buttery may pose a problem for the Falcons this weekend, due to his slippery style of play.
Junior forward Andrew "Rowe, Rowe, Rowe Your Boat" looks to continue merrily down his scoring stream, as he currently ranks fourth on the team in total points scored (7-3-10).
And, finally, according to Assistant Coach Tim Newton's first and second laws of motion, the Spartans will continue to slide in the standings at a consistent pace unless accelerated by the outside force of a Falcon sweep.
What to watch for: Michigan State
The good:
The Spartans' roster features six NHL draft picks: Daultan Leveille (1st round, Atlanta), Jeff Petry (2nd round, Edmonton), Corey Tropp (3rd round, Buffalo), Derek Grant (4th round, Ottawa), Nick Sucharski (5th round, Columbus), and Trevor Nill (7th round, St. Louis). Tropp, Grant, and Petry lead the team in scoring with 21, 17, and 13 points, respectively. Leveille and Sucharski are both in the top ten as well.
Also worth noting is freshman forward #40 Dean Chelios, the oldest son of NHL legend Chris Chelios.
The bad:
As was previously mentioned, the Spartans have fallen on tough times lately, winning only one of their last six games. I am a bit hesitant to mention this fact in this part of the preview after the results of a similar tactic last weekend, but I'll say it anyway. Hopefully the Falcons can snap their winless streak and drop the Spartans even further in the standings.
The ugly:
The Spartan defense has given up three or more goals in eight of their 18 games this season, with their worst effort being a 7-3 home loss to Wisconsin.
What to watch for: Bowling Green
The good:
Freshman sensation Jordan Samuels-Thomas continues to impress, as he is currently tied for second in the CCHA in freshman scoring (6-6-12) through twelve conference games. His 12 points in 12 games are also good enough for a sixth-place tie in overall scoring in the conference.
Samuels-Thomas was notably absent from the scoring sheet last week, tallying only one assist over the weekend series against Lake Superior. JST will have to step it up this weekend if the Falcons hope to have some success against the Spartans.
The bad:
The Falcon powerplay unit was a measly 1-8 against the Lakers last weekend. Saturday's effort was markedly better, with the BG icers managing 13 shots in four PP opportunities, as opposed to five shots in the same number of man-advantage situations on Friday.
The ugly:
The end of Saturday's game is all I can think to put here. As a result of the chaos that ended the series with Lake State, the Falcons will be without Robert Shea for the first of the two games this weekend. For a short time, it looked as if the toll from the mess would be even higher, as LSSU goaltender Pat Inglis stayed down on the ice for an extended period of time following the collision. It was good to see him get to his feet and finish the game, and hopefully no serious injuries were sustained by anyone in the chaos.
Also deserving of a mention here is LSSU co-captain Zac MacVoy's exit from the ice on Saturday. After being pulled out of the scrum, MacVoy was being escorted off of the ice, but instead demanded to go to the penalty box, where he proceeded to start a shouting match with the BGSU players seated on their side of the box. This led to a shouting down from one of the scorers and MacVoy's eventual removal from the ice, with various motions and gestures to the student section on his way past.
Emotions run high in hockey, that much is understood, but I would expect a senior captain to have a little more restraint.
Pick me a winner:
Fantasy scoring picks:
The rules for this fantasy game can be found in the Bowling Green v. Lake Superior preview post. One rule I forgot to post previously is that shootout goals do not count toward player points or total goals predictions.
For this series, the top three scorers from Bowling Green are Jordan Samuels-Thomas, Tomas Petruska, and David Solway. The top three scorers from Michigan State are Corey Tropp, Derek Grant, and Jeff Petry. These players are considered ineligible for this fantasy contest.
Friday:
Forwards: Nick Sucharski (MSU), Tommy Dee (BGSU), James Perkin (BGSU)
Defensemen: Ian Ruel (BGSU), Kyle Page (BGSU)
Saturday:
Forwards: Daultan Leveille (MSU), Marc Rodriguez (BGSU), Josh Boyd (BGSU)
Defensemen: Zach Josepher (MSU), Matt Crandell (MSU)
Game score picks:
Friday: BGSU 3 - MSU 1
Saturday: BGSU 2 - MSU 2
Total Goals: 8
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