Billy Sauer-Sauer is only as good as the defense in front of him, and unfortunately, the defense in front of him isn't very good. Of the 7 goals he gave up, four came off of terrible defensive breakdowns. Only the second goal against BC was what I would classify as a bad goal on his part, but at the same time, he also has to step up and make a big save to cover a mistake once in a while.
Mark Mitera-Michigan's best defenseman. The Wolverines need him to play every other shift, at least when they have a lead. He's not an All-American by any means, but the most reliable option Michigan has.
Steve Kampfer-Very high risk/high reward. If the number of smart pinches(like on the goal he scored against Minnesota) outweighs the bad pinches and poor defensive plays in the neutral zone, he'll be a pretty good player. Aside from that one play against Minnesota though, I wasn't overly impressed.
Chad Langlais-I wasn't as impressed as everyone else seemed to be. Both nights, he tried to bat passes out of the air that ended up getting by him and leading to breaks for the other team. He also lost on Ryan Flynn when he fell down behind the net, leading to Minnesota's third goal.
Kevin Quick-The Wheeler goal just about says it all. Talented, but has a ways to go before he's ready for the highest levels of college hockey.
Scooter Vaughn-Didn't see a lot of ice time, and I was ok with that.
Tristin Llewellyn-He took the two dumb penalties on Friday, and it was probably ok leaving him out against a faster opponent in Minnesota, but I'd still like to see him playing every night.
Summers-Rarely was the answer to "Who is supposed to be back on defense right now?" which is about all it takes to be Michigan's second defenseman.
Kevin Porter-He's not going to score 58 points again without T.J. Hensick, but I was very impressed with how he played. Definitely a leader on the team, and he should still finish with at least 40 points this year.
Chad Kolarik-You can really tell that he and Porter are the only two seniors on the team. It looks like he's also going to really step up and have a nice year.
Max Pacioretty-Very talented kid. I think he'll start putting up points once he adjusts to the speed of the game and things start to slow down for him. He doesn't take much time to get his shot off, but I can think of one instance in the Minnesota game when a puck got dropped to him in the slot(not all the dissimilar to where White scored the winning goal), and he wasn't able to pull the trigger on the shot quick enough. Hopefully by the second half of the season, that's a goal for Michigan.
Travis Turnbull-I expected him to make jump this year, and it looks like he has. After Porter and Kolarik, he's probably the third best forward.
Tim Miller-Same as Turnbull. He looks much, much better than he did last year.
Carl Hagelin-I wasn't sure what to expect out of a kid from Sweden, but he's such a hard worker and is always making things happen.
Ben Winnett-Needs to add a lot of muscle before he'll be able to do much in college. He got put on his back a couple times against BC, but I was very impressed with his defensive effort all weekend. He won't provide a lot of offense this year, but will make a great fourth-liner for the time being.
Aaron Palushaj-It's nice that Wolverines will have someone to pick up garbage goals in front of the net, if nothing else.
Louie Caporusso-I think BC felt sorry for him after the way Ferriero abused him.
Danny Fardig-Always nice to see his effort rewarded on the scoresheet.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Season Preview: Ferris State
Head coach Bob Daniels says:
WCH says:
Ferris State certainly fits the model of a team that has built themselves from the goal out. Their deepest position is in goal, where they have three highly-recruit goalies in Derek MacIntyre, Mitch O'Keefe, and incoming freshman Pat Nagle. O'Keefe saw most of the playing time last year, but took a step backwards from his impressive freshman season. That leaves the door open for Nagle to take the starting job.
Whoever is in goal will have the benefit of an experienced defense. They lost two experienced defenseman in Jeremy Scherlinck, the last holdover from Ferris State's NCAA tournament, and Jon Van Culin, but return captain Adam Welch, and Chris Zarb, an NHL draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Bulldogs lost incoming freshman Pat Maroon to the OHL after he was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in the NHL draft. They do bring in a number of gritty, hard-working freshman, however. The offense will rely on sophomores Cody Chupp and Aaron Lewicki building off of their impressive freshman seasons.
"In regards to our team, a little bit like Bowling Green from the standpoint that we did have a good second half as well that we'd like to build on. We were 6-2 in February; I think one of the hottest teams in the league down the stretch run against some pretty good opponents such as Notre Dame and Michigan State. We felt like we had a real good finish to the season. Quickly from goal out, in net we return both goaltenders from a year ago. We are also bringing in a freshman that we have high hopes for in Pat Nagle. We are hoping some increased competition in that area will lead us to realize a little more consistency in that position. On defense, I would say we're probably in the top four in the league, top 10 in the country in terms of defensive corp. We are led back there by third-time captain (first time in the history of the program that we've had a captain for three straight years), Adam Welch. We are real deep in that position. We have a couple newcomers, we are very comfortable on defense. Upfront is the real question mark. We've got some players with potential but that's what it's been and they need to realize that potential now. We've got some opportunities there with Adam Miller, Aaron Lewicki, Cody Chupp, Brendan Connolly. I think they all have ability to be scorers in this league but now it's a matter of doing that."
WCH says:
Ferris State certainly fits the model of a team that has built themselves from the goal out. Their deepest position is in goal, where they have three highly-recruit goalies in Derek MacIntyre, Mitch O'Keefe, and incoming freshman Pat Nagle. O'Keefe saw most of the playing time last year, but took a step backwards from his impressive freshman season. That leaves the door open for Nagle to take the starting job.
Whoever is in goal will have the benefit of an experienced defense. They lost two experienced defenseman in Jeremy Scherlinck, the last holdover from Ferris State's NCAA tournament, and Jon Van Culin, but return captain Adam Welch, and Chris Zarb, an NHL draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Bulldogs lost incoming freshman Pat Maroon to the OHL after he was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in the NHL draft. They do bring in a number of gritty, hard-working freshman, however. The offense will rely on sophomores Cody Chupp and Aaron Lewicki building off of their impressive freshman seasons.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Season Preview: Nebraska-Omaha
Head coach Mike Kemp says:
WCH says:
The biggest story for Nebraska-Omaha is the gaping hole left by Scott Parse. Parse led the Mavericks in scoring all four years at Nebraska-Omaha, and led the program from last place in the CCHA his freshman year to the school's first NCAA appearance in his junior year. Seniors Bryan Marshall and Brandon Scero have put up decent numbers in their careers, but will have to make a big jump this year to help replace the loss of offense.
The Mavericks have a fairly big freshman class this year with 9 new freshman, but there are two players not in this freshman class that could be bigger losses. Defenseman Quinn Waller was able to qualify academically for UNO, and will instead play for Division III Adrian College this year. Also, talented forward John Kemp was unable to qualify academically and is instead playing another year for the Indiana Ice in the USHL. Kemp would have helped offset the loss of Parse, as well as Alex Nikiforuk, who scored 43 points last year for the Mavericks. Freshman Rich Purslow scored a lot of points as an older player in the USHL, however, and will try to carry that offense over to the college level.
If nothing else, the incoming freshman will add a little more size to the Mavericks roster. Last year, Nick Fanto was the only Maverick forward taller than 6-0. The Mavericks add a little more size in forward Matt Ambroz(6-4 198), defenseman Alain Goulet(6-3 195), and two late additions on defense in Nick van Bokern(6-4 210) and Pasko Skarica(6-3 210).
In goal, Jeremie Dupont saw most of the minutes last season, despite not turning 18 until December. His numbers weren't spectacular, but about as good as any team could hope for given that he was an underage goalie. He should be even better this year with another year of maturity.
"We're looking forward to a great year. The opportunity with Doc leaving gave me a chance for the first time to bring a former player on as and assistant coach. It's a thrill for us to have Nick Fohr, who played on our second through fifth teams at UNO, in a full-time coaching position. He served under Enrico Blasi at Miami for one year as a graduate assistant, had spent three years as our director of hockey operations and will now step into a full-time coaching position, which for me is very gratifying to have one of our own guys move up the coaching ladder. We have some big shoes to fill in our program losing Scott Parse who was our four-time team MVP, three time First Team All-CCHA selection, and holder of every scoring record in our school's history. That's going to be a big hole to fill, along with Alex Nikiforuk, who was another one of our high-scoring forwards that we lost to graduation. We have three seniors that have been consistent scorers, Bryan Marshal, Brandon Scero from Canton, Michigan and Mick Lawrence returning. We'll look for those guys to give us some offensive punch throughout the course of the season. We'll be relatively green back on the blueline. Juha Uotila will be a junior defenseman who has shown some offensive ability back there. Eddie Del Grosso returning from an All-Rookie Team in his first year at UNO and Mark Bernier are our only defensemen with any experience. We'll be playing five freshmen defensemen this year who will all be vying for playing time. And it will be a test to prep them for the rigors of CCHA play. Goaltending should be stable if nothing else. We have Jeremie Dupont coming back from a strong freshman season. He'll be supported by Jerad Kaufman and senior Eric Aarnio. We feel that position can give us some stability for what we consider to be a very difficult cluster in a very difficult CCHA league. We're looking forward to seeing everyone on the road and a great CCHA season."
WCH says:
The biggest story for Nebraska-Omaha is the gaping hole left by Scott Parse. Parse led the Mavericks in scoring all four years at Nebraska-Omaha, and led the program from last place in the CCHA his freshman year to the school's first NCAA appearance in his junior year. Seniors Bryan Marshall and Brandon Scero have put up decent numbers in their careers, but will have to make a big jump this year to help replace the loss of offense.
The Mavericks have a fairly big freshman class this year with 9 new freshman, but there are two players not in this freshman class that could be bigger losses. Defenseman Quinn Waller was able to qualify academically for UNO, and will instead play for Division III Adrian College this year. Also, talented forward John Kemp was unable to qualify academically and is instead playing another year for the Indiana Ice in the USHL. Kemp would have helped offset the loss of Parse, as well as Alex Nikiforuk, who scored 43 points last year for the Mavericks. Freshman Rich Purslow scored a lot of points as an older player in the USHL, however, and will try to carry that offense over to the college level.
If nothing else, the incoming freshman will add a little more size to the Mavericks roster. Last year, Nick Fanto was the only Maverick forward taller than 6-0. The Mavericks add a little more size in forward Matt Ambroz(6-4 198), defenseman Alain Goulet(6-3 195), and two late additions on defense in Nick van Bokern(6-4 210) and Pasko Skarica(6-3 210).
In goal, Jeremie Dupont saw most of the minutes last season, despite not turning 18 until December. His numbers weren't spectacular, but about as good as any team could hope for given that he was an underage goalie. He should be even better this year with another year of maturity.
Season Preview: Nebraska-Omaha
Head coach Mike Kemp says:
WCH says:
The biggest story for Nebraska-Omaha is the gaping hole left by Scott Parse. Parse led the Mavericks in scoring all four years at Nebraska-Omaha, and led the program from last place in the CCHA his freshman year to the school's first NCAA appearance in his junior year. Seniors Bryan Marshall and Brandon Scero have put up decent numbers in their careers, but will have to make a big jump this year to help replace the loss of offense.
The Mavericks have a fairly big freshman class this year with 9 new freshman, but there are two players not in this freshman class that could be bigger losses. Defenseman Quinn Waller was able to qualify academically for UNO, and will instead play for Division III Adrian College this year. Also, talented forward John Kemp was unable to qualify academically and is instead playing another year for the Indiana Ice in the USHL. Kemp would have helped offset the loss of Parse, as well as Alex Nikiforuk, who scored 43 points last year for the Mavericks.
If nothing else, the incoming freshman will add a little more size to the Mavericks roster. Last year, Nick Fanto was the only Maverick forward taller than 6-0. The Mavericks add a little more size in forward Matt Ambroz(6-4 198), defenseman Alain Goulet(6-3 195), and two late additions on defense in Nick van Bokern(6-4 210) and Pasko Skarica(6-3 210).
In goal, Jeremie Dupont saw most of the minutes last season, despite not turning 18 until December. His numbers weren't spectacular, but about as good as any team could hope for given that he was an underage goalie. He should be even better this year with another year of maturity.
"We're looking forward to a great year. The opportunity with Doc leaving gave me a chance for the first time to bring a former player on as and assistant coach. It's a thrill for us to have Nick Fohr, who played on our second through fifth teams at UNO, in a full-time coaching position. He served under Enrico Blasi at Miami for one year as a graduate assistant, had spent three years as our director of hockey operations and will now step into a full-time coaching position, which for me is very gratifying to have one of our own guys move up the coaching ladder. We have some big shoes to fill in our program losing Scott Parse who was our four-time team MVP, three time First Team All-CCHA selection, and holder of every scoring record in our school's history. That's going to be a big hole to fill, along with Alex Nikiforuk, who was another one of our high-scoring forwards that we lost to graduation. We have three seniors that have been consistent scorers, Bryan Marshal, Brandon Scero from Canton, Michigan and Mick Lawrence returning. We'll look for those guys to give us some offensive punch throughout the course of the season. We'll be relatively green back on the blueline. Juha Uotila will be a junior defenseman who has shown some offensive ability back there. Eddie Del Grosso returning from an All-Rookie Team in his first year at UNO and Mark Bernier are our only defensemen with any experience. We'll be playing five freshmen defensemen this year who will all be vying for playing time. And it will be a test to prep them for the rigors of CCHA play. Goaltending should be stable if nothing else. We have Jeremie Dupont coming back from a strong freshman season. He'll be supported by Jerad Kaufman and senior Eric Aarnio. We feel that position can give us some stability for what we consider to be a very difficult cluster in a very difficult CCHA league. We're looking forward to seeing everyone on the road and a great CCHA season."
WCH says:
The biggest story for Nebraska-Omaha is the gaping hole left by Scott Parse. Parse led the Mavericks in scoring all four years at Nebraska-Omaha, and led the program from last place in the CCHA his freshman year to the school's first NCAA appearance in his junior year. Seniors Bryan Marshall and Brandon Scero have put up decent numbers in their careers, but will have to make a big jump this year to help replace the loss of offense.
The Mavericks have a fairly big freshman class this year with 9 new freshman, but there are two players not in this freshman class that could be bigger losses. Defenseman Quinn Waller was able to qualify academically for UNO, and will instead play for Division III Adrian College this year. Also, talented forward John Kemp was unable to qualify academically and is instead playing another year for the Indiana Ice in the USHL. Kemp would have helped offset the loss of Parse, as well as Alex Nikiforuk, who scored 43 points last year for the Mavericks.
If nothing else, the incoming freshman will add a little more size to the Mavericks roster. Last year, Nick Fanto was the only Maverick forward taller than 6-0. The Mavericks add a little more size in forward Matt Ambroz(6-4 198), defenseman Alain Goulet(6-3 195), and two late additions on defense in Nick van Bokern(6-4 210) and Pasko Skarica(6-3 210).
In goal, Jeremie Dupont saw most of the minutes last season, despite not turning 18 until December. His numbers weren't spectacular, but about as good as any team could hope for given that he was an underage goalie. He should be even better this year with another year of maturity.
Friday, October 05, 2007
Season Preview: Notre Dame
Head Coach Jeff Jackson says:
Last season was a breakthrough year for the Irish. Coach Jeff Jackson led the school to their first ever number one ranking and number one seed in the NCAA tournament. They fell just short of the Frozen Four losing to Michigan State in the Midwest Regional Final.
If you believe the preseason rankings, the Irish are due for a bit of a step back this season. They were picked to finish third in the league behind Miami and Michigan State, and 8th nationally. But I believe the Irish will be just as good, if not better than they were last season.
When discussing the Irish, the first place everyone starts with is in goal. The Irish lost Hobey Baker finalist David Brown to graduation. Without a doubt it's a huge loss for Notre Dame, but the question is, was Notre Dame a product of Brown's success, or was Brown a product of Notre Dame's success? Brown was an excellent goaltender, but in looking at his stats, he only saw, on average, about 23 saves per game. If Notre Dame's defense can limit shots that much again this year, they don't need their new starter, whoever it is, to be spectacular and steal wins, they just need him to be solid and not make too many mistakes. Junior Jordan Pearce and Freshman Brad Phillips will compete for playing time, though Phillips looks like the long-term solution in goal and will likely be given every opportunity to win the starting job.
The Irish also lost six other seniors, including a couple on the blueline. It's an interesting choice of words from Jackson when he says that they will be "difficult to replace from a character standpoint, leadership standpoint." While they do lose experience and leadership, they gain a huge advantage in talent thanks to Jackson's first recruiting class, which included two defensive gems in Ian Cole, Notre Dame's first ever first round NHL draft pick, and Teddy Ruth, who both gained collegiate experience playing for the NTDP U18 team last season.
The Irish also returns a ton of talent from last year's team. Kyle Lawson and Brock Sheahan could both be all-conference selection in a pretty weak year for defenseman in the CCHA. At forward, Erik Condra and Mark VanGuilder have both developed as dangerous scoring threats. Sophomores Ryan Thang and Kevin Deeth both had excellent freshman seasons last year, and behind them, there are some talented incoming freshman that could surpise people, just as Thang and Deeth did last year.
The Irish should be one of the best teams in college hockey this year. They may get off to a slow start until they figure out their goaltending situation, but by the end of the year, they will be one of the most dangerous teams in the NCAA.
"We're excited about the upcoming season. Last year is behind us and we have a really strong returning group of forwards. We did lose seven seniors that all played a regular place in our line-up and will be difficult to replace from a character standpoint, leadership standpoint. We are just as excited about the incoming freshmen class that we have coming in. That should give us some stability I'm sure with a few bumps early on to try and improve our back end with a couple freshmen defensemen and young goaltending. We are excited about the prospects up front with Erik Condra, Ryan Thang. Kevin Deeth and Mark Van Guilder returning. On the back side, I think that Kyle Lawson and Brock Sheahan will be two of the better (defensemen) in the conference. We expect our goaltending to be good. I think Jordan Pearce, a junior, is somebody that has potential to be a great goaltender in the CCHA. We have an outstanding freshman in Brad Phillips that we think will be good in time. We are excited about the prospects and we are excited about a new building in the next couple of years. There are a lot of positive things going on in the hockey program. I would like to think we are going to have a great season this year and hopefully consistency will be part of building this program into something special."
Last season was a breakthrough year for the Irish. Coach Jeff Jackson led the school to their first ever number one ranking and number one seed in the NCAA tournament. They fell just short of the Frozen Four losing to Michigan State in the Midwest Regional Final.
If you believe the preseason rankings, the Irish are due for a bit of a step back this season. They were picked to finish third in the league behind Miami and Michigan State, and 8th nationally. But I believe the Irish will be just as good, if not better than they were last season.
When discussing the Irish, the first place everyone starts with is in goal. The Irish lost Hobey Baker finalist David Brown to graduation. Without a doubt it's a huge loss for Notre Dame, but the question is, was Notre Dame a product of Brown's success, or was Brown a product of Notre Dame's success? Brown was an excellent goaltender, but in looking at his stats, he only saw, on average, about 23 saves per game. If Notre Dame's defense can limit shots that much again this year, they don't need their new starter, whoever it is, to be spectacular and steal wins, they just need him to be solid and not make too many mistakes. Junior Jordan Pearce and Freshman Brad Phillips will compete for playing time, though Phillips looks like the long-term solution in goal and will likely be given every opportunity to win the starting job.
The Irish also lost six other seniors, including a couple on the blueline. It's an interesting choice of words from Jackson when he says that they will be "difficult to replace from a character standpoint, leadership standpoint." While they do lose experience and leadership, they gain a huge advantage in talent thanks to Jackson's first recruiting class, which included two defensive gems in Ian Cole, Notre Dame's first ever first round NHL draft pick, and Teddy Ruth, who both gained collegiate experience playing for the NTDP U18 team last season.
The Irish also returns a ton of talent from last year's team. Kyle Lawson and Brock Sheahan could both be all-conference selection in a pretty weak year for defenseman in the CCHA. At forward, Erik Condra and Mark VanGuilder have both developed as dangerous scoring threats. Sophomores Ryan Thang and Kevin Deeth both had excellent freshman seasons last year, and behind them, there are some talented incoming freshman that could surpise people, just as Thang and Deeth did last year.
The Irish should be one of the best teams in college hockey this year. They may get off to a slow start until they figure out their goaltending situation, but by the end of the year, they will be one of the most dangerous teams in the NCAA.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Season Preview: Western Michigan
Head Coach Jim Culhane says:
WCH says:
Western Michigan surprised everyone last year. They were almost universally picked to finish near the bottom of the league, and somehow, quietly snuck into 6th place by the end of the season. Interestingly, Western Michigan somehow managed to finish conference play with a winning record despite giving up more goals than they scored.
There were two main keys to the Broncos success last season. The first was the scoring punch provided by CCHA freshman of the year Mark Letestu and senior Paul Szczechura, and the second was the emergence of freshman goalie Riley Gill.
Gill is back for his sophomore season, and should have an experienced defense playing in front of him. For many years, the Broncos biggest problem has been keeping the puck out of the net, but that looks like it will be an area of strength this year.
The big question will come on offense. Szczechrua graduated, and Letestu signed a contract with the Pittsburgh, leaving a little bit of a hole on the top line. Wings Jeff LoVecchio and Jeff Pierce each scored over 30 points last year, and return, but the biggest Broncos offense will rely on the impact of some of their newcomers.
Freshman Max Campbell joins the Broncos after a record-setting performance in the Western Ontario Jr. B league, and has a chance to be a huge contributor. He was drafted in the 5th round of the NHL draft by the New York Rangers. He looks like he could have a huge impact playing between some of Western's more experienced wings. I wouldn't be surprised if Western had the CCHA rookie of the year for a second straight year.
"We had a great off-season at Western Michigan. I thought our players did a great job in the weight room improving on their athleticism and their strength. In addition to that, I'm very proud that we did a great job last semester and last year in the classroom with a roster of 27 student-athletes. I think at times we can put this on the back burner, but our team grade-point average was a 3.30 with three guys with 4.0 and graduating five student-athletes on time where these young men are competing over four years and not red shirting like some of the other intercollegiate sports at the Division I level and guys walking out with their degrees in four years. We are very proud of that at Western Michigan. We are looking forward to the challenges of the upcoming season. Some key losses for us were the early signing to Mark Letestu, who signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins and the loss to graduation of Ryan Szczechura and Ryan Mahrle. We feel we have a good core group returning led by our netminder Riley Gill, who was also on the All-Rookie team. On the blue line, I feel we have some depth there with senior Nathan Ansell, Jonathan Lupa, a couple of juniors in Steve Silver and Chris Frank and sophomore Tyler Ludwig. Up front, looking at key contributors in the upcoming season, Jeff LoVecchio, Jeff Pierce, Brian Bicek, I think will be key contributors for us. Someone we expect to have a real big year for us is Patrick Galivan with some sprinkling in from our freshmen class with a couple guys that were drafted this past June in Max Campbell, a Ranger draft, and Ryan Watson, who was a Florida draft. We are excited about the upcoming season and looking forward to the challenges."
WCH says:
Western Michigan surprised everyone last year. They were almost universally picked to finish near the bottom of the league, and somehow, quietly snuck into 6th place by the end of the season. Interestingly, Western Michigan somehow managed to finish conference play with a winning record despite giving up more goals than they scored.
There were two main keys to the Broncos success last season. The first was the scoring punch provided by CCHA freshman of the year Mark Letestu and senior Paul Szczechura, and the second was the emergence of freshman goalie Riley Gill.
Gill is back for his sophomore season, and should have an experienced defense playing in front of him. For many years, the Broncos biggest problem has been keeping the puck out of the net, but that looks like it will be an area of strength this year.
The big question will come on offense. Szczechrua graduated, and Letestu signed a contract with the Pittsburgh, leaving a little bit of a hole on the top line. Wings Jeff LoVecchio and Jeff Pierce each scored over 30 points last year, and return, but the biggest Broncos offense will rely on the impact of some of their newcomers.
Freshman Max Campbell joins the Broncos after a record-setting performance in the Western Ontario Jr. B league, and has a chance to be a huge contributor. He was drafted in the 5th round of the NHL draft by the New York Rangers. He looks like he could have a huge impact playing between some of Western's more experienced wings. I wouldn't be surprised if Western had the CCHA rookie of the year for a second straight year.
Season Preview: Bowling Green
Head Coach Scott Paluch said:
WCH says:
The Falcons do return 23 players from last year's squad, but it is the two players not on the roster that could be the most important. The first is Jonathan Matsumoto, who was Bowling Green's leading scorer last year and left this summer to sign with the Philadelphia Flyers. The second is goalie Josh Unice, who was scheduled to be the starting goalie for Bowling Green this season, before he shocked everyone by signing with an OHL team.
Matsumoto averaged over a point per game in his three year career at Bowling Green. His loss should hurt the offense. Senior Derek Whitmore, who scored 19 goals last year returns, but he will have to prove that his 10-point-increase between his sophomore and junior year wasn't just a product of playing alongside Matsumoto. The Falcons will have to hope from big jumps in production from some of their talented sophomore forwards like Tomas Petruska, Todd McIlrath, Kai Kantola, and James Perkin. Incoming freshman Jacob Cepis scored a lot of points in the USHL and could contribute immediately too.
Jimmy Spratt was charged with being the replacement to Falcon Jordan Sigalet two years ago, and has struggled in goal. Spratt is capable of putting together nice games, but has struggled with consistency. As coach Paluch noted, he had more good games than bad games towards the end of season, which bodes well for the future. If he can't stay consistent, incoming freshman and Buffalo Sabres pick Nick Eno will challenge for playing time. The Falcons will probably need great goaltending to hold them in games.
"This year's team, we understand the rankings that we see ahead of us. As we talk to our team, it's kind of a situation where a lot of our guys are back. We put ourselves in that situation and now it's our responsibility to get us out. We feel real good about this team. Twenty three of our players are back from last year, led by our captain Derek Whitmore, who scored 19 goals and was our leading goal scorer. Our most improved player from last year, Jimmy Spratt in goal, is back and is building on an outstanding second half. We had a really good second half, didn't add up to as many wins as we would have liked. We were a pretty good team in the second half. A lot of last year's players are back with us drawing on that experience. We feel real good about our team. Our off-season has been outstanding from a team building and conditioning stand point. We are ready to prove the rankings wrong."
WCH says:
The Falcons do return 23 players from last year's squad, but it is the two players not on the roster that could be the most important. The first is Jonathan Matsumoto, who was Bowling Green's leading scorer last year and left this summer to sign with the Philadelphia Flyers. The second is goalie Josh Unice, who was scheduled to be the starting goalie for Bowling Green this season, before he shocked everyone by signing with an OHL team.
Matsumoto averaged over a point per game in his three year career at Bowling Green. His loss should hurt the offense. Senior Derek Whitmore, who scored 19 goals last year returns, but he will have to prove that his 10-point-increase between his sophomore and junior year wasn't just a product of playing alongside Matsumoto. The Falcons will have to hope from big jumps in production from some of their talented sophomore forwards like Tomas Petruska, Todd McIlrath, Kai Kantola, and James Perkin. Incoming freshman Jacob Cepis scored a lot of points in the USHL and could contribute immediately too.
Jimmy Spratt was charged with being the replacement to Falcon Jordan Sigalet two years ago, and has struggled in goal. Spratt is capable of putting together nice games, but has struggled with consistency. As coach Paluch noted, he had more good games than bad games towards the end of season, which bodes well for the future. If he can't stay consistent, incoming freshman and Buffalo Sabres pick Nick Eno will challenge for playing time. The Falcons will probably need great goaltending to hold them in games.
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