Back in the days before Ron Mason was shuffling around in his Michigan State athletic director’s chair, he was coaching the Falcons for six seasons (1973-79). He led them to 160 wins and only 63 losses while coaching a big-time player by the name of John Markell.
Markell, a native of Cornwall, Ontario, would go on to become the sixth all-time leading scorer in Falcon history (235 points) as he and Mason’s BG teams went on to win the school’s first three Central Collegiate Hockey Associations titles. A stretch that included a third place NCAA finish in the 1977-78 season as they beat Wisconsin 4-3 in the national consolation game.
In Markell’s four years of play from 1975-79, the Falcons were 18-2 against the Ohio State Buckeyes. A team historically that the Falcons have dominated going 90-57-5 against the Buckeyes.
When BG (13-9-4;10-7-3 CCHA) and Ohio State (20-7-3;17-4-1 CCHA) drop the puck in Columbus tonight it’ll mark the 153rd time the two teams have met in the 39-year history of this in-state rivalry.
A rivalry which now finds Markell on the other side of the tracks as he is in his 10th season as head coach of the No. 7 Buckeyes. It’s a series that still favors his team as his Buckeyes have won the last seven meetings.
Their last meeting being in the first round of last season’s CCHA playoffs, where the Buckeyes swept the Falcons (3-2, 5-2) to end BG’s season.
“I don’t think the rivalry has changed much,” Markell said. “It’s still as intense as ever with both teams wanting to win and this year with us being in position for the league title and them fighting for home ice, that’ll make it that much more important.”
For Ohio State, a win would give them a chance to move ahead of Michigan, who is in the top spot by a single point. The CCHA has become a two team race for the title as third place sits eight points behind the Buckeyes with eight games to play.
BG sits in the fifth spot, but needs points to stay in contention for home ice in the first round of the playoffs.
They’re two points away from fourth place Nebraska-Omaha and four points ahead of three teams tied for sixth, including Michigan State going into the games with their in-state rivals.
“Ohio State brings a good rivalry out of Bowling Green and is certainly a team we want to play well against,” BG head coach Scott Paluch said. “Like any in-state rivalry, this has been a good rivalry and like last week against Ferris, this is a team we have to end this losing trend against.”
That losing trend started three seasons ago when Buddy Powers was coach as BG dropped a home game to the Buckeyes, and has continued into the past two seasons under Paluch.
The Falcons met the Buckeyes four times last season, with the OSU size and special teams dominating in each game as the Falcons looked weak and couldn’t find an answer for OSU forward Dave Steckel. Steckel scored five goals and assisted on four others in the four games as they out-scored the Falcons 19-to-7, including a 7-0 game at the Ice Arena last November.
“We haven’t played too well against them,” BG defenseman Jon Sitko said. “It’s more of a mental thing than anything. I think people psyche themselves out when we play them which is something we can’t do.”
Though Steckel won’t be there this season to psyche out the BG players, the Buckeyes do bring size and good special teams play again this season.
They are lead in points by freshman forward Tom Fritsche, who has come in and substituted well for the four top scorers OSU had graduate. Fritsche has seven goals and 25 assists on the year. He and his teammates rank nationally in the top 10 in every major category, including having the sixth ranked power-play unit at 23 percent.
The BG power-play unit is ranked 15th at 20 percent.
“They’re as deep a team as there is and they don’t have many weaknesses,” Paluch said. “They’re worthy of their top billing and have a very good mix of youth and experienced players.”
Much like the Buckeyes, the Falcons this year bring a lot of good youth and experience as well. Junior Brett Pilkington had two assists against Ferris State, as he continues to lead BG in points with 23 as he has 20 assists on the year.
Junior Mike Falk has been meshing well with freshmen Alex Foster and Jonathan Matsumoto as their line contributed for three of the four goals in Saturday’s win. Matsumoto had two goals while Falk had a goal and an assist and Foster had two assists.
“That line is on a nice little roll for us,” Paluch said. “They’ve been a consistent group and each one of them gives something unique to the line.”
Consistency has been a big thing for the Falcons all season, as they’ve gotten points in every game this season after being shutout five times last year. They average 3.38 goals a game, which ranks 11th nationally.
“Their work ethic is what sticks out to me,” Markell said. “You can’t tell the 20th guy from the first this season and they have guys that can score goals for them on any given night.”
That work ethic is something the Falcons hope will bring them over the top against their in-state rivals this season. The two teams will drop the puck at Value City Arena tonight and tomorrow at 7:05 p.m.
