# 2008–09 Bowling Green Falcons men's ice hockey season

The 2008–09 Bowling Green Falcons men's ice hockey team represented Bowling Green State University in the 2008–09 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season. Their regular season began on October 10, 2008, against RIT and concluded on February 28, 2009, against Western Michigan. Despite finishing last in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, Bowling Green advanced to the 2009 CCHA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament where they were eliminated two games to none by Ohio State in the opening round.

## Pre-season

In May 2008, assistant coach and former Falcon player, Doug Schueller, left the team to become the head coach of the ice hockey team at Saint John's (MN), becoming the 22nd head coach in the Johnnies' history. and was replaced by another former Falcons player and graduate assistant, Dennis Williams, in July. Once again in August, the hockey team lost another assistant coach, when Todd Reirden took a position as assistant coach with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League under former Bowling Green teammate Dan Bylsma and was replaced with Frank Novock who was an assistant with Wayne State University's ice hockey program before it was disbanded.
A month before the season, Paluch named senior defenseman Tim Maxwell and junior defenseman Kyle Page as co-captains for the upcoming season. At the CCHA media day, the Falcons were voted to finish ninth by the league's coaches with 56 points and seventh by the league's media partners with 444 points. Also at the media day, sophomore forward Jacob Cepis was named an honorable mention to the preseason all-conference team. The Falcons entered the season returning 21 letter winners, while losing six including Buffalo Sabres prospect, Derek Whitmore who scored 102 points during his four-year career with Bowling Green.

### Recruiting
## Standings

2008–09 Central Collegiate Hockey Association standingsvte :
| | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Conference | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall |
| | GP | W | L | T | SW | PTS | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| #4 Notre Dame†* | 28 | 21 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 48 | 95 | 52 | 40 | 31 | 6 | 3 | 135 | 69 |
| #5 Michigan | 28 | 20 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 98 | 51 | 41 | 29 | 12 | 0 | 145 | 84 |
| #2 Miami | 28 | 17 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 40 | 89 | 57 | 41 | 23 | 13 | 5 | 128 | 89 |
| Alaska | 28 | 0^ | 28^ | 0^ | 0^ | 34 | 54 | 51 | 39 | 0^ | 39^ | 0^ | 74 | 68 |
| Ohio State | 28 | 13 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 33 | 87 | 85 | 42 | 23 | 15 | 4 | 143 | 119 |
| Northern Michigan | 28 | 11 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 30 | 72 | 73 | 41 | 19 | 17 | 5 | 111 | 103 |
| Western Michigan | 28 | 9 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 26 | 75 | 86 | 41 | 14 | 20 | 7 | 111 | 130 |
| Nebraska–Omaha | 28 | 8 | 13 | 7 | 3 | 26 | 62 | 76 | 40 | 15 | 17 | 8 | 98 | 103 |
| Ferris State | 28 | 9 | 14 | 5 | 2 | 25 | 58 | 68 | 38 | 12 | 19 | 7 | 90 | 105 |
| Lake Superior State | 28 | 7 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 21 | 73 | 86 | 39 | 11 | 20 | 8 | 110 | 115 |
| Michigan State | 28 | 7 | 17 | 4 | 3 | 21 | 43 | 85 | 38 | 10 | 23 | 5 | 62 | 118 |
| Bowling Green | 28 | 8 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 60 | 96 | 38 | 11 | 24 | 3 | 89 | 131 |
| Championship: Notre Dame † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion Final rankings: USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Top 15 Poll ^ Alaska was retroactively required to forfeit all wins and ties due to player ineligibilities. ||||||||||||||||

## Schedule and results

* Green background indicates shootout/overtime win (conference only) or win (2 points).
* Red background indicates regulation loss (0 points).
* White background indicates overtime/shootout loss (conference only) or tie (1 point).
2008–09 Game Log :

## Player statistics
### Skaters

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus–minus; PIM = Penalty minutes
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Dan Sexton | 38 | 17 | 22 | 39 | 20 |
| Brandon Svendsen | 38 | 12 | 18 | 30 | 36 |
| David Solway | 38 | 12 | 12 | 24 | 62 |
| Kai Kantola | 36 | 12 | 6 | 18 | 63 |
| Nick Bailen | 37 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 58 |
| James Perkin | 38 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 0 |
| Kyle Page | 38 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 20 |
| Kevin Schmidt | 38 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 0 |
| Josh Boyd | 35 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 8 |
| Tommy Dee | 37 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 28 |
| Todd McIlrath | 31 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 0 |
| Patrick Tiesling | 38 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 14 |
| Jacob Cepis | 18 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 |
| Wade Finegan | 19 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 16 |
| Tomas Petruska | 36 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 44 |
| Andrew Krelove | 38 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 32 |
| Bryan Potacco | 18 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Russ Sinkewich | 22 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| James McIntosh | 34 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 32 |
| Cameron Sinclair | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Tim Maxwell | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Dean Petiot | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Brennan Vargas | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Brian Moore | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 |

### Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; TOI = Time on ice; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average; G = Goals; A = Assists; PIM = Penalty minutes
| Player | GP | TOI | W | L | T | GA | SO | Sv% | GAA | G | A | PIM |
| Jimmy Spratt | 34 | 1951 | 11 | 19 | 3 | 99 | 3 | .891 | 3.04 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Nick Eno | 7 | 328 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 25 | 0 | .805 | 4.58 | 0 | 2 | 0 |