The suspension of the seven players is over and now the Falcon hockey team is back to full strength as they get ready to go out to Nebraska-Omaha to face the Mavericks.
After getting a win and tie against Notre Dame this past weekend, the Falcons are up to 19 in the USCHO/CSTV Division 1 online poll. The highest ranking the team has seen since 1997 when they were 17.
Omaha is right behind them though at 20 and off to 5-3-0 start after going 8-26-5 a year ago.
They’re coming off two losses at Alaska-Fairbanks, but are a team that head coach Scott Paluch knows is much improved. “They’re as much improved as any team in our league right now,” Paluch said. “They have more balance than they did last year throughout their lineup. A year ago, their offense relied on two or three players, where as this year they’re getting a lot of good contributions from a lot of different guys. It’s another league contest for us that’ll have four big points on the line.”
Leading the scoring this year for the Mavericks is forward Scott Parse. Through eight games, he has put up 12 points on four goals and eight assists.
“He (Parse) had a terrific freshman year last year,” Paluch said. “He’s a guy that really understands the offensive zone, he’s opportunistic and he knows how to score. He’s just a very good all around offensive player.”
Other big contributors for the Mavericks have been forwards Bill Thomas and Dan Hacker. Thomas has 11 points on five goals and six assists, where as Hacker has three goals with five assists.
In net, Chris Holt has started every game this season and has been one of the top net-minders in the league. His goals against average is 2.87 with a save percentage of .904.
For the Falcons, Jordan Sigalet has also started every game this season. He made 80 saves on 85 shots this past weekend against the Irish to bring his goal against average to 1.97 on the year with a save percentage of .944.
Four players got their first goals on the season this past weekend in a weekend where BG scored seven goals. James Unger, John Mazzei, Dana Hanson and Alex Foster all recorded their first goals of the year against Notre Dame.
“Getting seven on the weekend was big,” Paluch said. “Yet we still don’t understand how hard we have to work to get those goals. I thought we did a good job in both games of getting ourselves opportunities to shoot. We got a lot more people to the net and really took advantage of rebounds. We know that’ll be the key week in and week out with the type of goaltenders we’ll face in the league.”
With all the suspended players back this week, the practices have been more competitive with guys fighting for positions in the lineup. Only 18 players of the 24 on the roster can dress each game.
“We had this the first two weeks of the season,” Paluch said. “There’ll be competition for different spots on lines, for lineup spots and key roles on the team now much like at the beginning of the year. That’s all a positive thing. The more guys you got competing for certain roles is a great situation.”
Jonathan Matsumoto continues to lead the team in scoring with six points. He has recorded three goals and three assists this season, including an assist on Thursday night in 3-1 win.
Right behind him is Mazzei, who has recorded five points on the year with a goal and four assists.
The freshmen continue to be the top contributors and Mazzei accredits that to him and his teammates coming together as a team.
“I think a lot of people doubted us the past two weekends with a lot of seniors and juniors out of the lineup, but we continue to come together as a team,” Mazzei said. “If we can keep our numbers up and with the guys coming back this weekend we should only get stronger. This weekend we’ll all come together again and hopefully pull out four points on the weekend.”
The Falcons may be short-handed a player this weekend as defenseman Jon Sitko remains day-to-day with a ankle contusion. He left the game at Notre Dame on Friday in the first period and didn’t return.
BG and Omaha will drop the puck at the Qwest Center tonight and tomorrow night at 8:05 p.m. Radio broadcasts can be heard on WPFX (107.7 FM) tonight and tomorrow night on WBGU (88.1 FM). Andy Evans will be doing play-by-play each night.
