Freshman of the Year
I decided to start with the most obvious award. One freshman has stood out from the rest during the first half of this season, and that player is Jordan Samuels-Thomas (or, as I like to call him, "Hyphen").
Samuels-Thomas leads the team in goals and overall scoring and is second in assists. He is currently tied for 20th in the CCHA in overall scoring and tied for third among freshmen in scoring. Through 18 games JS-T has 15 points (6G-9A). His combination of speed, size, and strength have given opponents fits and led to a number of scoring opportunities for the Falcons. Beyond that, he has been the Falcons' shootout star, scoring winning goals against both "Duh Mavs" of Nebraska-Omaha and the Irish of Notre Dame.
Yes, yes, I know the UN-O shootout goal was "disputed." Guess what? We got the point for the shootout win. Thankyouverymuch.
Runner-up
This was actually a very tough choice. JS-T has performed so well that it's hard to look past him, which is a shame, because there are other freshmen who have made a big impact on the team this season. Ultimately, the runner-up decision came down to Ian Ruel and Nathan Pageau.
Pageau has the second-most points (3G-3A-6P) of all Falcon freshmen, and seems to score in big games for the team. His three goals have come in the shootout victory against Nebraska-Omaha, the first game of the series against Notre Dame, and the first game against Michigan State.
Ruel hasn't shown up as much on the scoring side of things, but his defensive presence is apparent when looking at one statistic: blocked shots. Ruel currently has 27 blocked shots this season, placing him second on the team behind captain Kyle Page.
People can (and probably will) debate the value of offense vs. defense, but I've always held a special place in my hockey heart for defensively-minded, shot-blocking players. For that reason, the runner-up spot goes to Ian Ruel.
If you'd like to weigh in on this decision, name your own winner, or congratulate me on my spectacular picks and hockey insight, leave a comment here.
Stay tuned for the next award, Most Improved Player. As usual, feel free to comment and tell me who you think should win. Make an argument if you'd like. I'm interested in other opinions, even if mine is the only correct one.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Mid-Season Awards
Seeing as we've reached mid-season and the Falcons don't play again until early January, I'm going to fill the time with some mid-season awards. I'll announce picks for awards between now and the end of the year. The first pick will come later this week. A winner and a runner-up will be announced for the following awards:
Freshman of the Year
Most Improved Player
Offensive MVP
Defensive MVP
Team MVP
Offensive MVP and Defensive MVP do not have to be forwards or defensemen, respectively. If I find it to be too difficult to decide, I may name winners for best defensive forward and best offensive defenseman in addition to the previously named awards. Also, a player may be named for more than one award.
Obviously these honors are meaningless outside of this blog, but I think it'll be a fun exercise. Feel free to comment with nominations for any award not yet given, and your own picks for all of the awards. I'm interested to see what people think of the team and the players thus far in the season.
Check back later in the week to see my pick for Freshman of the Year. I'm sure the suspense is killing you.
Freshman of the Year
Most Improved Player
Offensive MVP
Defensive MVP
Team MVP
Offensive MVP and Defensive MVP do not have to be forwards or defensemen, respectively. If I find it to be too difficult to decide, I may name winners for best defensive forward and best offensive defenseman in addition to the previously named awards. Also, a player may be named for more than one award.
Obviously these honors are meaningless outside of this blog, but I think it'll be a fun exercise. Feel free to comment with nominations for any award not yet given, and your own picks for all of the awards. I'm interested to see what people think of the team and the players thus far in the season.
Check back later in the week to see my pick for Freshman of the Year. I'm sure the suspense is killing you.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Falcons Lose OT Heartbreaker to Spartans
The Falcons dropped a 3-2 decision to the Michigan State Spartans tonight.BG jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Boyd and Pageau and the Ice Arena was rocking.
Unfortunately, MSU scored 3 unanswered goals including the OT winner just :35 into the extra period.Stats and further details to (probably) follow in the next day or so.
[This version corrects an earlier one which incorrectly credited the second goal to Wade Finnegan.]
Unfortunately, MSU scored 3 unanswered goals including the OT winner just :35 into the extra period.Stats and further details to (probably) follow in the next day or so.
[This version corrects an earlier one which incorrectly credited the second goal to Wade Finnegan.]
Friday, December 11, 2009
Sexton Continues to Impress
Dan Sexton continued to shine tonight in the Ducks' 3-2 OT loss to the Detroit Red Wings.
Dan tallied a goal and an assist with a +2 rating and 2 shots on goal. He now has 3 goals and 1 assist on 11 shots over his last 2 games.
Dan and the Ducks take on the Blue Jackets in Columbus tomorrow at 7. The game will be on Fox Sports Ohio.
Dan tallied a goal and an assist with a +2 rating and 2 shots on goal. He now has 3 goals and 1 assist on 11 shots over his last 2 games.
Dan and the Ducks take on the Blue Jackets in Columbus tomorrow at 7. The game will be on Fox Sports Ohio.
Sexton's Ducks Take On Detroit & Columbus
Exciting news for any BGSU fans in the Detroit, Toledo, Bowling Green, or Columbus areas: Dan Sexton and the Ducks play both the Detroit Red Wings and the Columbus Blue Jackets this weekend. Both games will be televised.
Anaheim and Detroit face off Friday night at 7:30PM ET at Joe Louis Arena. The game will be shown on Fox Sports Detroit. Check here to see if your cable provider carries FS-D and what channel it will be.
Saturday night Sexton and his Ducks fly south to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets in Nationwide Arena. The puck drops for that game at 7PM ET. Check here to see if you can catch the game on Fox Sports Ohio.
Be sure to watch as Dan Sexton looks to follow up his impressive performance against the Stars with more heroics against the Wings and the Jackets.
Anaheim and Detroit face off Friday night at 7:30PM ET at Joe Louis Arena. The game will be shown on Fox Sports Detroit. Check here to see if your cable provider carries FS-D and what channel it will be.
Saturday night Sexton and his Ducks fly south to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets in Nationwide Arena. The puck drops for that game at 7PM ET. Check here to see if you can catch the game on Fox Sports Ohio.
Be sure to watch as Dan Sexton looks to follow up his impressive performance against the Stars with more heroics against the Wings and the Jackets.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Bowling Green Falcons v. Michigan State Spartans
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
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
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Falcon Alumni News: Sexton Shines in Ducks' Comeback Win!
Dan Sexton scored his first two goals of his young NHL career tonight, leading a comeback that ended in a 4-3 overtime victory by the Ducks.
Sexton led all skaters with nine shots in the game, including the Ducks' second and third goals, both in the third period.
His performance landed him on Top Plays on the late edition of SportsCenter, with an additional mention during the game recap later in the show.
Here's to more nights like this for Sexton, who is affectionately referred to in the "Game Log" at the bottom of the recap (linked above) as "Sexy."
Keep it up, Dan! Make us proud!
Sexton led all skaters with nine shots in the game, including the Ducks' second and third goals, both in the third period.
His performance landed him on Top Plays on the late edition of SportsCenter, with an additional mention during the game recap later in the show.
Here's to more nights like this for Sexton, who is affectionately referred to in the "Game Log" at the bottom of the recap (linked above) as "Sexy."
Keep it up, Dan! Make us proud!
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