The BGSU hockey team opened the 2006-2007 season with a bang last night with a 7-1 hard-hitting victory over Windsor in an exhibition game at the BG Ice Arena.

Forward Jonathon Matsumoto led a balanced attack for the Falcons with four assists while forward Todd McIlrath added two goals and an assist of his own. Six different Falcons scored in the contest.

“Overall it was a good start for the team,” said coach Scott Paluch. “We got to see different areas like special teams and [we] got better as the game went on.”

In a game dominated by penalties, Windsor scored their only goal when Jonathon Romic found the net with a two-man advantage at 9:58 of the second period. BG scored three power play goals of their own with both of McIlrath’s goals coming with a man advantage. Tim Maxwell added another late in the second period.

“[The offense] was clicking tonight,” said Matsumoto. “We worked on special teams this week and I think it’s something we can build on throughout the year.”

Several newcomers made an impact in their debut on the ice for the Falcons with freshmen Kai Kantola, Tomas Petruska, Maxwell and McIlrath all scoring goals. Freshman goal tender Eddie Neville was solid in goal, stopping all 12 shots he faced in the third period.

“For their first time competing, I thought they did very well,” said Paluch. “They got a lot of ice time and they held up well.”

Sophomore Brandon Svendsen added a short-handed goal in the first period while Brandon Bales scored at even strength to close out the scoring for BG. Starting goal tender Jimmy Spratt saved eight out of the nine shots he faced in two periods of work.

BG hosts UConn to open its regular season schedule on Friday, Oct. 13 at home.