Bowling Green and UAH Set For WCHA Clash

Friday, October 17

Huntsville, Ala.

7:07 P.M.

Bowling Green State University

Alabama Huntsville

Photo by: BGSU Marketing and Communications

October 14, 2014 | Ice Hockey

The Falcons will open league play this weekend (Oct. 17-18) in Huntsville, Ala., taking on the Chargers at the Von Braun Center on Friday and Saturday night in a WCHA showdown.

By: by Jake Dorow, Athletic Communications

BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY FALCONS

Falcon Weekly With Evan Pivnick: Coach Bergeron

Falcon Weekly With Evan Pivnick: Nolan Valleau

The Last Time
The Bowling Green State University ice hockey team defeated the University of Alabama in Huntsville on Jan. 4, 2014, by a score of 4-1, to complete a two-game sweep over the Chargers in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association showdown. The two teams squared off in front of 1,515 fans at the Von Braun Center, as the Falcons saw four different skaters score goals, while sophomore goaltender Tommy Burke turned away 26-of-27 shots.

About UAH
The Chargers will begin its second season in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association for the 2014-15 season. UAH began its program back in 1979, and has gone from a national championship program in the mid-1990's to a cha contender in the early to mid-2000's. The Chargers finished last in the WCHA with a 2-35-1 overall record in head coach Mike Corbett's inaugural season. UAH picked up its first conference victory in overtime at Bowling Green (12/07/13). The Chargers also had a win over Bemidji State (02/28/14) and played Alaska Anchorage (01/17/14) to a 1-1 tie in its first season in the WCHA.

The Series
Bowling Green holds a 9-3-1 all-time lead in the head-to-head series in its short amount of games played against each other. Bowling Green defeated UAH in their first ever meeting against each other, defeating the Chargers 4-3 on Jan. 21, 2000. The Falcons are an impressive 5-1-1- at the BGSU Ice Arena while playing the Chargers, and sport a 4-2-0 record away from Bowling Green. The Falcons also hold a 43-26 goal advantage in the all-times series against UAH, including outscoring Alabama-Huntsville 16-4 over the last four meetings.

The Last Time Out
The Falcons split a home-and-home series against No. 10 Miami to open the 2014-15 campaign, defeating the RedHawks 3-2 on Friday night before dropping a 3-2 decision on Sunday evening. Kevin Dufour tallied three of the Falcons' five goals over the weekend, and four different rookies scored at least one point over the weekend. Rookie defenseman Nolan Valleau recorded back-to-back games with two assists, tallying one assist on four the five Falcon goals for the weekend.

RedHawk Down
The Falcons opened their 2014-15 season in fashion, defeating No. 10 Miami University in front of the Falcon faithful at the BGSU Ice Arena by a score of 3-2. The win marked the first time the Falcons defeated the RedHawks since Jan. 4, 2008, when the Orange and Brown defeated Miami 4-2. Prior to Friday night's game, Miami had gone 15-0-1 against the Falcons over the last 16 meetings.

Protecting Home Ice
The Falcons started the 2014-15 season where they left off last season, defending home ice. The Orange and Brown went 12-5-2 a season ago, including a first round playoff sweep over Michigan Tech. BGSU picked right up and defeated the 10th-ranked RedHawks in front of its home crowd on Friday (Oct. 10) night, giving the Falcons five straight wins at the BGSU Ice Arena dating back to last season.

Special Team's Success
The Falcons jumpstarted its season with plenty of action of the power play, marking 11 opportunities with the odd-man advantage over their opening weekend against No. 10/11 Miami University. BGSU, who scored on 84 percent of the time on the power play in 2013-14, continued their success on special teams over the weekend. The Orange and Brown went 3-for-11 (27 percent), while also killing off 5-of-6 (83 percent) Redhawk opportunities over the weekend.

Hot Start
Sophomore forward Kevin Dufour made sure his presence was felt early in the 2014-15 season, lighting the lamp for a total of three times in two games against No. 10 Miami University. The left-handed forward from Quebec City, Quebec, score two goals on Friday night --including the game-winning goal with 10:34 remaining in the third period--, and lit-the-lamp once more on Sunday (Oct. 12) evening. Dufour has already scored one third of his total goal output from a year ago over the opening weekend.

Power Move
Speaking of Kevin Dufour, the sophomore forward scored two power-play goals over the weekend. The markers give Dufour an average of one PPG and two on the early season, which is tied for first NCAA. Dufour also ranked seventh in the NCAA in Goals Per Game, averaging 1.50 in two games.

Please Let Me Assist You
Rookie defenseman Nolan Valleau played a big part over the weekend, helping the Falcons earn a home-and-home series split with 10th-ranked Miami University. Valleau totaled four assists for the Orange and Brown, leading the team in scoring over the weekend. Valleau tallied an assist in four of the Falcons' five goals over the weekend in his collegiate hockey debut. In addition, Valleau also totaled a team-best plus-2 rating and no penalties against the Redhawks.

More Valleau
With the impressive weekend, the rookie defenseman finds himself at the top of some charts in the NCAA after week one. Valleau currently sits third in the NCAA averaging 2.00 assists per game. He also sits second in the NCAA in points per game, averaging 2.00 PPG, and sits second among all rookies in the NCAA averaging 2.00 points per game.

The Rookie Way
Seven rookies made their collegiate hockey debut over the course of weekend against No. 10/11 Miami, combining for seven total points in two games. Tyler Spezia, Mitch McLain, Jakob Reichert, Brandon Hawkins, Brett D'Andrea, Mark Friedman and Nolan Valleau all made their debuts for the Orange and Brown. The seven points over the weekend accounted for 50 percent of the scoring for BGSU against Miami.

Freidman On The Board
Rookie defenseman Mark Friedman, who was a 2014 NHL Draft selection by the Philadelphia Flyers in the third round, lit-the-lamp for the first time in his collegiate career in the third period Sunday evening. Friedman gathered a pass near the slot and found himself point-blank and fired a shot past the RedHawk netminder.

Reichert Tallies An Assist
Jakob Reichert, a 6'5 freshman forward from Langley, B.C., tallied his first collegiate point in his career on Sunday evening against Miami. The big-body forward had a secondary assist on Mark Freidman's goal in the third period on Sunday night.

The Last Line Of Defense
Tomas Sholl and Tommy Burke each split time between the pipes over the weekend. Sholl, who is entering his second seaon with the Falcons, earned the start in net on Friday night. Sholl turned away 22-of-24 shots fired his way, helping the Falcons hold the RedHawk offensive firepower to two goals, earning his first victory of the season. Meanwhile, Burke got the call in a tough RedHawk environment on the road. Burke stopped 26-of-29 shots in the Falcons' 3-2 loss on Sunday night.

WCHA.TV
The season, fans of the WCHA can watch more than 180 games of its games live and in high definition thanks to WCHA.tv. Powered by America One Sports and Eversport.tv on WCHA.tv the platform enables fans to watch all 10 conference teams in action throughout the season. Every league game will be streamed live, along with each team's non-conference home contests, the league's postseason and the WCHA Final Five. With WCHA.tv, fans can follow their team wherever they are. Each game will be available on multiple platforms, including traditional web browsers on PCs, tablets and mobile phones using the iOS and Android platforms.

#FalconHockey/Social Media
The Bowling Green Falcons hockey team is on Twitter and Instagram. You can follow along all season long by following the Falcons on Twitter @BGFalconHockey. The Orange and Brown use their official hashtags FalconHockey and WeAreBG throughout the entire season. You can also follow the Falcons' Instagram account, BGFalcons.

Evan Pivnick "The Voice" On The Mic
All games this season can be heard on the radio by tuning into 88.1 WBGU-FM. Evan Pivnick will provide the play-by-play commentary throughout the season. The pregame show will air 30 minutes prior to the opening face-off. The broadcast can be heard globally on www.bgsufalcons.com.

LiveStats
Live stats for all BGSU home games are available on the BGSU website- www.bgsufalcons.com - via Live Scoring. The stats can be accessed from the schedule page in the hockey section of the website by clicking on the "details" icon on the right hand side of the page, then by clicking "live scoring".

Bowling Green WCHA Ranks
Scoring Offense:   2.50 G/GM (T-7^th)
Scoring Defense:    2.50 G/Gm (5^th)
Power Play:     27.3% (3^rd)
Penalty Kill:     83.3% (7^th)

Bowling Green Leaders
Points: Nolan Valleau (4)
Goals: Kevin Dufour (3)
Assists: Nolan Valleau (4)
Shots: Brandon Hawkins (8)
Penalties: Mark Friedman (4:00)

Looking at The University of Alabama in Huntsville
Head Coach: Mike Corbett (2^ndSeason)

2013-14 Overall Record: 2-35-1
2014-15 Overall Record: 0-2-0

UAH Last Week:
*Courtesy of UAHChargers.com

GAME 1: The University of Alabama in Huntsville (0-1) hockey team fell to Colorado College (1-0) in the 2014-15 season opener by a final score of 3-2 on Friday night at Broadmoor World Arena. The Chargers penalty kill unit played well throughout Friday night. UAH defended the power play six times in the opener, allowing just one goal as a unit. Sophomore Brandon Carlson anchored the defense with a team-high four blocks, with senior Ben Reinhardt just behind at three.

GAME 2: The University of Alabama in Huntsville (0-2) hockey team dropped the series finale to Colorado College (2-0) on Saturday night by a final score of 4-3 at World Broadmoor Arena. Carlson set a career high with three points after his two goals and one assist against the Tigers. Marooney and Misuraca each totaled two points during the game for UAH. Marooney's two-point night was the first of his career, after assisting Carlson's first goal and Misuraca's score.
Defensively, the Chargers limited the Tigers to zero goals on power plays on Saturday. UAH has allowed one power-play goal in 12 chances in two games this season.

Key Players
#   Player                        GP    G    A    Pts.
6   Brandon Carlson         2      2       1     3
4 Frank Misuraca            2      1      1    2
23 Cody Marooney            2      0      2    2

Key Goalies
#   Player                         GP    W-L-T    GAA    Sv%
30 Matt Larose                  1        0-1-0      4.00     .906
35 Carmine Guerriero   1         0-1-0     3.03     .925

Alabama Huntsville Team Ranks (WCHA)
Scoring Offense:      2.50 G/GM (T-7^th)
Scoring Defense:     3.50 G/GM (7^th)
Power Play:             40% (1^st)
Penalty Kill:               81.0% (8^th)