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I was unable to attend Friday night’s game and was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. I was able to witness the game first hand tonight, and what a letdown.

# 30 Riley Gill, the Bronco’s freshman goalie was more than a match for BGSU tonight. Riley, who has 5 wins in 10 outings for the Bronco prior to tonight, faced 37 shots, including two 5 on 3’s and a 5 minute major, but kept the Falcons scoreless. Friday night #33 Daniel Bellissimo, who has only 1 win in 8 games this season, gave the Falcons a false sense that they had shaken off their dismal performance of 2006.

Jonathan Matsumoto who had 2 points Friday night and 5 points in his last 8 games, had a tough night tonight contributing only 2 penalties. He also leads the team with 19 penalties so far this season.
The Power Play was probably worse than any time this year, 0 for 9 tonight. The defensemen on the point were particularly bad tonight. It was almost as if they were in a trance making the puck movement painfully slow and inept, even allowing 2 short handed goals, one on a 5 on 3.

The predicted mêlée that came after Bronson hit Sean Weaver from behind came a little late to revive this game for the Falcons, but it was good to see some “passion” displayed, at last.
The Falcons out shot the Bronco’s 37-21 but the Broncos came away with the 5-0 win.


Last 8 home games: Won 2 Lost 6 (Nov 1st -Jan 6th )
Goals For: 16
Goals against: 35

Last 8 away games: Won 1 Lost 7
Goals for: 18
Goals Against: 33

Some of the ex-players on here have mentioned the idea of being in a specific spot during the power play and that Coach Paluch dictates that. Surely those guys know more than I do about hockey, but I can't figure out why that could possibly be a good idea.

Watching the UMD game in Columbus last week, showed me what they are talking about. The guys, when they did get the zone, looked anchored in place. The result is painful to watch. Am I missing something here?

Lets be honest everyone in the program would have taken a split before the series started. Western gambled with their crappy goalie on friday and he got lit up.

"Broncos Shutout Falcons 5-0
BGSU held a 37-26 shot advantage in the loss.


Jan. 6, 2007


BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - After a dominating performance on Friday night the Falcons suffered a 5-0 setback to the Western Michigan Broncos inside the BG Ice Arena on Saturday night. WMU's Riley Gill recorded 37 saves in the shutout.

The difference in the game was the Falcons' power play going 0-for-9 on the night, while allowing two short-handed goals. Western Michigan went 2-for-9 on their man-advantage, giving them a plus-4 special teams advantage for the night.

"Our inability to score goals clearly put us behind the eight ball here tonight," said BGSU head coach Scott Paluch. "Both 5-on-5 and on the power play for the first two periods, we had a lot of quality chances that we didn't score on. Special teams were a big difference and our inability to score goals."

Western Michigan (7-11-1, 6-8-1 CCHA) scored three first-period goals and added a fourth goal six minutes into the second period for a 4-0 lead.

Bowling Green (5-16-1, 3-11-0) looked to have finally got on the scoreboard as sophomore Brandon Svendsen got open between the circles and rang a laser of the far post.

Less than a minute later Jonathan Matsumoto skated in on Gill, but was robbed by a "gorgeous glove save".

The Broncos' Paul Szczechura added his second goal of the night at the 18:24 mark of the second for the 5-0 final.

The Orange and Brown finished the night with a 37-26 shot advantage in a game that saw 25 penalties, 83 penalty minutes, two game disqualifications and one game misconduct."

Man, what a painful game to watch last night. Giving up not one, but two SH'ed goals? One was when BG was on a TWO man advantage PP> UGH.

Sue, thanks for the ticket to the women's game!

GO HOCKEY

Jon Erickson needs to be commended for his actions during the fight in the third period. He could have dropped the gloves and fought back, but he did the right thing by only blocking the punches thrown. As for Chris Frank, the league needs to review the tape from the play and step in a sit him for more than just one game. Hitting a player in the back of the head with the butt end of your stick is one of the cheapest plays I have ever seen. A one game suspension (the Game DQ) is not enough for that play. He at least needs to sit an entire weekend, maybe two.

I forgot to post about that fight. The glass might have come down if Frank were allowed to remain in the game. I still don't exactly understand why Erickson deserved time in the box after that play.

I have to agree. All I saw Erickson do was grab onto a jersey to prevent the preceeding scuffle from getting any bigger, then next thing you know, Frank is going all lumberjack on Erickson and trying his best to dent his face.
I really hope someone takes a second look at both Frank's actions and the actions (or lack thereof) of the officiating crew. There's no reason a non-participant like Erickson should have to stand there and get whomped for that long without the officials trying to end it.

The Niz wrote:I forgot to post about that fight. The glass might have come down if Frank were allowed to remain in the game. I still don't exactly understand why Erickson deserved time in the box after that play.

As soon as the gloves are thrown off, it becomes an automatic 5-minute major for fighting. Erickson was given 2 minutes just because he was involved. Innocent or not, he was involved. As for the actions of the officiating crew, I wasn't surprised a bit. With the way the ref was calling the game, nothing was going to surprise me.

I hadn't seen a player drop his gloves in years. It was exciting on one hand and disappointing on another. Frank was completely out of control.

I think Erickson did the right thing, but will his teammates think he's a wimp?

I'm still expecting Paluch's head to explode. I'm surprised he wasn't given a penalty. From the little bit I heard, he deserved one.