No. 9 Falcons Look To Lock Up NCAA Tournament Bid At WCHA Final Five

Friday, March 20

Saint Paul, Minn.

5:07 PM

Bowling Green State University

#4 Michigan Tech

Photo by: Brad Phalin, BGSU Marketing and Communications

No. 9 Falcons Look To Lock Up NCAA Tournament Bid At WCHA Final Five

March 17, 2015 | Ice Hockey

By: by Jason Knavel, Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Communications

No. 9 BOWLING GREEN FALCONS
(23-10-5)
VS.
No. 4 MICHIGAN TECH HUSKIES
(28-8-2)

Friday, March 20 | 5:07 p.m. ET | Xcel Energy Center
Radio:88.1 FM WBGU (Evan Pivnick)
Television: Fox Sports North/SportsTime Ohio
Live Stats: TBA
Live Video: CLICK HERE (WCHA.TV)
Game Notes: CLICK HERE (.PDF)

Follow Along: @BGFalconHockey | @BGAthletics

BUY TICKETS

PREGAME TAILGATE INFORMATION
Tom Reid's Hockey City Pub
258 7th Street W, St. Paul, Minn.
CLICK HERE for Info

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
BGSU/MICHIGAN TECH VS. MINNESOTA STATE/FERRIS STATE

Saturday, March 21 | 7:07 p.m. ET | Xcel Energy Center
Radio:TBA
Television: Fox Sports North
Live Stats: TBA
Live Video: CLICK HERE (WCHA.TV)
Game Notes: CLICK HERE (.PDF)

Follow Along: @BGFalconHockey | @BGAthletics

BUY TICKETS

PREGAME TAILGATE INFORMATION
Tom Reid's Hockey City Pub
258 7th Street W, St. Paul, Minn.
CLICK HERE for Info

Weekend Highlights

Falcon Weekly (with Chris Bergeron and Evan Pivnick)

On Tap
Bowling Green, ranked No. 13 in the country, returns to the WCHA Final Five for the second year in a row after sweeping Northern Michigan in the first round of the WCHA Tournament this past weekend. The WCHA Final Five will take place Friday and Saturday at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. BGSU will face No. 4 Michigan Tech in the first semifinal Friday at 5:07 pm. The other semifinal will take place at 8:37 pm featuring No. 2 Minnesota State against Ferris State. The winners will play in the championship Saturday at 7:07 pm. All three games will be televised live on Fox Sports North.

About Michigan Tech
Michigan Tech enters the weekend with hopes of a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies are ranked No. 4 in the country with an overall record of 28-8-2. They are 12-1-1 in their last 14 games and swept Alabama Huntsville in the first round of the WCHA Tournament without allowing a goal. Senior Tanner Kero was the WCHA Player of the Year and ranks 16th in the country with 1.18 points per game. Junior goalie Jamie Phillips has been almost unbeatable and ranks among the national leaders in goals against average (second at 1.61), save percentage (third at .938), winning percentage (fourth at .778) and shutouts (tied for second with six). Michigan Tech's scoring defense is second in the country and its offense ranks No. 6. No team in the nation has a better scoring margin than the Huskies either.

The Series
Michigan Tech holds a narrow 10-8-2 edge in the all-time series between these two programs. Most recently, the teams split this year's two-game set at Michigan Tech in January, with each team earn a one-goal victory. A year ago, Bowling Green swept Michigan Tech out of the first round of the WCHA Tournament with 2-1 and 5-2 victories. The two teams also squared off in a CCHA Tournament consolation game in 1982 with Bowling Green coming away with a 2-1 win.

Last Weekend
Bowling Green earned a trip to the WCHA Final Five by sweeping Northern Michigan at the BGSU Ice Arena in a best-of-three first round series. The Falcons came from behind twice to beat the Wildcats in Friday's opener 3-2 in overtime. Junior Mark Cooper tied the game on a goal with less than 90 seconds remaining in regulation and freshman Tyler Spezia won the contest with less than 30 seconds left in the first overtime. On Saturday, Northern Michigan again took a lead but the Falcons answered with four unanswered for the 4-1 win. Cooper had a goal and three assists on the weekend, while Spezia and fellow freshman Brandon Hawkins each had two goals.

What They Are Saying
"I'm a firm believer that the more times you are in situations like this, the better you'll be the next time. We are going there with the mindset that there's a championship at stake and we are playing for something. We'll just leave the national tournament conversation there. What we can control is ourselves and that starts Friday." -- BGSU Head Coach Chris Bergeron

National Recognition
BGSU will enter the WCHA Final Five ranked No. 9 in the country in the USCHO.com poll, up four spots from a week ago. Earlier this year, the Falcons spent six straight weeks in the top 10. The Falcons entered the poll at No. 19 in the country on Nov. 10 and increased their vote count for 13 straight polls. BGSU peaked as high as No. 6 (on Jan. 19 and Jan. 26). The Falcons are one of three WCHA teams that earned a spot in the Top 10, as Minnesota State is No. 2, while Michigan Tech is No. 4.

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll
Much like the USCHO.com poll, Bowling Green climbed four spots to No. 13 in the country shortly after spending six consecutive weeks in the top 10. The Falcons peaked at No. 6 on both Jan. 19 and 26, entering the poll at No. 15 on Nov. 24.

Highest Ranking EVER
#FalconHockey's 23-10-5 start marks the team's best record through 38 games since the 1994-95 team went 25-11-2 for the season. However, that's not the only historic fact coming away from this tremendous season. Bowling Green jumped as high as No.6 in the USCHO.com poll this season, marking the highest ranking for the Orange and Brown since the poll began in 1997. In fact, the team increased its vote total for 13 consecutive weeks to start the season. BGSU entered the poll at No. 19 on Nov. 10 and then made a steady climb up the poll as the year progressed.

Seeing 20-20
With a Friday win over Alabama Huntsville, Falcon Hockey picked up its first 20-win season since 1995-96. In total, it is the 19th time in program history that BGSU has posted 20 wins in a season, which includes five 30-win seasons.

23 And Counting
BGSU's 23 wins are five more than the team had a year ago and equals the win total in 1974-75. There have been 13 other seasons in which the program has won more than 23 games for the year.

Playoff Success
Bowling Green is the only program in the country that has won at least one best-of-three playoff series in each of the past five years. In fact, in Coach Chris Bergeron's tenure (now in his fifth season), BGSU has won six best-of-three playoff series despite playing as the underdog for four of those wins. Bowling Green is now 3-0 in a best-of-three when winning the first game. Listed below are the Falcons' playoff best-of-three history under Bergeron.

Year	Series	Round	Final Result
2010-11	#11 BGSU at #6 Northern Michigan	CCHA First Round	BGSU, 2-1
2010-11	#11 BGSU at #1 Michigan	CCHA Second Round	UM, 2-0
2011-12	#11 BGSU at #6 Northern Michigan	CCHA First Round	BGSU, 2-1
2011-12	#11 BGSU at #1 Ferris State	CCHA Second Round	BGSU, 2-1
2012-13	#9 BGSU at #8 Lake Superior State	CCHA First Round	BGSU, 2-1
2012-13	#9 BGSU at #2 Notre Dame	CCHA Second Round	ND, 2-0
2013-14	#5 Michigan Tech at #4 BGSU	WCHA First Round	BGSU, 2-0
2014-15	#6 Northern Michigan at #3 BGSU	WCHA First Round	BGSU, 2-0

The Century Man
When senior captain Dan DeSalvo earned an assist in a 2-1 win over Alabama Huntsville, he became the 70th Falcon in program history to score at least 100 points in a career (DeSalvo has now climbed to 102 points). He's the first player to hit that milestone since Derek Whitmore posted 103 points from 2004-08. Nelson Emerson is BG's all-time leader with 294 points. Listed below are the Falcons that DeSalvo is chasing up the leaderboard.

Name (Years)	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	Points/Game
t60. Jeff Wells (1990-94)	146	27	78	105	.719
t60. Mike Hall (1992-96)	150	53	52	105	.700
62. Rob Blake (1987-90)	131	39	65	104	.794
t63. Jack Laine (1973-77)	134	53	50	103	.769
t63. Yves Pelland (1976-80)	143	46	57	103	.720
t63. Derek Whitmore (2004-08)	143	70	33	103	.720
t66. Ryan Murphy (1997-01)	144	45	57	102	.708
t66. Dan DeSalvo (2011-15)	152	29	73	102	.671

Mr. March
Considering the fact that Dan DeSalvo set a CCHA Tournament record with 10 goals in eight playoff games as a freshman in 2010-11, he could reasonably stake claim to the nickname Mr. March. But, in fact, all five seniors have a higher point-per-game average in the playoffs than in the regular season. In total, 11 Falcons have averaged more points in the playoffs than in the regular season in their careers (including four freshmen in limited appearances). Listed below are each of those players, sorted by career playoff points-per-game average.

	Playoffs			Career Totals
Name	Games	G-A--P	PPG	Games	G-A--P	PPG
Dan DeSalvo	18	12-10--22	1.22	152	29-73--102	0.67
Tyler Spezia	2	2-0--2	1.00	31	6-2--8	0.26
Brandon Hawkins	2	2-0--2	1.00	38	16-14--30	0.79
Nolan Valleau	2	0-2--2	1.00	38	2-17--19	0.50
Mitch McLain	1	1-0--1	1.00	37	9-10--19	0.51
Adam Berkle	18	6-8--14	0.78	157	31-53--84	0.54
Matt Pohlkamp	5	1-2--3	0.60	77	17-24--41	0.53
Ben Murphy	10	1-4--5	0.50	116	30-25--55	0.47
Connor Kucera	13	1-4--5	0.38	140	6-26--32	0.23
Mike Sullivan	16	1-4--5	0.31	150	7-33--40	0.27
Ted Pletsch	12	0-2--2	0.17	61	6-4--10	0.16

#MadhouseOnMercer
With Falcon Hockey's steady improvement over the course of the season, the BGSU Ice Arena saw an increase in fans at home games. Four times this year, crowds of more than 3,000 flowed into the BGSU Ice Arena and the team averaged 2,601 fans per game this year, an increase of almost 600 fans per game over last year's 2,022 average. The most memorable crowd this season, and now in program's history, was a record-breaking attendance of 5,353 vs. Ohio State on November 14.

Team Success
Freshman Brandon Hawkins has clawed his way into the top 100 scorers in the country at No. 96, but no other Falcons rank among the top 100. Despite that fact, BGSU ranks 15th in the country in scoring offense. The team's depth has been a key as the Falcons boast a nation's-high 12 players with at least 19 points on the year. Only Michigan is even close with 10 players with 19 points or more this year.

The Bergeron Factor
BGSU Head Coach Chris Bergeron arrived in Bowling Green in 2010-11 and the Falcons won 10 games in his first season at the helm, doubling the team's win total over the previous season. The next year, Bowling Green climbed to 14 wins and then added another win on top of that in 2012-13. A year ago, the Falcons improved their win total for the fourth straight season with an 18-victory campaign and BGSU has 23 wins this year. It is the first time in program history that the team has improved its win total in five consecutive seasons.

Road Warriors
BGSU is 11-5-4 away from the BGSU Ice Arena this year (including a tie at Fifth Third Field in Toledo). The Falcons last won 11 road games in a single season in 1995-96 when the Falcons also won 11 outside of Bowling Green. No team has won more than 11 away from the BGSU Ice Arena since the 1987-88 team won 16.

The Burke Wall
Junior goaltender Tommy Burke now has 14 wins this year, equaling last year's total. As well, he has improved his goals against average from 2.43 a year ago to 2.10 this year -- an average that is on pace to be the best single season in program history. In the playoffs, Burke has been even better during his career with a mark of 4-1-0 and a .940 save percentage with a 1.70 goals against average.

Falcons On The PK
For most of the year, Bowling Green has led the country on the penalty kill, but the Falcons had dropped to second in the nation after allowing two power play goals in a Friday night contest against Alabama Huntsville. Since that point, though, BGSU has killed off six consecutive power play opportunities and moved back into first at 89.7 percent. Cornell and Yale sit just behind at 89.2 percent.

Power Play Breaks Free
Earlier in conference play, Bowling Green struggled to find answers on the power play, coming up scoreless on 28 consecutive chances. But those struggles ended when Brent Tate found the back of the net on the team's first power play chance against Northern Michigan on Feb. 21. Over the past seven games, the Falcons are 7-for-29 (24.1 percent) with the man advantage.

#FalconFast
In a 7-2 Friday win over Alabama Huntsville, Bowling Green scored three goals in a span of 2:22 of the third period. It was the ninth and 10th times this year that the Falcons have scored twice in less than a two minute span. On Jan. 17 against Michigan Tech, the Falcons scored just 20 seconds apart for the fastest flurry of the year -- a performance that was the final two goals of a three-goal tally in 1:55. BGSU also scored twice in 24 seconds against Alaska on Jan. 10.

Falcon Freshmen
When Braden Pears made his collegiate debut at Ferris State, he became the tenth freshman this year to see action for the Falcons (nine true freshmen and redshirt freshman Nolan Valleau). Brandon Hawkins is the top scoring freshman in the WCHA and ninth nationally with 30 points. As well, Mitch McLain ranks 44th among freshmen nationally with 19 points and Mark Friedman and Nolan Valleau are tied for 45th. Along with those four, freshman goalie Chris Nell has played well for much of the year for the Falcons. In total, BGSU's freshmen have accounted for most goals, assists and points of any class on the team, including scoring five of the team's seven playoff goals this year.