Bowling Green’s goalies are off to a good start.
As a result, the Falcons are more relaxed and playing with more confidence this season.
Nick Eno and Andrew Hammond played well in BG’s season-opening series last weekend at Minnesota
State-Mankato.
Although the Falcons lost 3-2, 4-1, the BG goalies combined to stop 73-of-76 shots for .908 save
percentage.
"When your goalies are standing on their head, that’s very reassuring," BG senior forward Josh
Boyd said. "It gives you more confidence and it helps you to relax, knowing you’re going to have
support back there."
Poor goaltending hurt the Falcons last season as Eno missed the first half of the season with a sprained
ankle and then struggled once he returned. Jimmy Spratt had an .891 save percentage in 34 games.
BG had a league-worst .875 percentage last season.
A goalie’s save percentage is like a baseball player’s batting average. If a goalie stops nine out of 10
shots, their save percentage is .900. A save percentage of .910 or better is almost a must, but .900 is
acceptable.
Last season, BG had a save percentage of under .850 in 14 of its 38 games.
The Falcons haven’t announced a starter for tonight’s home exhibition against the U.S. Under-18 Team at
7:05.
"Good goaltending just gives you that little bit of extra leeway to take those chances offensively
because we’ve got a rock back there to stop the puck," BG coach Dennis Williams said. "The
defense feels more confident, too."
The Falcons often out-shot opponents last season, but were hurt by too many soft goals. Excellent
goaltending also can greatly improve a team’s penalty-killing.
The goaltending is even more important because BG most likely is going to have a hard time scoring goals.

"If we can muster three goals, we’re going to be in a lot of games just by watching our
goalies," Williams said.
OUT: Junior David Solway, BG’s best forward, remains out tonight with a shoulder injury suffered Oct. 3.
He also missed the MSM series.
DEFENSE: Williams said the Falcons can help their goalies by doing a better job of clearing pucks and
opposing players away from the front of the net.
"We have to do a better job in that area," Williams said. "We have to make our opponents
pay a price and make it difficult for them to get to the net."
PK: Williams was pleased with BG’s penalty-killing at MSM as it killed off 14 of its 16 short-handed
situations (87.5 percent). The Falcons were at 83.2 percent last season.
"(Eno and Hammond) were great, that’s a big part of penalty-killing," said Boyd, one of BG’s
top penalty-killers. "We did a good job of getting in the shooting and passing lanes, and blocking
shots … chipping pucks out of our zone and winning one-on-one battles."
U.S. 18 TEAM: Most of the players on the U.S. Under-18 Team will go on to play college hockey at the
major programs and some will be high-round NHL draft picks. Michigan has five recruits on the team,
while Notre Dame has three.
"They’ll be a very skilled team, a fast team," Williams said. "In order for us to be
successful, we’re going to have to be physical and keep the game 5-on-5. The special teams, right now,
are in their favor and that’s probably how they’d like to play the game."
The U.S. 18s have lost to three U.S. college teams this season – second-ranked Boston University (3-2),
No. 5 Michigan (4-2) and No. 12 Boston College (6-3).