After having a week off for Thanksgiving break the Falcon hockey team will return to action tomorrow night in a two-game series against Notre Dame.
“They bring a lot of skill to the table,” said head coach Scott Paluch. “They are one of the teams in our league that is very skilled up front. They skate real well. … They play very well at home and create a great home ice advantage.”
The Fighting Irish come into this weekend 5-6-2 overall and 4-6-0 in Central Collegiate Hockey Association action.
“It’s going to be a real touch series,” said assistant captain Tyler Knight. “Going down to Notre Dame is always a tough place to play and they have a really good team with a lot of talent.” Notre Dame is coming off a weekend in which they lost two games to Alaska Fairbanks. The week before that they split a two-game series with Michigan, so the Fighting Irish will be out for blood this weekend looking to avenge their losses.
“I believe we can go into their rink and win both of the games,” said Roger Leonard. “I think the way we’ve been playing, with tying Michigan and beating Michigan State, there’s no doubt that we have a chance to beat Notre Dame. There is a lot of enthusiasm in the dressing room and on the ice.”
And the Falcons should be excited because they have begun to turn their season around since the 1-1 tie to Michigan Nov. 9. Since then the Falcons have not lost a game.
“I think we’ve picked it up since the Michigan weekend a little,” Knight said. “I think our team is getting more experienced in the league and what it takes to win.”
The Falcons, who are currently 3-8-1 overall and 1-7-1 in the CCHA, defeated the U.S. National Team Development Program Under-18 squad 7-1, which was an exhibition game, and came back out the following weekend to defeat Michigan State 3-2 in overtime.
“Before the last two weeks, I think there was little doubt as to when we were going to win our first game,” Leonard said. “Then we got a win under our belt. After those two games it brought our team a little closer together. I thought [Michigan State] was one of the biggest wins in my time here at BG.”
The Falcons had not beaten Michigan State since 1997 and that was at Munn Ice Arena. The last time they won at home was in 1995.
“The significance of the win against Michigan State was that we hadn’t beaten Michigan State in a while and it was a game that a lot of factors came into play,” Paluch said. “I think we got a lot of solid play from everyone of our lines and all of our defensive pairs. We had a great game out of Siggy (Jordan Sigalet) in goal as well.” The Falcons found themselves trailing, but were able to score goals to tie the game up.
“The ability to come back from two one-goal deficits — in one, Michigan State went up 2-1 with three minutes left to play — was a great feeling on our bench,” Paluch said. “[It shows] that we are going to keep playing hard as long as there is still time left on the clock.”
The Falcons tied the game up with under two minutes left in the third period to send the game into overtime.
“We played a real solid overtime,” Paluch said. “Kevin [Bieksa] and D’Arcy [McConvey] made a great play on the goal. It was a game that we were able to make plays down the stretch to win a very key game.”
Knight agreed that the victory meant a lot to the Falcons. “It was a big win. Our team came together and we came from behind,” Knight said. “It kind of showed us that if we play hard and stick to our systems we’re going to be successful.”
Now, after the players have filled their bellies with turkey and stuffing, the Falcons will have to take their strategies on the road to South Bend, Ind.
“With the break, [we’re] just trying to maintain that momentum we had coming off a tie, an exhibition win and a win against Michigan State. We want to keep that momentum going,” Paluch said. “What we took over the break was understanding what made us successful in those games, which was our physical play, moving our feet and creating contact.”
One way the Falcons are looking to carry that momentum into Notre Dame is by playing physical and moving the puck around. “I think special teams will be a big factor, our power play and penalty kill,” Leonard said. “If we take stupid penalties it’s going to be tough on us. We need to just take the penalties we have to take.”
However, even on the power play the Falcons will have a tough time being put up against some talanted Notre Dame players. “One of the premiere goal scorers in the league, Rob Globke, has been a player that is leading our conference in goals scored. He’s a terrific one-on-one player,” Paluch said.
