@/vs. Western Michigan (10/13-10/14)

[mbenecke]

On Thursday, October 13 at 7:00pm, our Falcons (2-2-0) continue their season on the road as they take on the #18 Western Michigan Broncos (2-1-0). Game 1 will be available for streaming at NCHC.tv ($$). Game 2 will take place the next night here at home, on Friday, October 14 at 7:07pm, and it will be available to stream through FloHockey.

This is our first time playing WMU since seeing them 3 times in October of 2019. They won our Ice Breaker matchup 5-2 at the Huntington Center, while we swept the home and home series the following weekend, 2-1 and 2-1.

So far this season, WMU opened with a 3-1 loss at Anchorage, responded with a 4-1 win the next night, and then won at Ferris 6-4 on Saturday. This game will be their home opener, and I’m sure they will be fired up and ready to go, even with a weird Thursday night game.

Pat Ferschweiler is entering his 2nd season at WMU, and his overall record is 28-13-1. He has been a very solid coach so far for them, so I expect them to be ready to give us all they’ve got. Their goalies have only faced a combined 44 shots in 3 games so far (against mediocre competition), so I am intrigued to see how we attack them, given our low shot totals this past weekend.

Goalie Matchup:

WMU
Kirk Laursen 1-0-0, 2.70 GAA, .818 SV%
Cameron Rowe 1-1-0, 2.71 GAA, .818 SV%

BGSU
Zach Rose 2-0-0, 2.89 GAA, .913 SV%
Christian Stoever 0-2-0, 2.51 GAA, .930 SV%

Go Falcons! Beat WMU!

[jpfalcon09]

I'll be happy with a split.

[mbenecke]

I'll be happy with a split.

My thinking as well. Honestly, my hope for the first month of the season was just to tread water. @ NMU, @/vs. Michigan State, @/vs. Western Michigan, and @ Minnesota State is a difficult draw for October. If we can get to the end of that stretch with 4 wins (2 down, 2 to go), I think we'll be in pretty good shape.

[unfalconbelievable]

We'll play our best game of the weekend tonight. Then tomorrow we'll wonder where that team went.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

I'll be inside Lawson tonight with my fingers crossed we don't play like we did this past Saturday.

[Bgsu2016]

I'll be happy with a split.

My thinking as well. Honestly, my hope for the first month of the season was just to tread water. @ NMU, @/vs. Michigan State, @/vs. Western Michigan, and @ Minnesota State is a difficult draw for October. If we can get to the end of that stretch with 4 wins (2 down, 2 to go), I think we'll be in pretty good shape.

Agreed, brutal opening to 2022

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Nelson is in the house tonight.

[jpfalcon09]

Crime these two teams aren't in the same conference.

[Schadenfreude]

Crime these two teams aren't in the same conference.

Hear hear.

[jpfalcon09]

Another uninspired effort so far. Broncos watched film, their forecheck is giving BG fits and the breakout is suffering.

[jpfalcon09]

1-0 Broncos after 1. BG only had one shot on goal. Obviously not going to cut it.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

They’re bigger, faster, more skilled. Rose mad some super saves, he probably wants the goal back. We can’t get out of our end. We can’t get through the neutral zone. We dump it in where bigger/faster/more skilled starts it back up ice.

We need some of those Powers Xs and Os in the second.

[mbenecke]

1 shot in a period is not going to get it done. That’s something I thought we would be addressing this week, but it doesn’t seem like we did…

[jpfalcon09]

1 shot in a period is not going to get it done. That’s something I thought we would be addressing this week, but it doesn’t seem like we did…

Same leadership group as last season left me a bit underwhelmed. Team doesn't play with any fire or emotion. Frustrating to watch.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

A lot of interference that isn’t being called. We looked really good for about 2 min and got a goal. 2-1.