October is usually thought of as a time of year when the leaves are starting to turn colors and fall is really starting to show its true beauty on college campuses around the country. Ghosts are talked about in campfire stories and carved pumpkins align every porch in anticipation for Halloween.
To the members of the Falcon hockey team, however, it feels like Christmas time as their anticipation is building up for a new hockey season where they hope some old presents will bring them much enjoyment in the upcoming Central Collegiate Hockey Association season.
“It’s almost like the little kid at Christmas,” Coach Scott Paluch said of the way he and his players are feeling going into the opening game tonight. “You just can’t wait to get down, get going and really see what you have. This year is great in that really for the first time in the last four years we know a lot of what’s under the tree – we have a lot of proven scorers and guys who have played a lot of quality minutes back.”
The Falcons have 20 returning players this season, including eight of their top 10 scorers from last season. Leading point scorer Jonathan Matsumoto, who had 32 points off 18 goals and 14 assists in his freshman season returns up front, along with 12 others which includes Alex Foster, Brett Pilkington, James Unger, Mike Falk and Derek Whitmore. Then on defense, the Falcons have five returning players, including top scoring defenseman Michael Hodgson (18 points) and Don Morrison.
Tonight the team will host the University of Windsor in an exhibition game out at the BG Ice Arena as they will look to improve on last year’s success. The Falcons went 16-16-4 last season and hosted their first home CCHA playoff series in 10 seasons.
Last season, the two teams played a tight 3-2 overtime game that saw the Falcons pull it out in the end despite a 43-save performance by Lancer goaltender Reese Kalleitner. It was a goal by Whitmore 2:53 into the extra session that won it for BG in last year’s exhibition opener.
“Their goalie played extremely well in the last year’s game and we’re expecting the same type of team to come in here,” Paluch said of the Lancers. “It was a game that put us in tight situations right of the bat, which proved to be beneficial for us.”
One of the areas the Falcons will hope to get some benefits from in the preseason match-up will be at goaltending. It’s a position where their biggest question marks have laid during the off-season after losing arguably the top goaltender in the history of the program.
Out is Jordan Sigalet – in his senior Jon Horrell and highly-touted freshman Jimmy Spratt. Both who have only seven collegiate appearances between them.
Horrell has appeared in net seven times in his one-year stint with the Falcons after transferring from the University of Findlay, but has had some big moments in substituting for Sigalet. His most notable appearance came in last season’s game at Ferris State where he went in for the final period and held off the Bulldogs as BG erased a three-goal deficit to earn a tie that proved pivotal at that point in the league standings.
Spratt comes in off a successful season playing for Sioux City of the United States Hockey League where he had 2.81 goals against average and .909 save percentage. His big-size along with his ability to move around and fill-the-net made him a highly recruited goaltender coming in as he was taken by the Calgary Flames in the 2004 National Hockey League Entry Draft.
Though Coach Paluch expects big play out his new goaltender and continued big play from his two older net-minders with Bob Frazee returning as well, he doesn’t expect them to be a replica of the man they’ve had in net for the past four seasons.
“We don’t want anyone to be Jordan,” he said. “We want those guys to be themselves, play well and give us opportunities to win games.”
Others giving the Falcons the opportunities to win games will be newcomers Brandon Svendson, Brian Bales, Kevin Schmidt, Justin Liut, Jon Ralph and Russ Sinkewich. A group that is rated 15th coming into the year by Inside College Hockey, an ESPN.com associate Web site. Schmidt, a highly-recruited defenseman, was rated ninth best at his position.
“He brings a lot of what Jonathan Sigalet brought to the ice in his ability to get up and down the ice and make plays,” Paluch said of Schmidt. “We think he’ll contribute some good numbers for us from the blue line.”
Also expected to contribute numbers on defense will be Mike Nesdill, who returns this year after missing much of his freshman year due to injury. He played in 12 games recording a goal and six assists as part of a group of defensemen who stepped up their contributions last season as three defensemen had 16 points or more.
They were a big part of the Falcon power-play that finished at 20 percent and was rated in the top third in the country most of the year.
“We want our defensemen to be involved,” Paluch said. “We got some forwards that can make some plays and we want those guys to push up and be a big part of the offense.”
Pilkington is one of the forwards that will be a big part of the Falcons front-line attack this season. He believes the team overall will be a lot stronger this season despite the team’s preseason position of eighth in both league polls.
“We’re looking really good right now,” he said. “The conditioning level is up and everyone is a lot stronger – the group overall is a lot tighter since the freshmen spent most the summer down here working with us and though we lost our goaltender we’re really confident that our goalies will be there for us all year.”
The Falcons and Lancers will hit the ice tonight at 7:05 p.m. in BG’s lone exhibition game of the season. Their first game of the season will be at home on Oct. 14 against Merrimack, followed by Boston College the next evening.
