Falcons Welcome In-State Rival Ohio State for Home-and-Home Series

Bowling Green Falcons (0-3-1, 0-2-0 WCHA)
vs.
#19 Ohio State (1-0-2, 0-0-0 Big Ten)

GAME INFORMATION	Friday, Oct. 21, 8:07 p.m. ET Saturday, Oct. 22, 7:05 p.m. ET
LOCATION	Bowling Green, Ohio (BGSU Ice Arena): Friday Columbus, Ohio (Value City Arena): Saturday
RADIO	WBGU 88.1 FM (Evan Pivnick)
LIVE STATS	BGSUFalcons.com: Friday OhioStateBuckeyes.com: Saturday
WATCH ONLINE	WCHA.tv: Friday OhioStateBuckeyes.com: Saturday
LISTEN ONLINE	BGSUFalcons.com
GAME NOTES	Bowling Green

>>FALCONS ON TAP
Bowling Green will continue non-conference action Friday and Saturday with a home-and-home series against in-state rival and former CCHA league-mate Ohio State. Friday night's game will start at 8:07 p.m. in the BGSU Ice Arena before the series hits the road for a 7:05 p.m. start in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday evening.

>>THINK PINK
Get decked out in your pink gear for the annual BG Falcon Hockey "Pink in the Rink" night on Friday evening! The first 500 fans to the Ice Arena will snag a free pink bandana courtesy of Kroger. There will also be Ziggy Points and Greek Challenge points to pick up for students.
Stick in your seats throughout the second intermission for a special recognition session of the 2016 Bowling Green Athletics Hall of Fame inductees.

>>ABOUT OHIO STATE
The Buckeyes are coming off a disappointing 14-18-4 season during which they went 8-8-4 in Big Ten play and were bounced by Minnesota in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament. Despite the finish, the Buckeyes were selected to finish second overall in the Big Ten preseason polls for the upcoming campaign, and has gotten off to a 1-0-2 start to the season. Ohio State downed Denver in its own tournament by a 3-2 mark, before tying Air Force in the Ice Breaker Tournament in a 3-3 final. The Buckeyes also skated to a 1-1 tie with Miami last weekend in Oxford, Ohio.

OSU is led by head coach Steve Rohlik, who is beginning his fourth season in Columbus and owns a 47-51-14 all-time record with the Buckeyes. On the ice, sophomore John Wiitala continues to lead the Buckeyes with two goals through three games, while sophomore Dakota Joshua and freshman Tanner Laczynski each tally two assists on the season. Tending the net has been senior Matt Tomkins, for 90:00 minutes and one goal against, and senior Christian Frey, who has played 99:43 minutes with five goals against. The duo combines for a .930 save percentage and 80 saves on the season thus far.

>>IN-STATE RIVALRY
The Falcons hold an all-time advantage over the Buckeyes by a 93-61-8 mark, most recently earning two wins in a sweep of Ohio State to open the 2015-16 campaign. With the home-and-home series sweep, the Falcons are on a three-game win streak over the Buckeyes with victories of 2-0, 6-3 and 3-2.

>>HOME ICE ADVANTAGE
In last years' home opener with Ohio State, Bowling Green brought in a crowd of 3,022. The OSU-BGSU rivalry also brought in the largest crowd in BGSU Ice Arena history on Nov. 14, 2014 when the Falcons marked an attendance of 5,353.

>>MOOSE MCLAIN
Junior Mitch McLain started out the season by scoring two goals in two games, one being his third career shorthanded goal. The Baxter, Minn. native joins senior Matt Pohlkamp in the search to join the Bowling Green records page in the category, each tallying three shorthanded goals, aiming for a minimum of five to join the standings. McLain is also currently tied for fifth in the conference individually with his 0.67 goals per game average.

>>MULTI-POINT SERIES
After notching a shorthanded goal on Friday evening against Western Michigan, followed by a power play goal on Saturday, senior Sean Walker is on a two game scoring streak. It is the first time that the Falcons captain has scored in back-to-back games, and the weekend featured his first career shorthanded goal. By notching points in Friday's action, followed by the assists on Walkers goal on Saturday, senior Kevin Dufour and junior Brett D'Andrea join Walker on an active three-game point streak.

>>RETURNING THE LAMP LIGHTERS
The Falcons are returning five of the eight goal-scorers from last year's Ohio State series. Senior Matt Pohlkamp notched one goal on both Friday and Saturday nights, while Jakob Reichert, Kevin Dufour, and John Schilling also scored against the Buckeyes in the 8-3 series score.

>>PRESEASON POLLS PEG BOWLING GREEN
Bowling Green was picked to finish first in the WCHA by both the coaches' and media preseason polls, in addition to being ranked No. 14 in the country by USCHO.com. It is just the second time in school history that Bowling Green has been ranked in the first USCHO.com poll of the year since the poll was initiated for the 1997-98 season, and improved from a No. 16 ranking at the start of the 2015-16 campaign. The Falcons did earn votes (but not enough to be ranked) in the USCHO.com preseason polls in 2014 (11 votes), 2013 (4 votes), 2008 (3 votes), 2005 (1 vote), 2004 (1 vote), 1999 (1 vote) and 1997 (3 votes). Bowling Green is also ranked No. 15 in the first USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll of the season. This is the Falcons first appearance in the poll since receiving a No. 13 ranking on 12/14/15.

>>ALL-CONFERENCE ACTION
Multiple Falcons were named for preseason All-WCHA, including junior Mark Friedman and goaltender Chris Nell. Senior Sean Walker also received votes for the Preseason All-WCHA Team, while Friedman and Nell joined Walker in Bowling Green upperclassmen that received votes for Preseason WCHA Player of the Year. Three Falcon freshmen were recognized for the Preseason WCHA Rookie of the Year award, in defenseman Alec Rauhauser and forwards Frederic Letourneau and Casey Linkenheld. Rauhauser also scored his first collegiate goal against the Broncos on Friday night with a power play shot taken from the point.

>>#MADHOUSEONMERCER
With increased success, the BGSU Ice Arena has seen more and more fans line up for BG hockey games. A year ago, Bowling Green played in front of crowds exceeding 3,000 fans on eight occasions, doubling the four times from the 2015-15 campaign. Although the program averaged 2,549 fans per game, the team set a season-high attendance mark against Ferris State on Feb. 27, 2016 with 4,613. The home opener at the Madhouse on Mercer brought in a crowd of 3,022 against Ohio State last season.

>>FALCONS IN THE BIG TIME
In addition to three current NHL draftees on the Falcons roster (Ryan Bednard, Mark Friedman, and Adam Smith), two Falcon alumni have made NHL rosters for the 2016-17 campaign. Goaltender Andrew Hammond has begun his third season with the Ottawa Senators, after recording the most wins to start a career by going 20-1-2 in his first 23 NHL games. The second Falcon alum in the big time is Kevin Bieksa, who is beginning his second season with the Anaheim Ducks after an eight-year stint with the Vancouver Canucks.

>>SEEING 20/20
With a 22-14-6 record over the 2015-16 campaign, the Falcons posted back-to-back 20+ win seasons for the first time in 20 years. With 23 wins during the 2014-15 season, Bowling Green posted the 19th 20-win season in program history, followed by the 20th 20-win season with the 22 victories last year. Historically, Bowling Green has marked five 30-win seasons, although the 2014-15 season was the first time the team won 20 games since the 1995-96 campaign has been on a roll ever since.

>>RETURNING OFFENSE TO THE ICE
Despite losing the leading scorer from last season in Mark Cooper (16 goals), the Falcons return a vast majority of their offensive firepower for this season. Nine of the next top-11 scorers on the Falcons squad return to the ice for the 2016-17 season, including seniors Matt Pohlkamp (25 goals) and Kevin Dufour (36 goals). All told, Bowling Green returns 18 of the 25 players who scored at least one point last season.

>>SPECIAL TEAMS GET EXTRA PRACTICE
The Falcons have seen significant special teams play thus far in the season, which has featured two Bowling Green shorthanded goals already in back-to-back games. The Falcons have averaged 17.5 penalty minutes per game, while its opponents are averaging 20.2 penalty minutes per game, resulting in over half of Bowling Green's last two games being played on special teams.

>>CENTURY MEN
Senior Matt Pohlkamp played in his 124th career game Saturday at Western Michigan. As the active career leader for the Bowling Green squad, Pohlkamp leads four current Falcons who have 100+ games of collegiate experience, including Sean Walker (123), Pierre-Luc Mercier (121), and Kevin Dufour (117).

>>TAKING OVER TOLEDO
The BGSU hockey team has once again partnered with the ECHL's Toledo Walleye to feature the Falcons at Toledo's Huntington Center. This year, the Falcons will host the RIT on Dec. 30 at 5:07 p.m. in the first game of a doubleheader with the Walleye. BGSU last skated in the Huntington Center on Dec. 30, 2015 against Western Michigan, which resulted in a narrow 1-0 Broncos win. Prior to the event last season, the last time the Falcons played in the Huntington Center was during the 2009-10 season against Michigan. Tickets can be purchased online at BGSUFalcons.com/tickets or through ToledoWalleye.com, by phone at 877-BGSU-TICKET, or in person at the BGSU Ticket Office, located in the Stroh Center.

>>EVAN PIVNICK "THE VOICE" ON THE MIC
All games this season can be heard on the radio by tuning into 88.1 WBGUFM. 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
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 Bowling Green home games and select road matchups are available on the BGSU website at BGSUFalcons.com. Navigate to the hockey schedule for links to all available ways to follow the action while the Falcons are both at home and on the road.

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