Bowling Green State University Athletics
Friday, January 8
Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.
7:37 PM
Bowling Green State University
at
Lake Superior State
Photo by: Ruben Kappler, BGSU Marketing & Communications
Falcons Return To WCHA Play For Series At LSSU
January 06, 2016 | Ice Hockey
#16 Bowling Green Falcons (12-5-5, 8-2-4 WCHA)
at
Lake Superior State (7-11-4, 4-4-4 WCHA)
at
Lake Superior State (7-11-4, 4-4-4 WCHA)
| GAME INFORMATION | Friday, Jan. 8 / 7:37 pm ET |
| LOCATION | Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. (Taffy Abel Ice Arena) |
| TELEVISION | None |
| RADIO | WBGU 88.1 FM (Evan Pivnick) |
| LIVE STATS | LSSULakers.com |
| WATCH ONLINE | WCHA.tv |
| LISTEN ONLINE | BGSUFalcons.com |
| GAME NOTES | BGSU | Lake Superior State | WCHA |
#16 Bowling Green Falcons (12-5-5, 8-2-4 WCHA)
at
Lake Superior State (7-11-4, 4-4-4 WCHA)
| GAME INFORMATION | Saturday, Jan. 9 / 7:07 pm ET |
| LOCATION | Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. (Taffy Abel Ice Arena) |
| TELEVISION | None |
| RADIO | WBGU 88.1 FM (Evan Pivnick) |
| LIVE STATS | LSSULakers.com |
| WATCH ONLINE | WCHA.tv |
| LISTEN ONLINE | BGSUFalcons.com |
| GAME NOTES | BGSU | Lake Superior State | WCHA |
>>THE WEEK AHEAD
Following a disappointing week with just one win in three games, the No. 16 Bowling Green Falcons begin a stretch of three consecutive road contests with a weekend series at Lake Superior State. BGSU travels to Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., where the Falcons have not played since the 2013-14 season and have not won since Oct. 21, 2011. Friday's game begins at 7:37 pm, while Saturday's tilt starts at 7:07 pm.
>>ABOUT LAKE SUPERIOR STATE
* 7-11-4 overall record
* Tied for seventh in WCHA with Alaska Anchorage (4-4-4, 12 pts)
* 5-3-2 since 2-8-2 start, including road sweep at Alaska
* Freshman goalie Nick Kossoff is seventh nationally with 1.74 GAA and has three shutouts in eight games
* LSSU has four of WCHA top ten freshmen scorers, including Gage Torrel who ranks second with 11 points (4 goals, 7 assists)
* LSSU's scoring offense is last in the WCHA (1.95/game)
>>HELP IS HERE
BGSU Hockey added two defensemen, both of whom are eligible to play for the Falcons in the second half of the season. Freshmen Jordan Ernst and Adam Smith have both joined the team to battle for playing time in the back end. Ernst most recently played for the Madison Capitols of the USHL and Smith was a member of the Newmarket Hurricanes of the OJHL. The duo played in all three games last week, and Smith earned his first career point with an assist Sunday against Clarkson.
>>LONG STREAKS SNAPPED
Bowling Green entered last weekend with a nation's best nine-game unbeaten streak but Western Michigan snapped that stretch with a 1-0 defeat at the Huntington Center in Toledo. The Falcons, though, carried a 13-game unbeaten streak at the BGSU Ice Arena into the weekend and added to that stretch with a 6-3 win over Clarkson Saturday. The Golden Knights, though, ended the streak at 14 games with a 3-2 win Sunday.
>>ROAD WARRIORS
BGSU went 11-6-4 away from the BGSU Ice Arena in 2014-15. The team had not won more than 11 games away from home since the 1987-88 team posted 16 victories. The Falcons are already 6-3-1 on the road in 2015-16, a pace that would give them an even better road record this year.
>>CENTURY MEN
Seniors Mark Cooper (138 games) and Ben Murphy (137 games) have both played in well over 100 career games, while junior Matt Pohlkamp joined the club with his 100th game played Sunday against Clarkson. The trio will soon be joined by four others. Sean Walker (99 games) and Pierre-Luc Mercier (98 games) could reach the century mark this weekend, while Brent Tate (97 games) and Kevin Dufour (95 games) will likely each reach 100 games played over the course of the remainder of the season.
>>FANTASTIC FRESHMEN
Six Falcon freshmen have notched their first career points this year, while all eight have seen their first collegiate action. They have combined for five goals and 28 points. John Schilling leads the group with nine points (three goals, six assists) and defenseman Connor McDonald has posted seven assists. Forward Shane Bednard has added four assists, and defenseman Chris Pohlkamp scored his first collegiate goal against Alaska Anchorage and now has three points. Stephen Baylis, the Bemidji Pioneer WCHA Preseason Newcomer of the Year, missed the first eight games due to NCAA amateurism requirements but posted his first goal against Bemidji State and now has four points. Adam Smith earned his first point against Clarkson in just his third career game.
>>PASSING A HALL OF FAMER
Head coach Chris Bergeron owns 92 wins in his six-year career at Bowling Green. With BGSU's 3-2 win on Nov. 14, Bergeron moved past BGSU Athletics Hall of Famer Scott Paluch into fourth place on the all-time coaching wins list as a Falcon. He now trails only Buddy Powers (135 wins), Ron Mason (160) and Jerry York (342). Bergeron is 53-31-16 since the start of the 2013-14 season.
>>GONNA NEED A BIGGER BROOM
With 4-1 and 2-0 victories at Bemidji State in their last road series on Dec. 11-12, Bowling Green earned its fifth road sweep of the Chris Bergeron era. The first three came at Alabama Huntsville, along with a sweep at Alaska.
>>NELL AND VOID
Sophomore goalie Chris Nell has given up just 23 goals in 15 starts (8-2-5) this season. He's allowed two or fewer in 12 of the 15 and never more than three. A WCHA Goaltender of the Year contender, Nell ranks first in the league in goals against average (1.42), save percentage (.944) and shutouts (three). His .700 win percentage is second. Nationally, Nell ranks fourth in goals against average and save percentage, as well as eighth in shutouts. In just 27 career starts, Nell has earned six shutouts, third-most in program history. He needs just one more to match the school record of seven, held jointly by Tyler Masters (1999-03) and Andrew Hammond (2010-13).
>>CAN I GET FRIES WITH THAT BIG MAC?
BGSU freshman defenseman Connor McDonald had a season-long four-game point streak, posting assists in both games of the Minnesota State series, sandwiched between assists in games vs. Northern Michigan and at Bemidji State. McDonald was a team-best +4 on-ice during the critical Minnesota State series and is +8 in the last sevengames. He is the only freshman on the team to have played in every game this year and posted his first multi-point game of his career with two assists in Saturday's 6-3 win over Clarkson.
>>OFFENSIVE SPARK
Junior forward Matt Pohlkamp had a career night on Saturday (Nov. 21) against Alabama-Huntsville. He scored BGSU's first two goals and assisted on two others in the 4-3 victory over the Chargers. The four-point game is a career-best for Pohlkamp and is the first four-point game by a Falcon since Ryan Carpenter did it during a 5-2 win over Michigan Tech on March 15, 2014. That win sent Bowling Green to the 2014 WCHA Final Five. Pohlkamp's two goals are a career-best, and his two assists are also a season high.
>>THE FALCON FLYER
Sophomore defenseman Mark Friedman, a third round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers, turned around a slow start and has been the anchor defensively. Friedman had just two points and was a +4 on-ice through the first 10 games of the season. However, over the last 12 games, Friedman has three goals and seven points and is a +5 on-ice for a team-best +9.
>>OVERTIME IS THE RIGHT TIME
Bowling Green has played in seven overtime games through the first 22 games of the season and the Falcons are 2-0-5 in contests with an extra session. The program record for overtime games in a season is 11, in both the 2003-04 and 1991-92 seasons.
>>NHL ALUMS
Three Bowling Green alumni have seen action in the NHL this year and one head coach is also a Falcon. Defenseman Kevin Bieksa has played in all of the first 38 games for the Anaheim Ducks (as of Jan. 3, 2016), while goalie Andrew Hammond, who took the Ottawa Senators on a wild ride a year ago, now has 30 career decisions (as of Jan. 3, 2016) with a record of 22-4-0-4. Ryan Carpenter, a member of the San Jose Sharks organization, made his NHL debut on Dec. 12 against the Minnesota Wild, centering the team's fourth line. Buffalo Sabres' first year head coach Dan Bylsma was just inducted in the BGSU Athletics Hall of Fame on Oct. 9 and is a Stanley Cup winner in Pittsburgh as well as having coached the 2014 US Winter Olympic team.
>>THE BURKE WALL
In a 6-3 win over Clarkson, senior goalie Tommy Burke recorded his 37th career victory to tie Al Sarachman (1973-77) for ninth place all-time on the BGSU goalie leaderboard. He needs just one more win to tie Tyler Masters (1999-03) for eighth. Gary Kruzich (1983-87) is the all-time Falcon goalie leader with 88 career wins. Burke is 4-3-0 during the 2015-16 season.
>>SEEING 20-20
With 23 wins during the 2014-15 season, Bowling Green posted the 19th 20-win season in program history, a mark with includes five 30-win seasons. It is the first time the team won 20 games since the 1995-96 campaign. At 12-5-5, the Falcons are off to a strong start in an effort to earn back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 1994-95 and 1995-96.
>>FOR THE LONG HAUL
Bowling Green head coach Chris Bergeron signed a five-year contract extension following the 2014-15 season that will keep him at the helm of the Falcons through the 2022-23 season. Bergeron, who is in his sixth season at BGSU, compiled 80 wins through his first five seasons and has led the Falcons to a win total increase in each of those campaigns. That five-year run of improved win totals is a first in team history. The Falcons' 23 wins in 2014-15 were the most for BGSU in 19 years, since they won 26 in 1995-96. Bergeron has also led the Falcons to at least one best-of-three postseason series victory in each of the last five seasons. BGSU is the only program in the country to accomplish this feat.
>>OHIO'S HOCKEY TOWN
Wallethub.com has named Bowling Green the top hockey city in Ohio and 18th out of 74 cities nationally that host either an NHL or NCAA Division I team. The rankings were a combination of several factors, including team performance, ticket prices, arena accessibility and friendliness/engagement of the fans. Each area was weighted differently, and some were comprised of a three-year average. "The Madhouse on Mercer" housed an average of 2,601 fans per game during the 2014-15 season. A total of 5,353 fans broke the BGSU Ice Arena attendance record Nov. 14, 2014 when the Falcons hosted Ohio State.
>>THE LETTERMEN
Bowling Green has named the three players who will wear the "C" and the "A" on their jerseys this year. Junior defenseman Sean Walker will serve as the Falcons' captain, while senior forwards Mark Cooper and Brent Tate will compete as the team's assistant captains. Both Cooper and Tate are in the role for the second consecutive season. The trio provided 51 points for the Falcons during the 2014-2015 season. They scored 20 goals and combined for a +11 on-ice rating. During BGSU's three-game postseason run, the three posted three goals and totaled eight points as the Falcons won a best-of-three playoff series for the fifth consecutive year.
>>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 and WBGUFM.com.
>>WCHA.TV IS LIVE
In partnership with industry leader Stretch Internet, WCHA.tv will allow fans to watch all 10 league teams and up to 196 games during the 2015-16 season on just about any device – computer, tablet, phone and many Smart TVs – with a responsive experience customized for that particular medium. High-quality HD streams, when available from the originating arena, will be viewable in multiple screen layout options (including picture-in-picture, multi-view format to watch up to four games simultaneously and full-screen video). For more information, visit WCHA.tv.
>>LIVE STATS
Live stats for all BGSU home games are available on the BGSU website at BGSUFalcons.com. Navigate to the hockey schedule for links to all available ways to follow the action.
>>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. During the 2013-14 season, the Falcons improved their win total for the fourth straight season with an 18-victory campaign and BGSU posted 23 wins a year ago. It is the first time in program history that the team has improved its win total in five consecutive seasons.
>>COMING SOON
Bowling Green commit Ryan Bednard was selected in the 2015 National Hockey League Draft. Bednard, a goalie from Macomb, Mich., was picked in the seventh round by the Florida Panthers. He was the 206th overall selection. This marks the second consecutive year in which a BGSU player was drafted by an NHL team, as Mark Friedman went to the Philadelphia Flyers in the third round during the 2014 draft. BGSU had not featured draftees in consecutive seasons since a four-year stretch from 2004-2007. Bednard was a goalie with the NAHL's Johnstown Tomahawks last season and earned a 16-16-5 record with a 2.66 goals against average and a .913 save percentage.
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