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Tourney signals opening of college hockey season

Miami among four-team field at Nutter Center

By Marc Katz
e-mail address: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Dayton Daily News

FAIRBORN | Ryan Fultz expects to be at the Nutter Center tonight when his former team, the Bowling Green State University Falcons, plays Niagara at 5 o'clock in the first game of the inaugural Lefty McFadden College Hockey Invitational.

Not only will it be the first game of this tournament, but the first official game in collegiate hockey this season.

Following BGSU-Niagara, host Miami will play the Air Force Academy, which may have the biggest following of the tournament if the folks at Wright Patterson Air Force Base get involved. The Miami-AF game is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. On Saturday, losers play at 4:30 p.m., followed by winners at 7:30.

Bowling Green coach Scott Paluch will also be coaching his first game as the head coach and the first former BGSU player to hold that position at his school. Paluch was an All-American for the Falcons in 1988, after which he played two seasons with Peoria in the old International Hockey League.

Fultz, who played for the Falcons for a year and a half, left in the middle of the 2000-01 season to pursue a pro career. For the past two seasons, he has played in the East Coast Hockey League, and presently is in camp with the Dayton Bombers.

That's why he'll be able to check out his old college team.

"It was a good experience there (at Bowling Green)," Fultz said. "I was treated well. I still have tons of friends on the team. Wait until you see D'Arcy McConvey. He's a junior and the team captain.

"But I just wanted to play hockey. College wasn't my thing."

McConvey arrived at BGSU the last season Fultz played there, quickly establishing himself as a top player. He scored 11 goals and 29 points in 40 games last season as a sophomore. The 5-foot-9, 187-pound McConvey is a forward.

Niagara's Joe Tallari is that team's top returning scorer (15 goals, 29 points). The Purple Eagles compete in the Collegiate Hockey America league, along with Air Force. Miami and Bowling Green are both in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.

Miami will be playing Air Force for the first time and the Air Force returns 18 of 26 lettermen, including top scorers and co-captains Scott Zwiers (11 goals, 23 assists, 34 points) and Andy Berg (15-17-32).

Proceeds from the event will benefit the Children's Medical Center as well as Big Brothers/Big Sisters.

Contact Marc Katz at 225-2157 or [log in to unmask]

[From the Dayton Daily News: 10.04.2002]