Season Stats

THIS WEEK
Western Michigan begins a two-week road trip as it travels to Bowling Green, Ohio, to battle the Falcons on Friday at 7:05 p.m. and on Saturday at 5:05 p.m.

LAST WEEK
The Broncos had a week off after being swept by the University of Michigan 4-3 and 6-1. Western Michigan is 0-1-1 after a bye week so far this season.

SERIES HISTORY
The Broncos and Falcons meet for the 122nd and 123rd time during this weekend’s series. Bowling Green holds the all-time edge 48-71-3 including a commanding lead of 38-19-0 when the Falcons host the Broncos. However, the Broncos are 11-9-1 against Bowling Green under head coach Jim Culhane, including 7-6-0 at Bowling Green.

The last six games between the two teams played in Bowling Green, three of them had to be settled in overtime and all three were WMU losses.

SCOUTING THE FALCONS
Bowling Green (3-18-3, 2-13-3-2/11th CCHA) sits just one point above the Broncos in the CCHA standings but have only three wins so far on the season. Like the Broncos, Bowling Green has struggled to score during conference game, averaging just 2.06 goals per game in 18 conference games so far this season. The BG defense is last in the league and 54th nationally, surrendering 3.71 goals per game and 3.67 in conference games. The Falcon power play has converted 12-percent of its chances, while the power play has stopped just 70.3-percent of its chances.

Freshman Jordan Samuels-Thomas leads the Falcons in scoring with eight goals and 11 assists for 19 points and is one of four players to play in all 24 games on the season. Senior Thomas Petruska is second on the team in scoring and tied  with Samuels-Thomas and David Solway for the team-lead in assists with 11. Kyle Page is the top scoring defenseman for Bowling Green, with three goals and nine assists.

Junior Nick Eno has seen the majority of time in net, starting 15 of the 24 games on the season and posting a 3-10-2 record. Eno has a 3.24 goals against average and his backup, freshman Andrew Hammond, has given up an average of 4.14 goals per game in 12 appearances and nine starts.

IN BETWEEN DAYS
Junior right-winger Travis Paeth netted the lone goal in WMU’s 6-1 loss at Michigan. Paeth, a defensive forward known for delivering big hits, tallied for the first time on the season and for the third time in his career.

Paeth’s last goal came on March 8, 2008 in the final game of the 2007-08 season at Ferris State, or 672 days.


SOMEONE CHECK FOR BRUISES
Currently the Broncos are averaging 16 blocked shots per game and opponents are blocking just over 10 again against WMU. Senior defenseman Tyler Ludwig leads the team with 43 (1.95 per game) and right behind him are Jordan Collins and junior defenseman Mike Levendusky, each blocking 40 shots (1.9 per game). Collins has the individual high so far this season with seven blocked shots in the season-opener against Mercyhurst.

Ian Slater is the top shot-blocking forward on the team with 31 on the season. In all,  seven Broncos have 20-plus blocked shots on the season.