@ Northern Michigan (10/1-10/2)

[mbenecke]

It’s finally game week once again! On Saturday, October 1 at 6:07pm, our Falcons begin their season on the road as they take on the Northern Michigan Wildcats (20-16-1 last year). Game 2 will take place the next night, on Sunday, October 2 at 6:07pm. Both games will be available to stream through FloHockey, as always.

NMU always gives us a good fight, and we were 0-3-1 against them last season. They score a lot of goals, but they also tend to give up a lot of goals as well in recent years, so this could be a series with a lot of scoring. We also tend to struggle with the extra space on their Olympic sheet of ice, so that will also be a factor in this series.

NMU was picked to finish 2nd in the CCHA Coaches Poll, with 2 first place votes. Obviously one came from Mike Hastings, as he cannot vote for his own team, but I am curious which of the other coaches also voted for NMU. If anyone has any guesses or speculation, I’d be curious what people think on that.

The Wildcats return a good amount of recognizable names this year - D Michael Van Unen, D Michael Kjellberg, F David Keefer, F Andre Ghantous, F Mikey Colella, F Vincent De Mey, F AJ Vanderbeck, and G Rico Dimatteo. They also welcome a decent freshman class, including the CCHA Preseason Freshman of the Year in Joey Larson. So, this team is obviously pretty talented.

Grant Potulny is entering his 6th season at NMU, and his overall record is 95-80-11. He is a very solid coach that has given us trouble over the years, so all in all, I think this is going to be a really tough battle to open the season, and with 6 CCHA points on the line, it’s important that we start strong this weekend.

Goalie Matchup (using 21-22 stats):

NMU
Rico Dimatteo - 22 games, 3.48 GAA, .887 SV%
Charlie Glockner - 17 games, 3.06 GAA, .896 SV%

BGSU
Zach Rose - 12 games, 3.23 GAA, .881SV%
Christian Stoever - 28 games, 2.88 GAA, .898 SV%

Let’s start it off right and come home with a split or better this weekend! Go Falcons!

[jpfalcon09]

Thank the sweet lord college hockey is back! Kinda sucks opening weekend is a conference foe as you'd like to work out some kinks beforehand but it is what it is, both teams have to deal with it. This is the best BG hockey team on paper since the 2018-19 team, no excuses this year. Very much looking forward to seeing the impact of the new transfers and you hope that the covid seniors step their game up to a higher level this season. Last year was a massive disappointment across the board and I expect there to be a chip on everyone's shoulder this season.

[pdt1081]

Is Rose healthy for this series? I know recovery from his injury can be a long road.

[mbenecke]

Is Rose healthy for this series? I know recovery from his injury can be a long road.

Last I had heard, he was good to go for the season. Can anyone confirm this?

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Eigs said in his Sparty podcast interview that Rose is good to go.

[mbenecke]

Coach Eigner’s presser for this week is here:

https://youtu.be/6rAXtrR1LEc

In it, he mentions the following:

-We have a good rivalry with NMU brewing, mostly because we’re battling to be in the same spot near the top of the CCHA.

-He expects both Stoever and Rose to play this weekend, though he’s not sure who will get which night.

-They’ve been skating for 5 weeks as a team.

-He feels that this year’s team chemistry is very good.

-Anton Malmstrom was offered a contract by the St. Louis Blues this summer, but he turned them down because he wanted to come back to school. Not sure if that’s new information or not, but I think that’s a big deal.

[BillyLP]

Coach Eigner’s presser for this week is here:

https://youtu.be/6rAXtrR1LEc

In it, he mentions the following:

-We have a good rivalry with NMU brewing, mostly because we’re battling to be in the same spot near the top of the CCHA.

-He expects both Stoever and Rose to play this weekend, though he’s not sure who will get which night.

-They’ve been skating for 5 weeks as a team.

-He feels that this year’s team chemistry is very good.

-Anton Malmstrom was offered a contract by the St. Louis Blues this summer, but he turned them down because he wanted to come back to school. Not sure if that’s new information or not, but I think that’s a big deal.

Thanks for the rundown. Re: Malmstrom: What does it mean to be offered a contract by the Blues? Hockey is so different from the other sports so I never know what it really means. Is like a development contract to play for their ECHL/AHL affiliate? Or a guaranteed tryout?

[pdt1081]

Thanks for the rundown. Re: Malmstrom: What does it mean to be offered a contract by the Blues? Hockey is so different from the other sports so I never know what it really means. Is like a development contract to play for their ECHL/AHL affiliate? Or a guaranteed tryout?

Most likely it was an entry level, two way contract. X-amount if he plays in the NHL, Y-amount to play in the AHL, with the chance he ends up in the ECHL. I'm guessing he didn't like his chances of being in the show this season, so decided to stick around and finish his degree.

[mbenecke]

Captains have officially been announced:

C - Alex Barber
A - Anton Malmstrom
A - Evan Dougherty
A - Max Coyle

[jpfalcon09]

FWIW DraftKings has NMU as a pretty staunch favorite for Saturday, -215 on the moneyline.

[mbenecke]

It was just announced that Buddy Powers (yes, THAT Buddy Powers) has joined the program as a volunteer assistant coach.

He comes over after previously serving as an assistant at Boston University from 2009-2014 and serving as a scout for the Dallas Stars since then. He was obviously here as an assistant from 1982-1988, and was our head coach from 1994-2002.

As far as volunteer assistants go, that’s about as good as it gets. I’m too young to know what BG people think of him, but I think it’s probably a good thing that he’s back involved with the program. Welcome back, Coach!

[pdt1081]

It was just announced that Buddy Powers (yes, THAT Buddy Powers) has joined the program as a volunteer assistant coach.

He comes over after previously serving as an assistant at Boston University from 2009-2014 and serving as a scout for the Dallas Stars since then. He was obviously here as an assistant from 1982-1988, and was our head coach from 1994-2002.

As far as volunteer assistants go, that’s about as good as it gets. I’m too young to know what BG people think of him, but I think it’s probably a good thing that he’s back involved with the program. Welcome back, Coach!

Buddy is an awesome ASSISTANT coach. He knows and can teach the Xs and Os as well as anybody. Sometimes a coach has to be harsh on players, and he kind of lacked in that department. The other problem he had was he didn't believe BG was an attractive program at the time due to the lack of budget he had, so they didn't really pursue top talent. They focused more on who they thought they could bring in with as little expense as possible.

[unfalconbelievable]

With Barber named a captain I certainly hope he gets that mentality of playing back-to-back nights is tough s**t out of his head. If some don't remember he was quoted last season and I'm some if he played for me he'd be playing somewhere else. TOTAL BS and LACK of WORK ETHIC.

I hope for the team and for Ty that it works out but having him as a captain after that last year quote which for some reason many dismissed, winning teams don't think like that or put up with it.

[mbenecke]

It’s gameday.

Falcon Hockey is back!

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Lineup is out. Collin, Daugherty, and Fyten are scratches. Grant, Pfoh, and Norris get their first starts as freshmen. I like the Swankler, Burke, Gresock line.