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It was an exciting first two games of the season for the Quinnipiac Bobcats men’s ice hockey team as they swept the opening series with the Sacred Heart Pioneers.

With the first series in the books the Bobcats will welcome in an unfamiliar foe in the no. 13 Bowling Green Falcons on Friday and Saturday. The Falcons are on a tear to start the season, winning six of seven to start the new campaign.

Quinnipiac and Bowling Green have never played each other despite both programs playing over 1,300 games each.

What can the Bobcats look forward to? Let’s dive in.

The Three-Headed Monster

Bowling Green’s senior line of Max Johnson, Cameron Wright and Brandon Kruse has been one of the best, if not the best in the NCAA this season. Combined, the trio sports 25 points in seven games including 13 goals, with Johnson leading the way in that category with six.

Wright might be the hottest of the bunch coming into Friday’s contest, as he is averaging a goal per game over his last three, including two in the teams last game against Ferris State.

To put in perspective how good Johnson and Kruse are, let’s take a look at their career points and how they match-up with the rest of the NCAA.

Yep, right up there with the best in all of college hockey, and these two, along with Wright, have been unstoppable to this point in the season. This line is outscoring opponents 9-1 as well as generating a ton of possession for the team.

Dominating the Possession

The Falcons, much like the Bobcats, have been a great faceoff team this year. Bowling Green is coming into Friday with an impressive 55% win rate in the faceoff dot, winning 60% of draws in the offensive zone.

This means they are able to set up their offense and create structure to the game instead of trying to counter on the rush, creating a track meet.

According to HockeyU Analytics, Bowling Green has not only been one of the best teams this season at possessing the puck, but they have been THE best team in the country so far at out-possessing and out-chancing their opponents.

Before I show the stats I want to define some terms that I am about to use.

Corsi – is a possession stat where a team’s score of 50 means it attempted the same amount of even-strength shots as its opponent (including blocked shots). 100 means one team takes every single shot that makes it on net, misses the net or is blocked.

The Falcon’s team Corsi For per 60 Minutes this season is hovering around 75, an absolutely ludicrous number that says for every four shots that are taken in a game, Bowling Green is taking three of them.

What Do the Bobcats Have to do to Win?

The Bobcats played a very sloppy second period in their 2-1 overtime victory against Sacred Heart on Tuesday and that simply cannot happen against this Falcons team.

While they might not jump on you from the start, Bowling Green has found their success in the middle frame outsourcing their opponents 14-4 in those 20 minutes.

It’s going to be crucial for Quinnipiac to find success on special teams. Bowling Green is not a great power play team this year operating at just a 5-for-34 clip (14.7%) so when put in a short-handed situation the Bobcats must be effective.

The Falcons penalty kill, while not bad, is not great either allowing four goals in 25 attempts meaning the Bobcats cannot have a repeat performance of Tuesday, going 0-8 on the man advantage.

Prediction

Both of these teams are very good hockey teams, and while Bowling Green has won six of seven to start the season, their competition has not been great. Adrian (Division III), Mercyhurst and Ferris St. have not been the most telling of opponents.

I see both teams getting a game in this weekend series but I would not be surprised if Quinnipiac took both.

HockeyU Analytics runs a game prediction model that has been 83.3% correct this season (5-1-2). The model shows the Bobcats with a slight advantage Friday, with the game really being a tossup, Quinnipiac with a 52% chance of winning.