Game Thread: Bowling Green vs. #15/16 Michigan

[newsguy]

Can't make it to the game? Check out updates and discussion at http://bgnewssports.com/2009/11/bg-vs-m ... ckey-blog/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[BGDrew]

BG losing 3-1 after 2. In all honesty should be around 6-1. Disappointing after last night's game.

[BGDrew]

Lost 4-1.

Just a couple notes while I get ready to write the recap for the site...

- One team showed up, another never got off the bus.
- Lots of players fell tonight at random points. Bad ice or heavy legs?
- Nick Eno kept us within striking distance.
- These seniors deserve a win at Notre Dame. Going to take a hell of a better effort than tonight though.
- Lucas County Arena: beautiful building for hockey but up in the press box only half of the internet ports worked and my power outlet was dead. The rink's been open two months. You shouldn't have those kind of issues. Very friendly staff though. Big thanks to Ryan Gasser who gave me his seat in the box and Jason Knavel for fixing my stat monitor.

[bgsufalcon24]

Lost 4-1.

- One team showed up, another never got off the bus.

You know, what this team has been able to accomplish thus far, it's been impressive. Particularly within CCHA play, the team has had some strong victories. That being said, I'm starting to get really frustrated with their Saturday performances. I'm sorry if I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but the disparity between our play on Fridays and our games on Saturdays is pretty alarming. It seems as though they get the big win the first night, and there's always a letdown the next day. Now obviously I'm not close to the team in any shape or form. But it seems to me like the team is collectively satisfied with winning one out of two, and their intensity is gone the second day. It's as if they feel that they don't "need" to win the 2nd game.

Now, if we were losing our 2nd games by 1 goal, or were playing hard for most of the game, that'd be one thing. But we've hardly even been competitive in a lot of these games after big wins. The best game we played after a CCHA win was against Alaska, and we lost that one by 2. The way things are going right now, we've got a real shot at finishing in the top 8 of the CCHA, and playing at home in the first round of the playoffs. But to do that, we're going to need a sweep here and there to balance out the 2-loss weekends that will sometimes come our way.

[pdt1081]

- Lucas County Arena: beautiful building for hockey but up in the press box only half of the internet ports worked and my power outlet was dead. The rink's been open two months. You shouldn't have those kind of issues. Very friendly staff though. Big thanks to Ryan Gasser who gave me his seat in the box and Jason Knavel for fixing my stat monitor.

I have to disagree on this. Very, very difficult to get into the game. Dead air, cramped seats, that light board that runs around the upper deck was annoying as hell...had to be hard on the players as well. The video board was nothing more than the BCSN broadcast on delay. And half the time it seemed like it was just the BG logo and "Roll Along."

As for the game, neither team played all that great. Nobody seemed into the game at all. The arena seemed to literally suck the energy out of the crowd and players. We didn't play well enough to win. I didn't think Michigan did either, but they managed to control most of the game.

A little advice to the officiating crew, when ya have to take a skate off to count all the players, chances are there's too many on the ice.

[BGDrew]

I didn't say it didn't have it's drawbacks as a hockey arena.

- Yes, I've heard that the seats are cramp. They jammed way too many seats into that place and it was obvious from the press box.
- Dead air: it's a very quiet arena. The sound goes immediately up and unless you have constant sound it's going to be that way. They had to have the high ceiling for football.
- Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe in the pro hockey leagues there are rules in place that dictate a delay must exist for video feeds in-house.
- From the rumblings I've heard this may become an annual thing. The unofficial crowd was 3300 but I heard the actual sold was closer to 4200. I'm ok with this being a once/year thing but nothing more than that. We had no advantage playing there and made no money.

[sbkbghockey]

- Lucas County Arena: beautiful building for hockey but up in the press box only half of the internet ports worked and my power outlet was dead. The rink's been open two months. You shouldn't have those kind of issues. Very friendly staff though. Big thanks to Ryan Gasser who gave me his seat in the box and Jason Knavel for fixing my stat monitor.

I have to disagree on this. Very, very difficult to get into the game. Dead air, cramped seats, that light board that runs around the upper deck was annoying as hell...had to be hard on the players as well. The video board was nothing more than the BCSN broadcast on delay. And half the time it seemed like it was just the BG logo and "Roll Along."

As for the game, neither team played all that great. Nobody seemed into the game at all. The arena seemed to literally suck the energy out of the crowd and players. We didn't play well enough to win. I didn't think Michigan did either, but they managed to control most of the game.

A little advice to the officiating crew, when ya have to take a skate off to count all the players, chances are there's too many on the ice.

It just seemed like both teams were kinda lost out there tonight, more so for BG, but expected with such a young team and then Bam thrown in a brand new professional arena totally different from ours, from what i heard they (both teams) didnt get any practice time in before the warmups either. BG couldnt get much going on offense; played some bad D infront of Eno, couldnt clear pucks outta the zone, etc; made bad passes on O and D; Eno made some great saves to keep it close but also let in some easy goals (3 of the 4).

As for how quiet the arena was, the crowd (fairly small for the overall capacity) seemed kinda lost and out of it too, also besides the BG band a lack of student sections, cheering etc...

[Falcon Frenzy]

- Lucas County Arena: beautiful building for hockey but up in the press box only half of the internet ports worked and my power outlet was dead. The rink's been open two months. You shouldn't have those kind of issues. Very friendly staff though. Big thanks to Ryan Gasser who gave me his seat in the box and Jason Knavel for fixing my stat monitor.

I have to disagree on this. Very, very difficult to get into the game. Dead air, cramped seats, that light board that runs around the upper deck was annoying as hell...had to be hard on the players as well. The video board was nothing more than the BCSN broadcast on delay. And half the time it seemed like it was just the BG logo and "Roll Along."

As for the game, neither team played all that great. Nobody seemed into the game at all. The arena seemed to literally suck the energy out of the crowd and players. We didn't play well enough to win. I didn't think Michigan did either, but they managed to control most of the game.

I totally agree with this. I don't know if it was the arena or not but it just didn't feel like a college hockey game for me, and I LOVE college hockey. Both teams just seemed to not play their best and BG looked like they were chasing the puck the entire game. I hope this is one of those games we just move on from and get back to our recent aggressive style of play for the Notre Dame series this coming weekend.

As for the arena, this is my second hockey game I have seen there and to be honest I am not all that impressed. It is very difficult to get to the arena. We ended up moving to one of the sections that had just a few people in it because where we had our tickets we were packed in like sardines. Everyone around us was complaining about how uncomfortable they were in the seats.

[BillyLP]

I personally thought it was a great arena (by far the nicest minor league hockey facility I've ever been in), and I think it was a cool thing to do between the two teams also. I hope they do it as an annual thing. At first I thought the crowd would be dominated by UM fans but the majority was definitely in BG's favor, and even if the players were in awe of the new arena (which I don't personally think happened...I just don't think we showed up) after doing this for a couple years in a row that wouldn't be an issue any longer really. Just my opinion.

[Altoid_storm]

I really liked the arena over all. I didn't like the crowded seats, but they are like that in a lot of newer arenas. When I went out to Miami during the second round of the playoffs two years ago, the seats were the same. But more uncomfortable and plastic. There was a lack of energy from the crowd, but every time BG would do something, the students were out of their seats cheering. I'm not sure about the rest of the crowd, but at least in my section everyone said they were bored with the game. I know I was. Neither team was playing well. I ended up abandoning my seat to go up and grab a slice of pizza and watch the rest of the game from standing room. I'm used to standing during the games so it was better. Plus, my photos turned out really nice

I'm sure we'll bring back the intensity for next weekend.

[Falcon Fanatic]

Compared to old Sports Arena, the new Lucas County Arena was a palace!! I agree with a lot of what people said. The seats were crowded and in our section (104), it was hard to see down the ice through the glass. The line of sight through the glass was terrible, the vew was highly distorted which made it difficult to see. I moved up to the standing area at the far end to watch the game after the first period. The light board banner/score board around the arena wasn't much of an issue to me. I imagine that they will eventually be adding a big square score board that drops down in the center. If you looked up, you could a see a big open square area in the ceiling beams where a scoreboard could be housed. I am guessing that they are waiting for a big corporate sponsor to step forward and buy one. Same reason you don't see a big sign outside with the name of the building. Why pay for a big expensive sign that says Lucas Country Arena (generic, boring name) when a large money donor could get naming rights and put their own sign on it. I would like to go to the arena for a Walleye game sometime and would like to see a concert there as well. Not sure I want to have more Falcon hockey games there though. I enjoy our own rink SO much more!!!

[MACMAN]

I won't go to anything down there. Toledo blows. The rink isn't worth it. I would rather we play our home games at home, if not what's the point in having our rink. I. Hope they never do it again
ihope our team figures out how to play both nights.

[bgbill]

I know that one player went into this weekend very much under the weather, and he played both nights. With all the bugs that are going around, I wouldn't be surprised if other guys were less than full strength.

Michigan was the slump-buster for us on Friday, and we reciprocated Saturday.
A prerequisite for a slump-buster is being ugly. Mission accomplished.

As for the arena, seats are not comfortable. I hope that if new seating is in the plans for the Ice Arena, this is taken into consideration. Given a choice, I'd put in the benches with backs, as at Lawson Arena - Western Michigan.

[DWhite21]

I won't go to anything down there. Toledo blows. The rink isn't worth it. I would rather we play our home games at home, if not what's the point in having our rink. I. Hope they never do it again
ihope our team figures out how to play both nights.

I agree. Every year I look forward to the Michigan game at BG because of the huge crowd and the excitement it brings. That def. wasn't the case at an arena 20 minutes away. I'd rather play in an older, louder arena than a plush new rink with crammed seats.

To agree with what everyone else said, the seats were extremely uncomfortable and the atmosphere in the arena was no comparison to what it would've been like if the game had been played at BG. I seriously felt clostrophobic sitting to the people next to me.

Either way, we still took 1 out of 2 from Michigan. We may have gotten slaughtered Saturday, but taking a game from a top 20 team at their home rink is an accomplishment.

[Zig]

I didn't really like the arena; acoustically it just sucked the sound and excitement out of the game. Even if the stadium was packed I don't really think it would've been all that better.

I appreciated the cushions on the seats, but I agree with a few others that it might have been a little too crampt.

And what was with "If you're happy and you know it"?