In his four years playing for the Falcons, George Roll (1981-85) was a part of some of BG’s best teams and played with some of its’ best players.
He was a part of three Central Collegiate Hockey Association championship teams and helped the Falcons win their only national championship in 1984 as he played alongside players such as Dave Ellett, Garry Galley, Brian Hills, George McPhee and Jamie Wansbrough.
It was in his final season with BG when Roll became good friends freshman defenseman Scott Paluch.
Little did he know the two of them would go down similar paths and eventually become successful hockey coaches battling for the right to coach their alma mater in 2002. Paluch won the position in the end, but Roll wouldn’t get shutout of a job as he found a home as coach at Clarkson University.
Tonight, Roll will return to BG as he leads his 18th ranked Clarkson Golden Knights (9-4-1, 5-2-1) into the Ice Arena for a non-league clash with Paluch and his Falcons. The Falcons (4-10-1, 4-8-1) will conclude the weekend tomorrow night as they host the 12th ranked St. Lawrence Saints (11-5-0, 6-2-0) in the second game against two of the Eastern College Athletic Conference’s top teams. Face-offs are set for 7:05 p.m.
“It’s a great way to finish up the first half of the schedule,” Paluch said. “We won’t play another league for a month and now we have a series of terrific non-conference games starting this weekend.”
BG comes into this weekend fresh off one of their best performances of the year in a 4-2 win over Michigan State that saw them play a complete game from start to finish. All four lines were able to produce points and create scoring chances as the Falcons used a good fore-check to win a lot of the 1-on-1 battles along the boards as they beat MSU to loose pucks.
“Coming out with the 1-on-1 battles was huge,” BG forward James Unger said after the game. “Last night we had a couple of bad turnovers in the neutral zone we tried to eliminate and win those 1-on-1 battles in the offensive and defensive zones.”
With the elimination of the mistakes, goaltender Jimmy Spratt, freshman, was able to be on top of his game as he made 22 stops on 24 shots for top star honors on the night. It was the second of two good performances for BG in net as Jon Horrell made 36 saves on 39 shots despite a 3-0 setback the night before.
“It was a real good weekend in net,” Paluch said. “Jonnie was solid in goal on Friday in the loss, but gave us an opportunity and Jimmy was very good.”
At times this season, it seemed as though the Falcons were a little too comfortable with having their top line of Mike Falk, Alex Foster and Jonathan Matsumoto do most of the scoring. But on Saturday, the line only accounted for one point as the second line stepped up and gave the Falcons some good balance which has been a problem this season.
“We haven’t had a lot of true succession in numbers to our lines,” Paluch said. “We’ve been trying to get consistency throughout our lineup and I think it’s a key for us now to get more guys involved more consistently every night.”
Offensive consistency has been the strong suite of both Clarkson and St. Lawrence this season. The Golden Knights have a 3.79 goals per game average while the Saints average 3.8 goals per game, ranking both of them in the top 10 nationally.
“They’re similar in the fact that they’re both extremely good offensive teams,” Paluch said. “They both have very creative forwards, they move well, they make plays and they’re both very dangerous teams. They’re off to terrific starts because of how well they’re playing and how much skill they have.”
Though there is going to be a lot of emotion that comes along with returning to BG again, Roll knows the game is the priority and that his team better be ready to play.
“I think it is secondary to the game, obviously,” Roll said of returning. “Scotty and I are very good friends and have been for a very long time. It is a game where, I think for both of us, once the game starts, the friendship will be put aside.”
That friendship is something coach Paluch still treasures today and remembers through the years as they not only played with each other, but also shared experiences as coaches as they prepare for their first meeting.
“He’s done an outstanding job at Clarkson,” Paluch said. “It’ll be good to have him back and hopefully a lot of people can come back and welcome George because as a player here, he was a great guy to watch.”
