Nick Eno has played consistently well this season.
The senior goalie has been one of the most reliable players for the Bowling Green Falcon hockey team.
In a career filled with ups and downs – although no fault of his own – Eno is enjoying his best season.
He has a 2.74 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage in 11 games, sharing the No. 1 job in goal
with sophomore Andrew Hammond.
Eno has started the first game of every series and Hammond has been in goal the second game of each
series. The two have provided BG with solid goaltending all season.
"I’ve been trying to focus a lot more on my mental game and be ready for every game," Eno said.
"In the past, I’ve thought about things too much, that was my problem.
"Lately, I’ve just been thinking about what I need to do to help the team win."
The improved mental approach has enabled Eno to concentrate on his game, instead of worrying the things
he can’t control such as bad bounces, questionable calls, mistakes by teammates or the team’s lack of
scoring.
Being a goalie for the Falcons isn’t easy as they’re allowing 29.7 shots per game, including a high
number of quality scoring chances.
BG. which is scoring just 2.2 goals per game, is 6-12-2 overall and 2-10-2-0 in the Central Collegiate
Hockey Association entering this weekend’s home series with 20th-ranked Ferris State (9-7-3, 6-6-3-2).
Faceoff Friday and Saturday is 7:05 p.m.
"I’ve been concentrating on what I can control in my game and what I need to work on in practice to
make myself better," he said. "I told myself I would focus on the little things and if I did
all of the little things right, that it would add up to one big success. I try to be my best every
day."
Eno also has responded well to a challenge a month into the season from BG head coach Chris Bergeron.
"He told me I needed more fight, more drive, more meanness, tenacity in my game, especially when the
puck was in my crease," said Eno, a quality person off the ice. "During practice, I would take
some drills off and not do it as hard as I should. He wanted to me to compete for every puck in practice
and now I’m treating every drill as a game situation."
Eno worked hard during shooting drills, but didn’t work as hard during drills designed for the team’s
forwards and defensemen. Now, he works hard at both.
"Now, he fights for pucks and wants to be the best practice goaltender possible, knowing that will
carry over into games," Bergeron said. "That’s something, especially for a senior, to take
that with an open mind and try to learn from it and adjust to it, that’s been really good."
Eno was a last-minute addition to the Falcon roster in August, 2007. The Howell, Mich. native committed
to BG just two weeks before school started. The Falcons were desperate for a goalie after Josh Unice, a
third-round draft pick of the Chicago Blackhawks, elected at the last minute to play in the Major A
Ontario Hockey League instead of coming to BG that year.
Eno was named to the All-CCHA rookie team as a freshman, posting a 2.79 goals-against and a .905 save
percentage in 23 games. He sprained his ankle during training camp as a sophomore and didn’t return
until January. And when he did return, he wasn’t sharp and posted a 4.58 goals-against and an .805 save
percentage in seven games.
Last season, he rebounded to play well with a 3.30 goals-against and an .896 save percentage – despite an
uncertain summer regarding the future of the program, an interim head coach and a team that won only
five games.
The 6-foot-3, 187-pounder has steadily improved all parts of his goaltending during his career. He was a
seventh-round draft pick of the Buffalo Sabres in 2007.
"I’m more experienced, a lot more confident," said Eno, who has a 3.3 grade-point average in
exercise science. "I know what to expect, I’m smarter. I’m reading plays better, I’m more aware of
whether guys are left or right shots, where guys are on the ice."
